"E is for Every. F is for From..."
He's heard this countless times now. Sands thinks if
he hears her say it one more time he's going to tell her that E and F
are for E-Fucking-nuff. But it's just too much effort to say it. Somehow
it doesn't seem like it's worth bothering anymore. In fact, most everything
seems that way. That's why he's still here, still stuck in this Goddamn
rehabilitation/hospital/hell place.
And it's also why he can't be bothered telling the old
lady to fuck off. He really doesn't care about fucking single letter contractions,
doesn't give a shit about learning Braille at all. He hardly bothered
to read before, always more interested in talking to people directly.
Somehow the written word always failed to express his distain, to illustrate
any emotion as far as he was concerned. He never played puppeteer with
letters and notes before so why should he care now? He could nearly control
a country with a cell phone before so why should it matter now if he can't
read? It wasn't like he was going to start sending letters, let alone
notes comprised of bumpy dots on paper.
"G is for Go..."
"Where she should go is to Hell," he thinks.
Damn old bitch should die already and leave him in peace. It'd be a whole
lot easier to wallow ("No, not wallowing," he thinks, "regrouping")
if she'd stop talking and just die. He's sure she's told him her name.
Bitch has told him every other fucking detail of her life that he couldn't
care less about. Just his luck the old cunt used to teach blind people
and has decided to make him her latest project.
From the daily weakening of her voice Sands figures he'll
be her last "student". He can't remember her name but does remember
that she's dying from cancer,
that's why she's here. "Stick me in with dying, old people: welcome
to the United States of fucking America, home to one of the most fucked-up
health care systems in the world," he thinks humorlessly. Not that
Mexico was any better - he'd been sure they were trying to kill him when
he'd been stuck in that dirty, stinking Mexican hospital for a week before
being stable enough to ship back.
He hopes she'll croak soon so he'll never have to hear
that cracking, voice of death another day. He figures she probably thinks
she's doing him a favor, but really she's just slightly more interesting
to listen to than a fly buzzing around his head, which is why he just
can't be bothered telling her fuck off.
Sands realizes his thoughts have drifted off (as they
usually do while he tries to tune out her incessant yapping) because she's
now recounting some dull story he vaguely recognizes about a past student
who's probably long since died (of boredom, he adds, thinking that person
was also a victim of her yapping). He listens as she coughs again, the
rattle in her chest more noticeable everyday. He wishes again that she
would just hurry up and die.
She starts telling him how thankful she is that he's
here for her, that there's someone she can help before she "passes
on". He listens to the rustle of clothing
telling his she's turned away, probably in search of a tissue. Before
he can fully realize when he's doing Sands lifts the heavy Brailler and
smashes it into her skull, killing her instantly. He knows by the sound
(or rather lack thereof) that she's dead but still he feels her neck lightly
for a pulse. Warm blood dribbles down onto his fingers and it disgusts
him in a way other people's blood never has before. Finding no pulse he
withdraws his hand from the mess that was Miz. Violet (oh sure, NOW he
remembers her name).
He's not sure if he's done her a favor for her so called
kindness by putting her out of her misery or delivered punishment for
her inability to shut the hell up, but somehow it feels like a balance
has been restored. He wipes the gore off his fingers, onto her knitted
sweater and stands up. He tosses down a wad of cash to cover the costs
of the machine he assumes must now be broken. Heading in the direction
of the door he turns back, though it makes little difference since neither
of them can see he's facing her.