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Blinded by You
Penelope Rivers
Copyright © November 2011, Penelope Rivers
Cover art designed by © Mina Carter November 2011
ISBN: 978-1-937394-19-6
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are
fictitious or used fictitiously. All rights reserved, including the right to
reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
Amira Press
Charlotte, NC
www.amirapress.com
Wxw|vtà|ÉÇ
For my friends, who remind me to laugh.
Blinded by You
Penelope Rivers
Chapter One
Evan Williams had never known color. Instead, he had been born into a
world of all black. If someone asked him what he dreamed about, then he
would tell them this: “I dream about what I know. I hear noises, taste food,
and feel touches.” To this, they would usually let out exasperated sighs as if
he were missing out on some great picture. Evan, though, never felt like he
was missing out because he had never known sight.
That was why it was ironic that Evan was talking to a group of kids who
had been blinded by serious accidents.
“There is life after blindness,” Evan chanted in a deaf and blind school
called Saint Maria’s. “Trust me, you can learn to live again.”
This was his usual seminar that he gave people. Evan thought it was
inappropriate that so many trusted him with this speaking duty—he had been
born blind and hadn’t known the feeling of utter loss that these kids must
feel. Still, he did what he had to do to make money, and if they wanted him
to speak about loss and blindness, then that was exactly what Evan would
do.
“Do you have any questions?” Evan asked his class of students before
him. He had been told that his students were all fourth-to-sixth-grade level
and that there were around fifteen of them. “Naturally, please don’t bother
to raise your hands.”
Some of the students, the ones who still had their sense of humor intact,
chuckled. Evan had no trouble joking about his “little problem.” In fact, it
was a great hit at parties. Sometimes, he would deliberately trip into men with
attractive voices to get a closer “look.” To him, this actually meant copping a
feel.
A female voice squeaked, “Sir, how do you handle working an ordinary
job with your condition. I . . . I . . . I’ve always wanted to be a doctor, but
then last year I had an accident, and now I can’t see anything. I wouldn’t be
able to see my patients to help them. I just don’t know what to do.”
“There have been blind painters and writers, some of which were the
most famous in the world,” he responded. “Artists rely greatly on their sight.
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Blinded by You
Penelope Rivers
If they can do it, then why can’t you become a doctor? Don’t you worry.
Soon, your other senses will begin to take over the lost one. It won’t ever
completely be the same, but if you believe, then you can be anything. Next
question.”
The queries came and went. At every seminar, all of the children wanted
to know the same thing: will it ever be the same? He couldn’t tell them the
truth. No matter how much they wanted it, a blind person was still a blind
person. People looked at him differently when they realized that he couldn’t
see. Even with being born blind, he could tell that much. The kids might
even lose friends over it. It was a sad, hard truth that they were too young to
learn.
After he had finished, he waved at the crowd—or at least in their general
direction—as he heard the sound of clapping. He felt around for a moment,
using all of his remaining senses to find the end of the wooden stage, and
headed down the stairs. At the end of it, he met the arm of his assistant, Jane
Lynn. She needn’t have bothered. He could have wandered all around the
city with the aid of his seeing-eye dog, Nickel. His father, though, would
never have allowed it. Even though Evan was twenty-eight, his father still
behaved as though Evan were bouncing off of the walls in his blindness. It
didn’t help that he was an only child.
“How did I do?” he said. “Think I blinded them with my stunning
performance?”
Jane pinched his arm and cleared her throat in annoyance. “You and your
awful jokes. How can you say that about a health condition?”
“Easy,” Evan said. “I’ve got a billion of them. Want to hear some more?”
Jane squeezed his arm again. “Stop it. I’m pregnant. If you make me
laugh, then I’m going to pee all over myself. I swear that my baby is kicking
my bladder on purpose.”
Jane had been his assistant for the past twelve years, since he had been in
high school. Now, she was thirty-six and expecting her first baby. It was
unfortunate, but every day that she was closer to delivery, the sooner he
would be losing his assistant. Though Evan didn’t think that he needed any
help, he had to admit that he would miss her company. She was a great
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Blinded by You
Penelope Rivers
friend on dull business trips.
As they pushed their way out one door and into a hallway, Evan snuck a
feel of her baby bump and rubbed it. He envied her. Though he loved
children, chances were high that he wouldn’t have any of his own. After all,
he was gay, and as a blind person, he had a very hard time finding lovers at
all, let alone a lifetime partner who would be willing to adopt a baby with
him.
Men, he guessed, were intimidated by his blindness. They thought he
might grow needy or could not fend for himself, even though he had had a
good job for the past six years. There had never been a day that he couldn’t
dress or feed himself. He was just like any other guy, except that he was one
who couldn’t see. It wasn’t like his penis was defective. Now that would be a
real physical ailment.
“Okay,” Jane murmured as she moved against his arm and her baby
bump rubbed against his side, “Dean wants to meet with you when we get
back from Charleston. Some sort of lunch. Can you make it?”
Dean had been his best friend in college. Unlike most guys, Dean rarely
took pity on him, which Evan liked. The two of them had even wrestled and
played basketball. Lately, though, Dean had been preoccupied because his
parents had passed on, leaving his kid brother of only twenty-one on his
hands. Apparently, though the boy was old enough to handle himself, he was
wild and needed guidance. Dean was determined to be the one to give it to
him.
“Of course I want to meet Dean,” he replied. “What are you, blind?”
“Enough with the blind jokes,” Jane said. “They get old after the
hundredth time.”
“Okay, okay,” he said, grinning. “But seriously, tell Dean that I’ll meet
him, but only if we go to Murray’s. He owes me. I loaned him money.”
“Got you,” Jane replied. For a moment she paused, making him worry
that she was about to go into labor. She scared him a lot. “Okay, Thursday at
two o’clock.”
They had a big airline trip, and the last thing that Evan wanted was for
Jane to go into labor in the middle of the flight. He wasn’t sure what airline
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