Love Makes NO Sound

Chapter one


Mary Ellen woke up the same way she had every morning for the last seventy years. There was no alarm clock, no birds chirping, no sound came from anywhere. The only thing that was different in Mary Ellen’s world of complete silence was her new husband, Jacob, lying next to her in the bed. As she lay there watching him sleep, her thoughts begin to wander to a time when she was a little girl.

It was 1940, and Mary Ellen was just three years old. She was sitting on the wrap around porch of the house she grew up in, and she was playing with her dolls.

Mary Ellen loved her house it was made of large gray stones put together with cement. To her it looked like a huge puzzle made of rocks, because all the stones just seemed to fit together as if they were made that way.
The porch that she played on was made of wood and painted gray and went around the entire house. It had two rocking chairs sitting off to one side and a swing on the other side. In the evenings the children would play while their parents sat in the rockers enjoying each others company.

Mary Ellen could remember all the sounds of that beautiful summer evening. She could remember the sound of her parents, Daniel and Ruth, voices as they talked happily about their day. Her father owned a welding shop, and worked very hard to provide a decent life for his family. She remembered how her siblings sounded as they laughed and played, all the sounds of that summer came flooding back in to her memory and all she could do was lie there and smile.

Mary Ellen snuggled back under the blanket and put her arm around Jacob, as she drifted back to sleep, her thoughts once again turned to her childhood. Only this time her dreams weren’t so happy.

She was lying in her childhood bed and she was so cold her whole body was shaking even though she was under several blankets. Her parents were sitting next to her praying that she would be alright, The look on the doctor’s face was grim as he turned to her parents and told them, “ I am sorry to say this, but Mary Ellen has the measles. She is still in danger until the fever comes down. Even then I am not sure how she will be. This disease is very dangerous, and could leave your child with brain damage; she could become deaf, or loose her eyesight. We will just have to wait and see.

Before he turned to leave he placed his hand on her and whispered a prayer to God that he would take care of this little girl. Her parents stayed by her bed all night, dozing off every now and then but never really sleeping, as they continued to pray and ask God to keep their sweet little girl alive.

Then about the time the sun was beginning to rise Mary Ellen’s fever broke and she opened her eyes, reaching over and touching her mothers hand she tried to ask for something to drink because she was very thirsty. But when her mother answered her, Mary Ellen got upset and began to cry because she couldn’t hear her mother talking to her. The more her parents talked to her the more frantic she became, Distraught, Daniel ran to call the doctor as Ruth tried to calm her baby down, cradling her and stroking the side of her face, trying desperately not to let her see how scared she was. Even at such a young age Mary Ellen could feel how scared her mother was, and attempted to calm down. She reached her tiny hand up and stroked her mothers face as if to say, “don’t worry mama I’m okay

As Ruth continued to rock her little girl, Daniel came in and told her “Doctor Mason will meet us at his office as soon as we can get there.”

Ruth bundled Mary Ellen up and put her in the car, grateful that they didn’t have far to drive. Her eyes never left her little girl sitting in the back seat. Ruth and Daniel were silent as they drove the rest of the way to the doctor’s. When they pulled into the parking lot fifteen minutes later the doctor was already there waiting on them.

Doctor Mason looked at them and said, “go ahead and take Mary Ellen into that room on the right and I will be there in a few minutes, I have to get some equipment to check some things out.” Daniel and Ruth just nodded, and walked down the small hallway to the examination room. While they sat there waiting Daniel looked over at his little girl and said. Ruth, I think now would be a good time to pray,” Ruth who was sitting on the bed with Mary Ellen reached over and took her hand, and Daniel came and stood in front of them holding both of their hands began to pray,
“Father, we come to you with praise and thankfulness in our hearts for all you have done in our lives. We ask you to forgive us for any sins we may have committed, Father, we ask that whatever happens here today that you will give us the strength to handle the situation, and to be able to give you the glory for everything that you do. We know that nothing happens without a reason, and in your love for us you promise to be with us in everything. Thank you for your son, and that he took stripes on his back for our healing, and died so that we could live, in Jesus name Amen.”

When Daniel finished praying he hugged his sweet Mary Ellen, then turned so that she wouldn’t see the tears in his eyes.

Doctor Mason, stood though out the entire prayer and then cleared his throat, is everybody ready?” They all nodded and he came in, as he walked over to where Mary Ellen was he said, “I am going to just examine her all over first, then we will start the test on her ears, is that okay?” Daniel and Ruth nodded their consent, but as they looked at Mary Ellen they could see that she was very upset. Ruth walked over and took Mary Ellen’s hand, but Mary Ellen pulled away and began to cry, touching her ears, and then shaking her head no.

Doctor Mason walked over and placed his large hand under Mary Ellen’s chin and pulled her face up to look at him, starring her in the eyes he motioned with his other hand to look at him, then he mouthed very slowly, “Mary Ellen, I am going to look at you and see what is going on. Okay.” She nodded, but still looked frightened.

Mary Ellen laid down on the bed so that doctor Mason could examine her, when he was finished, he had her sit up and began looking in her ears. Then he motioned for her to close her eyes and when she did he walked on all sides of her clapping his hands very loudly, Mary Ellen never responded to any of the noise. Doctor Mason touched Mary Ellen’s shoulder and she opened her eyes.

He then sat down and looked at her parents and said, “I was afraid of this, there is extensive damage to Mary Ellen’s inner ears caused by the measles. She has significant hearing lose in both ears. I want to send her to see a specialist, although he will probably tell you the same thing he can do some test that I can’t do here. He can also tell you what your options are as far as what to do if she is never going to be able to hear again.” “In the mean time always stand directly in front of her and speak slowly, try to get her to speak back to you without using hand signals of any kind.”

Daniel and Ruth nodded that they understood, Daniel said’ “how long will it take to get her into the specialist?” Doctor Mason rose from his chair and said, “I’m going to call him right now, sit here a few more minutes and I will be back with an appointment.”

Doctor Mason came back a few minutes later and handed them a piece of paper, then told them how to get there.

Mary Ellen woke up with tears in her eyes, and reached over to touch Jacob, but he wasn’t in the bed. She smelled breakfast cooking so she got out of bed and put on her pretty pink matching house coat and house shoes, a present from Jacob for her birthday two days before.

She went into the kitchen and touched her husband gently on the shoulder to let him know she was up, and when he turned to her he smiled and bent down and kissed her on the forehead. She smiled back and went to sit down at the kitchen table.

Mary Ellen watched as Jacob prepared her breakfast and marveled. Who would have thought she could find love at her age?