I went to Baltimore today to interpret for the Mr. Maryland Leather contest. Fortunately another terp showed up to watch, because I had a headache and after an hour I was already forgetting signs like “spring” – durrrrr. So the other terp, who was shocked that they hadn’t asked another terp to work with me, did a while and he was great! I finished the show and got some compliments after. They had to do with what had looked like I was flipping off the MC. He had just been heckling me, and then somebody to his left called out something. He told them “bite me!” so I signed that by giving the finger to my left, toward the MC…and people thought I was the one giving him the finger. None of my deaf folks did, dear sweet Sir Y (who is a terp for the deaf-blind) said “oh no, you said bite me, I read it on your lips!” Hearing people are funny sometimes.
Afterward, I checked my pager and saw there was an update about the heart transplant kid I interpreted for this summer. I realized, hey! I’m right near the hospital! So I emailed his dad to check if it was okay to come over, and ate my egg salad sandwich while I waited for him to answer. (Got it at Whole Foods because I knew I’d be hungry after interpreting.) He said sure, so I went over and visited for a little bit. That kid gave me an AWESOME hug, god he is adorable. (He’s 16 and would not want to be called that!) I chatted with his stepmom about how he’s been doing, and I asked if I could give him $10 for Subway. (There’s one at the hospital, and he hates hospital food so he gets Subway a lot.) She said sure, so I pulled a bill from the back of my wallet, quickly folded it, and gave it to him. Only after I’d left the room did I realize I’d had a $20 in the back, not a $10 like I thought. Oh well, he can have LOTS of Subway. He’s a good kid, and the family is trying to be frugal right now, so I can help out. Of course I haven’t worked much in the past few months, so I’m broke myself, but it’s okay. (Not like I could ask for it back anyway…and he’s just a real sweetie.)