A World of Her Own

Chapter 8

Liora hurried to her car. She was going to be late for her meeting with Ranga. She had to meet with some of her classmates to work on a group project and it had taken longer than she had expected. Liora hated working in groups. She usually couldn't understand what anyone was saying. It was too hard to try to read everyone's lips and follow the conversation. Someone always seemed to speak just as she was looking away or down at her paper and she would miss what was being said. This time however, Liora gathered her courage and told her classmates that she couldn't hear well and needed to look at their lips to understand what was being said. They were surprisingly understanding and made an effort to look at her when speaking. It wasn't always perfect and one of them would usually forget but her other classmates would remind them. It went much easier than Liora expected and they managed to get quite a bit of work done. The only downside was that she was now late. Ranga and Jason would be waiting for her. She sent Jason a text letting him know that she was running late and asked him to tell Ranga that she was coming. Her phone beeped at her shortly after she had sent the message, letting her know that she had a text but she was driving and couldn't answer.

When she pulled into the parking lot, she checked and saw that the text message was from Jason. He told her that he was with Ranga and she should just come into their usual room where they  read stories together. Liora hurried inside. She went into the room and saw Jason and Ranga sitting on the couch together, talking. She couldn't tell what they were talking about but Ranga's face was lit up and he seemed very expressive. Jason was smiling and looked far more relaxed than when she had seem him yesterday. When Ranga saw Liora, he jumped up and gave her a big hug. "Hi, Liora!" he squealed. 

Liora hugged him back. "How was your visit to Dr. Bronsky?" "It was great!" bubbled Ranga. "I pushed the button every time I heard a beep. Dr. Bronsky had a stuffed bear inside the room that would light up and clap when I pushed the button. It was cool! And then Dr. Bronsky put the stuff in my ear and it did feel like slime! It was all sticky and gross and squishy! Then he showed me the hearing aids and let me pick out the color I wanted. I'm going to get orange hearing aids with tigers all over them!" He continued on and on. Liora had never seen him so excited. She was so happy that his audiology appointment had gone well and that he was excited to get hearing aids. She hoped the other kids would be impressed by Ranga's orange hearing aids and also think they were cool. Liora didn't want anything to diminish his enthusiasm. He would be wearing hearing aids for the rest of his life and Liora wanted him to love them. She remembered hating wearing her own hearing aids and she didn't want Ranga to feel that way. He needed them to hear....just like she needed them to hear....and she wanted him to feel comfortable and confident. Liora had spent so much time trying to hide her hearing loss and her hearing aids. It was exhausting and it had shaken her confidence and affected every aspect of her life...grades, friends, everything. 

Liora had been so busy talking to Ranga, she had forgotten that Jason was in the room. Ranga had finally stopped talking long enough to take a breath and his excited torrent of words had slowed down to a mere trickle. Liora looked up to see Jason smiling at her and Ranga. Unlike his sister, who had usually made herself unobtrusive and barely noticeable, Jason was clearly listening to the conversation between Liora and Ranga. It was clear he was enjoying it. Liora was never sure whether Christina was paying attention to her and Ranga when she joined them. She usually looked like she was completely engrossed in her book. That was not the case with her brother, at least not this time. He was a passive bystander, not joining in their conversation, but he was definitely paying attention.  

When Jason noticed Liora looking at him, he smiled more broadly and walked over to them. "The two of you were so involved in your conversation, I didn't want to interrupt," he said smiling. "Ranga had been eagerly waiting for you to come. Clearly, he had a lot to tell you about. We were talking about tennis when you came in." "And you!" Ranga burst in. "Because you are my favorite person ever, Liora! And you are Jason's favorite person too!" He gave Liora a big hug. Liora bent to hug him, relieved to have an excuse to cover her blushing face. When she looked up, Jason's face was red as well. He shifted a bit but smiled. "I'll let the two of you get started reading. If we spend all the time talking, you'll never get to read. And who knows what else Ranga will say." He blushed again but winked at Liora and went to the other side of the room to pick up a book. Liora was deep crimson at this point but was glad to refocus her attention. They had finished 'The Jungle Book' but picked up another story by Rudyard Kipling, 'Rikki Tikki Tavi'. This story was one of Liora's favorites. She loved reading about the brave mongoose and his battle to save his human family from the wicked cobras. Ranga was similarly impressed. The time passed quickly. The story was short and they had just finished it when Kartika walked in. Liora looked up and glanced at the clock. She was always surprised how fast the time passed when she was reading with Ranga.