Deafened: a very quiet short story

Leslie appreciates her hearing. Thus concerned, six months prior, she began wearing ear muffs in the city. [Not just winter ear muffs, they were construction grade - the big plastic yellow ones.] At first she wore them on the bus and on lunch-time walks. She removed them during polite conversation.

Things progressed, however.

She started to wear them to bed. To work. At the swimming pool. As Leslie had not yet learned to lip read, she insisted others write down their messages on a whiteboard she kept. She even considered getting fitted with a (non-functional) hearing aid. Irritated by her incomprehensible behaviour, Leslie isolated herself from those she knew. Leslie sought and made new friends with the Deaf. She will attend her first all-Deaf cruise this February. Wan ears are easily sunburned.