42
Rebecca and Amy
The morning we arrive in London, Amy reminds me, “I want to see the wax people.”
“Not today Amy, we have to join our tour group, but we’ll be back in London before we fly home. We’ll visit it then.”
Armed with maps, guidebooks, cameras, and a calculator for determining the value of foreign currency, we are prepared for anything as we take out seats on the tour bus. John and Amy banked their spending money with me, and Amy keeps a meticulous record of what she’s spent. When we arrive in Rome, she asks for money. I give her a 5,000-lira note.
“Wow! Five thousand dollars!” Amy’s eyes gleam with the thought of having so much money. She pulls out the calculator, enters the rates of exchange and her smile is replaced by a scowl. “This is only two dollars and twenty cents.”
John and I have a good laugh at her expense.
At fifteen I used my passport for the first time traveling to Europe. Basically, it was a cultural and historical experience, because it was different from what I saw or expected in the United States. WOW! I was surprised when I landed at Heathrow Airport in London. The first guy I saw working at the airport had colorful pointed hair. Ahh, the punks! A few years later, United States got the fad and I told my classmates, “It’s old news. I saw it in London.” In general, Europe was way ahead in fashions and fads. Not only that but also weird-looking cop uniforms and hats.
In Germany, we went to the Berlin Wall, both the free and communist side, and Nuremburg where Hitler gave his speech. In Rome, we saw Vatican City and the Coliseum. In Paris, we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower and to a huge castle, Versailles. It was interesting to see many different buildings, people, clothes, and designs that I would not see in America.
When we went to Europe, Mother did the same thing she did for our first big family vacation. We voted on places to visit. I chose to see the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen and Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in London. I am not sure why I picked the Little Mermaid statue. Maybe for the same reason I picked Devil’s Tower. Perhaps I wanted to see if the Mermaid was real and could swim in the sea. As for the wax museum, I thought it would be a very visual museum, good for me, so that is why I picked it.
In Copenhagen, I reminded Mother about the little mermaid statue that I voted as a place we must see. Our tour did not go there, so we had to find it on our own. We rode a bus and then walked and walked in a park until I spied the statue. “There it is,” I said and smiled.
Mother said, “The statue is nice, but not worth the blisters on my feet.”
In London, Mother did not want to go to the wax museum and suggested I pick something else, but I refused. I wanted to see the wax people. “Maybe we won’t have to walk so much,” I said, “like with the mermaid.”
We didn’t. We rode the subways, called the Tube, to the wax museum. When Mother saw the price, she gasped and tried to change my mind again, but I told her, “You promised me we would go.” So in we went and had a grand time.
If you have not been to London, a must to see is Madame Tussaud’s wax museum. There you see many wax figures of famous people from London and all over the world. The wax statues were set up in various scenes. We walked through an exhibit of Lord Nelson dying during a fight with the Spanish Armada and a Jack the Ripper scene of narrow streets filled dead wax bodies. I saw the royal family and famous actors, musicians and TV characters. John liked Dr. Who and his weird dog, K-9. It was a very fascinating place to visit. All I had to do was walk through the displays, look at the wax figures, and read a small sign saying who the person was and when the statue was made.
It was a very visual place. Sometimes I was not sure if that person was wax or real. My brother and I tried to freeze our body to see if people thought we were wax persons. Some of the people thought we were wax.
There was not much done by “voice” speaking at the museum, more like a self-guided tour, which is perfect for me and Deaf people. At the end of the museum, I asked Mother, “Did you enjoy it?” She said it was fun, and so did my brother. Much better than what they expected.
On the way to Big Ben, we talked about what we liked best. I liked the royal family. John thought Boy George and Dr. Who were best. Mother said, “Dr. Who and K-9 get my vote.”
When we were in foreign lands where Mother and John did not always understand the language, they were confused. Now they could imagine how I live all the time in the hearing world. As for me, not understanding the language did not bother me, because I know what it’s like to be not able to communicate with people around you. So, traveling to foreign lands does not bother me. I actual find it easier than hearing people do, because people in other countries understand many of the common gestures used in ASL.
The week after we returned from Europe, I started a new job as a federal agent. I liked my job at the Nebraska Depart of Labor, but it was not full time. John is a senior in high school this year and will be attending the university following graduation. I need the income of a full-time job.
Weeks later while putting our European photos in an album, I take a break and call Vodis to see if the issues at NSD were resolved.
“Yes and no,” Vodis says.
“What does that mean?” I ask.
“The school reopened after several weeks without a superintendent and with a lot of new staff.”
“What about this fall? Will the school be operating?” I worry Amy will be mainstreamed, something neither of us wants.
“Yes, but there will be a new superintendent.”
“What happened to George Collins? I liked him. I can’t believe he did anything wrong.”
“Neither do I. The school board forced him to resign. I saw him once this summer. He was upset by the entire ordeal. He said, ‘I’ll always have a shadow hanging over my head since the board did not let me have my day in court where I could prove my innocence.”
I agree with Vodis, the entire mess was a tempest in a teapot, stirred up by people who did not have children at the school. I’m at loss what to believe. I am sad that George Collins, a genuine, compassionate man whom I liked, and whom Amy and the other students considered a father figure, will no longer be at NSD.
After the 1984 incident, NSD lost some good staff. The next fall, after going to Europe, I came back and so did many other students. The number of students dwindled down a little bit but not enough to close the school, yet. Of course, it was a funny feeling when seeing new staff and they even created more rules. But I survived through my high school and am so glad that I graduated from NSD before it closed.