I can’t go by myself I stomped again Why not I glared at him Are you playing the blind card he sighed I’m not playing I snapped I’m actually blind And you have to help me I don’t have to do anything James snapped back But he looked around for someplace to tie Tooter’s leash Do you think it’s okay to leave him out here I muttered I mean it was about a thousand degrees out Under my enormo sunhat my sweaty hair felt wet as if I had just left the shower Tooter’s little pink tongue hung out of his mouth and almost touched the sidewalk Urgh James jerked open the door to the library and stepped in dragging Tooter along by the leash The cool fresh air hit my face as we walked inside and I breathed as deeply as I could My glasses turn to sunglass lenses when I’m outside so for a minute I was even more blind than usual while the lenses adjusted Excuse me a high-pitched voice that seemed to come out of the speaker’s nose rather than her mouth called out We do not allow animals in here This Is A Library As my lenses transitioned I could make out a huge desk in front of us Behind it I saw a bright red blur 4
that I think was the speaker’s shirt and a fluffy mound of yellow which had to be her hair I’m sorry James said It’s just I’m bringing my sister here I had to actually bring her in because she’s blind Oh The librarian sucked in her breath I went ahead and rolled my eyes figuring the person behind the desk was a Not looking at me and b Not able to see behind my dark lenses anyway Where we used to live everyone knew I was blind It wasn’t a big deal It was accepted the same way every one accepted that Josh’s mom always was last to pick him up from playdates and that Eliza’s hair was too curly to lie flat around her face But here being blind is news And this is the way it goes when people find out about me they gasp Then if I’m close enough I’ll see this awful expression on their faces like they just ate some bad cheese but are holding it in their mouths instead of spitting it out Then they become overly helpful usually asking the person I’m with what they can do to help instead of asking me They also speak super loudly like maybe I’m also deaf No one ever asks me questions If they did I’d be able to explain So you’ve heard of 20 20 vision being normal I’m 20 200 in my left eye 20 210 in my right So a normal 5
person could read something from two hundred feet away that I’d have to be twenty feet from in order to read I know I know You’re making the bad cheese face for me Please stop The point is I can read I just have to be really close Soon after making the gaspy voice the librarian came out from behind the desk My lenses were clearing up She stood way too close to me so I could make out that her lipstick was gloppy and pink and that her yel low hair was gray at the roots She smelled like lavender mixed with a little rotting eggs I wonder if that was the paper mill stink on her I am Mrs Dexter the librarian said slowly and loudly James snickered beside me quickly turning it into a cough I’m Alice I answered She stared hard at my eyes which made me nervous And that in turn made my eyes move faster So I guess I should just go ahead and say it I’m blind because I have albinism You know like an albino It just means my skin is about the color of paper my hair is too and my eyes are blue Everyone who has albinism is visually impaired We have something called nystagmus which makes our eyes always move back and forth A lot of albinos aren’t blind like me though they are just visually impaired 6
Service animals are welcome in the M H Bartel Library as are any individuals with special needs Welcome Alice Mrs Dexter said all of this with long Pauses Between Each Word Welcome she said again James now openly grinned at me He handed me Tooter’s leash The dumb dog was scooting his butt along the carpet but seemed a little peppier in the air conditioned building Text me when you’re ready for me to pick you up James said The traitor turned to leave Wait Mrs Dexter stole my line Does the Seeing Eye dog know where the large print section is or do I need to tell it Oh he’ll figure it out James answered and all three of us looked down at Tooter who took the opportunity to sniff his own butt with one stubby leg in the air Just let Tooter dig right in Well Tooter Mrs Dexter patted Tooter’s head Let me know if you need anything Where’s the children’s section I asked Mrs Dexter seemed surprised that I spoke It’s to the left Tooter glanced up at her so she pointed in that direction But we don’t have Braille children’s books here Actually I can read I said walking purposefully to the left I just need to get closer And I think it all 7
