A Gift from Beyond

Susan met Rodger on a cold, snowy winter day. Susan just finished her shift at Sophie’s Hair Salon, where she worked as a hair stylist. Her friends had been messaging in their group chat about a new dating app, Safe Dating, where people could meet and chat over instant messenger. If they hit it off, they would arrange a date at a venue sponsored on the app. Different businesses had applied to be “Safe date locations”, and had to meet certain criteria to be approved, such as helping women arrange for transportation home. Some even offered safe shuttle services.

For some background, Susan had been in a terrible accident three years earlier. She was hit by a truck in the crosswalk on her way to work. She broke both her legs and had to spend months in the hospital, where she relearned how to walk. She also got a concussion. Her thinking was jumbled for months afterwards. But the worse consequence was the permanent damage to both her cochlear nerves. The doctors communicated to her, through typed messages, that this damage was due to the severity of her head trauma and would likely cause permanent hearing loss.

The truck didn’t stop and the driver was never identified, so Susan’s family took on the brunt of the medical bills. They didn’t have insurance, so her parents remortgaged their home, and Susan took on the remaining bills as debt.

Towards the end of her hospital stay, the doctors suggested a cochlear implant, but she opted out, having already incurred significant debt.

This brings us back to the day Susan downloaded Safe Dating. She finished Mrs. Peposki’s hair, and swivelled the chair to face the large mirror in front of her work area, so Mrs. Peposki could see her red curls. Mrs. Peposki smiled and reached for a small black notebook sitting on Susan’s side table, and wrote: “Thanks Susan, I love it!”

Since many of Susan’s clients didn’t know how to sign, Susan kept this notebook for them to communicate with her regarding their hair. She loved coming to work everyday, but Susan often felt isolated, as watched clients and co-workers laughing and talking, without knowing what they were saying.

Sitting on the bus on the way home, Susan watched a smiling elderly couple get on, and felt a twinge of loneliness. She hadn’t been on a date since her accident. She was scared no one would want to be with her due to her disability. Susan suddenly felt brave and pulled out her phone. Even though she wasn’t connected to WiFi, Susan downloaded the Safe Dating app, and made her profile.

Immediately, she matched with Rodger. Her phone vibrated and a message from him appeared: “Hi! Nice to meet you, I’m Rodger.”

Susan smiled and messaged back: “Hi Rodger, I’m Susan. Great to meet you!”

Rodger responded, “Listen, I am new to this dating app thing, but any chance you are comfortable meeting up in person? I think that would probably easier! Would tonight work for you?”

Susan hesitated, “What if he didn’t know sign?” Then she reasoned that they would just message each other over dinner. “Yes, let’s do it!” They selected a restaurant and time, and Susan signed up for the shuttle to take her home.

At 7:25 pm, Susan got off the bus in front of Paul’s Pizza Place. Rodger had just messaged her that he had gotten the only booth in the restaurant. As she was putting her phone in her pocket, it slipped from her hands and fell in the fresh snow. Quickly, she picked it up and tried to brush the snow off, but saw some had gotten into the charging port. It flashed and then the screen went black. Panicked, she shoved the phone into her pocket, with the charging port down, and hoped the moisture would drain out so it would turn back on.

True to his word Rodger was sitting at the only booth. As she approached, Susan could tell he was saying something to her, but wasn’t very good at reading lips. Susan smiled at him, and reached for her phone to send a message to explain, but with horror remember it was dead. Rodger looked confused by her lack of response, as she riffled through her purse to see if she could find something to write on. To her amazement, her little black notebook from work was still in there from earlier. Thankfully, she had forgotten to unpack it when she was home earlier! She grabbed it, hastily wrote down her situation, and turned the book to Rodger.

Rodger took the book, and read. Susan watched with his expression with trepidation, but he looked at her with a kind expression. He gestured for her to hand him the pen, and he began writing: “I wish I knew how to sign. That’s something I have always wanted to learn, but never really thought I would need. I could really use that skill now though. Is it alright if we just use this book tonight?”

Susan smiled and nodded.

They thoroughly enjoyed their evening. While the dialogue was slow, as it took some time to write down their thoughts, that left time for the other person to observe the emotion on the others face as they were writing. At the end of night, before she left for the shuttle, Rodger wrote, “Can I give you a kiss good night?” Susan smiled and nodded her consent.

Within a month Rodger and Susan were officially dating. Rodger, who was studying to be a software engineer, had taken it upon himself to also learn sign language. Him being a student, and her still paying for her medical bills, meant that their dates were generally very simple. They went for walks, coffee, and played board games. Susan helped Rodger with his signing, and laughed along with him when he mixed up common words. They were inseparable. It was clear to anyone who saw them that they were in love. Susan loved Rodger’s selflessness, as he stayed up late into the night practicing signs alongside videos on his laptop. She didn’t feel isolated anymore. Rodger loved Susan’s positive attitude. She always had great stories to share from her day, even though she couldn’t hear.

It wasn’t long before they moved in together. It was a small one bedroom apartment near the university, and close to the bus stop for Susan to get to work. On the anniversary of their first date, Susan came home from work to find Rodger looking very nervous, dressed in his best clothes. He kneeled, and point at his chest. He then crossed his arms over them, and pointed at Susan. One way to sign “I love you”. He then raised his right hand beside his head, and dropped it down towards her, pursing his lips. “Will”. He then used his index finger, and moved in a little arch outwards to point at her. “You”. He moved his right hand clumsily over his left, and did a little waving motion, before moving his right hand down into his left. “Marry”. Finally, he point back at his chest. “Me”.

Susan nodded through tears of happiness, as Rodger put a small ring on her finger. The tiny diamond reflected the sunset from outside the apartment, shining up at them.

Given their finances, Susan and Rodger decided to have a small wedding in the church they went to every Sunday, with just family and close friends. They discussed waiting until Rodger was done school, or until Susan had paid off the last of her medical bills, but were eager on getting married as soon as they could, so that their aging grandparents would be able to attend.

So, on a beautiful day the following summer, Rodger stood at the end of the aisle in the modest church. He felt both excited and nervous. Excited to see Susan walk down the aisle, knowing that he would get to spend the rest of his life with her, but nervous to sign his vows. He had been practicing for weeks to get them perfect. But the moment the doors opened, and Susan walked through with her dad, all the nervous energy that Rodger had been feeling dissipated. She looked stunning in a lace white dress, and she met his eyes smiling.

When Susan reached the end of the aisle, she saw a tear role down Rodger’s cheek. His vows were beautiful, and brought her to tears. One of Susan’s cousins translate the signs so their families and friends could also hear them. When it came time for Susan’s vows, she shocked everyone, including Rodger, by saying them out loud. Rodger had never heard Susan’s voice before. He had only heard her sneeze or cough when she was sick.

Susan’s voice shook nervously, as she made her way through her vows. As she couldn’t hear herself, she couldn’t moderate how loudly she was speaking. This caused her words to come out loudly at times. As she spoke she picked up confidence as Rodger squeezed her hands. She finished by saying, “I promise to love you every day, minute, and second, through arguments and happiness, sickness and health, as long as we live.”

Susan was forced to learn the true meaning of these words, when she woke up one night a year later to find Rodger wasn’t in bed. She couldn’t hear anything but sensed something was very wrong. The light in the bathroom was on, and she walked in to find him sitting on the ground leaning over the toilet. His face was clammy and white, and his body convulsed as he vomited blood into the toilet. He looked at her with fear and tears in his eyes, as she bent down to hold him.

The doctors told them that pancreatic cancer was extremely rare in young adults, but unfortunately Rodger’s was at stage four. He was given only a few months to live. Rodger had started a job at a software company several months before, so had benefits to take care of him in his last few months of life. He had insisted on staying with Susan in the apartment, until he saw it was no longer possible for her to take care of him by herself.

Rodger passed away in the hospital with his parents, younger brother, and Susan by his side. Susan sat holding his hand, crying in silence even hours after he had gone.

Rodger’s will left everything to Susan. When she met with his lawyer, she was shocked to find out that there was $20,000 of his life insurance left over, and that it would go to her. The lawyer gave her a note, written in Rodger’s handwriting, “Susan, use this money to get your cochlear implant”.

Eight months later, Susan awoke from her surgery. She felt groggy, but could hear some noises! Having not heard anything for nearly six years, she had a hard time placing what it was but realized it was the beep of some machines.

The curtain’s around her bed pulled back, and the doctor came in. He was carrying a laptop, Rodger’s laptop, and a piece of paper. The doctor handed the paper to her, it read: “Your husband wanted the first voice you heard to be his.” He opened the laptop and handed it to her.

Staring at the laptop screen, she saw Rodger sitting on the couch in their apartment. She hit play, and the sound of his voice reached her ears. It was a deep, calm voice. The kind of voice only Rodger could have.

“Susan,” Rodger’s voice said, “I love you, and I wanted to share a story with you from beyond the grave. The story of the most pivotal day in my life” Rodger’s hand reached for something off the screen, and came back with her small black notebook. “The story of our first date. Let’s begin…”