Cajun books by Lionel A. LaVergne
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	SEEING a true story by Lionel A. LaVergne Chapter One   The house was small, little more than a one-room shack.  As you entered the front door: to your right was a huge fireplace, not decorative but a source of warmth during the cold misty days and especially nights that filled the countryside every winter, next to the cavernous opening sat a wood burning stove.  Neither was being used that night.   July of that year had been especially hot and humid, nothing unusual in that part of the country, since Louisiana is known for it’s interminable summers.  To the left of where the visitor to this home would be standing, a large bed, consisting of a mattress and pillows filled with moss, took up half of the room.  At the foot of the bed were two pallets, on which a small boy and a girl, slept.   On the damp bed a young mother was in the throes of delivering her third child.   The local mid wife anxiously manipulated the mother’s abdomen after having tied a diaper just below the lady in labors breastbone, attempting to turn the child around so that it would be born head first, instead of breech.   Hours later, near 3 A.M., after a mighty resistance to being born, the boy emerged.  A fine and healthy son, ten pounds in weight and having all of the digits, limbs and other accouterments one expects in a new born. It would be years later before the discovery was made, that revealed the male child had been born with a flaw, one that escaped detection for nearly thirteen years. CHAPTER TWO   Lonny, played games, ran with his siblings through fields, attended his first movie at the age of five, never knowing he was different.  When someone called his attention to a bird, or a plane, or some other object, he sometimes wondered why he had just missed whatever it was his brother or sisters had seen.  But, he was never concerned and his siblings and father and mother were completely unaware that Lonny had missed seeing what the other children had noticed, and after each time this happened, the kids would all run off toward some other adventure, as only children could.   “Lonny, cowboy or Indian?”  Ned asked his cousin.   “Cowboy, I’m always the Indian, and so I always lose.”  Lonny replied.   “But you don’t have a six shooter.”  Ned pointed out.   “Well I don’t have a bow and arrow or a tomahawk either, but I manage to be the Indian each time.”  Neither Ned nor Lonny’s families had extra money for fancy toys, but Ned had many older brothers and sisters, so consequently he received playthings Lonny would never see under the Christmas tree.   “Loan me your gun and I’ll hunt you down, you can try to shoot me with your imaginary bow, okay?”  Lonny offered.  The cousins knew how the game would end, regardless of who was cowboy or who was Indian.  Ned always managed to sneak up on Lonny and shoot him dead.  Ned assumed he won because he was an especially good sneaker upper, Lonny figured he was just too slow in his reactions, or something.   In school Lonny passed each year, and that was all his parents asked of their children, actual grades were unimportant. One day as Lonny stood inches from the blackboard attempting to write down the next day’s assignment, Mrs. Miller, told Lonny to sit on the first row if he couldn’t read what was on the board.   “I still can’t see, even from the first row.”  Lonny explained. Mrs. Miller knew Lonny’s mother and sought her out.   “Your son, Lonny, needs glasses.”  Mrs. Miller said, coming straight to the point.   “Oh, I don’t think so.  What makes you say that, Mrs. Miller?”   “He can’t read the blackboard unless he’s six inches away.  Haven’t you noticed his problem?”   “He reads all of the time, he’s always got a comic book in his hands, even when walking around.”  Lonny’s mom pointed out.  “Always stuck next to his nose, you hardly ever see him without something to read in his hands.”   “That’s exactly my point, why do you think he keeps the comics that close to his face?  Well, I think you should have his eyes examined, right away.” Lonny’s mom was a good mother her family was always fed, dressed in clean clothes, and her children well reared and never in trouble of any kind.  Being a good and kind mother, and after discussing with her husband what should be done, she took her third child to another town twenty miles away and had his eyes examined. “This child is as near to blind without actually being blind as any one I’ve ever examined.  Why isn’t he wearing corrective lenses?”  The Oculist asked.  “I don’t understand how in the world he has managed to get by all of these years.  His vision is 20-400.”  The tone and manner of the doctor was as one reprimanding a child, the mother was the same age as the doctor’s two children, so neither felt uncomfortable at the mild correction administered by the eye specialist.   “I didn’t know, his dad didn’t either, I can’t understand how we could have missed this.”   Lonny’s mom said, utter dismay written across her face.  Understanding that the mother hadn’t been negligent, just ignorant of her child’s problems, the Oculist squelched any farther castigation, then said.   “His eyes grew oblong instead of round, consequently the light entering through his iris’ fail to cross at the optic nerve, causing him to be extremely near sighted.  I’ m certain he’s had this problem since birth and as most children will do, adapted to his surroundings, leaving you, as well as he, unaware that he had this debilitating shortcoming.”   “You said 20-400, what does that mean?”  Lonny’s mom asked.   “To put it simply, what a person with normal vision can see at 400 feet, Lonny can see only if he is 20 feet away.”   “Oh my, what do I do now?”   “I’ll order the lens he needs placed in a frame then the glasses will be delivered by my wife to Debreaux’s jewelry store in your town.  You or your husband can take the boy there and Mr. Debreaux will fit them to his head.  You can pay me for the examination at this time and for the spectacles when you pick them up from the jewelry store.”   CHAPTER THREE           Close to thirteen years from the day he was born Lonny and his dad walked into the jewelry store.  Lonny understood he was going to be wearing glasses, perhaps for the rest of his life.  He didn’t understand why, he’d been just fine up till now.  An obedient son, although not agreeing with this decision that had been made for him, he nevertheless went along with his parent’s wishes, if they wanted him to wear the spectacles, and probably be called four eyes the rest of his life, then he would do as he was told.   “Hello son, you must the lucky boy who’s getting his glasses today.  Sit on that stool while I talk to your dad.”  The young boy was told. Looking around Lonny saw bright shiny objects everywhere.  He’d never been into this particular establishment since he of course had never needed anything that was sold here and he if he had, he wouldn’t have had the money to buy any of them.   The store owner and Lonny’s dad took care of business, then after telling Lonny he had to leave because he was heading for Thibodeaux to catch a boat that would take him to the offshore oil rig where he made his living, Lonny’s father left.   “Your dad works offshore?”  The jewelry store owner asked.   “Yes sir, he’ll be gone for ten days then home for five.”   “Okay, now you sit still and I’ll fit these.”  The large man’s breath smelled of mints and tobacco.  Placing the plastic frame on the top of Lonny’s nose the man manipulated, bent and adjusted till he was happy with the way the glasses fit on Lonny.  Bothers my nose and hurts the back of my ears, was all the boy could think, I won’t be wearing these things very much since they already bother me, Lonny decided as he turned to walk outside.   As was his way, Lonny was looking down, he had conned himself into believing he did this because he could then find vast sums of money others had lost.  In his life he had maybe netted eighty-five cents, but with that excuse, along with the many others he had devised over the years, he never had to admit he couldn’t see as others could.   A rush of vertigo caused him to reach for the door frame.  His hand failed to connect and he nearly fell.   “Better go slow, son.  First pair makes the world look mighty different.”  He heard the man behind him say.  Steadying himself he walked out onto the sidewalk.  The sidewalk was cracked!  Studying the cement beneath his feet he saw breaks running off in every direction.  Have we had an earthquake I’m not aware off?   Lonny wondered.  Those cracks weren’t there last time I came to town. Looking up, Lonny was quickly overwhelmed by a cascade of bursting colors as everything he saw was bright and each item he looked at seemed to have been newly painted.  At the top of some of the buildings he saw writing, letters proclaiming the name of the different businesses and what they sold.  He knew the names and what was available for purchase in all of them, but he hadn’t known that each store was identified in this manner.  Moving carefully he turned left and hesitantly made his way down Main Street.  He was a little apprehensive about the cracks in the walk, although he had walked this way many times in the past, sometimes running with his cousin Ned and other school chums, he hadn’t been aware in what precarious shape the sidewalks were in.  His destination was a small café around the next corner.  His mother worked there part time as a waitress and she had instructed him to come by so she could see his new set of glasses. At the entrance to the café Lonny stood, uncertain and a little frightened.  Inside he saw three women walking around, waiting on customers, wiping down tables and filling salt and pepper shakers.  He knew one of them was the owner, another was a neighbor, and the third was his mother.  His apprehension stemmed from the awful realization that he didn’t know which one was his mother.  The three women shared size, hair color, age and height.  None of them stood out in any way, and which was the woman that had given him birth, loved and taken care of him for thirteen years?  Lonny didn’t know.  Using a device he had learned many years ago, he stood still and listened.     Coming home from school, Lonny had always been the first to arrive.  His siblings belonged to clubs, took part in athletics and had many interests in which Lonny had never taken part.  Realizing his mother wasn’t home but knowing she was somewhere near by, he had simply stood on the front porch until he heard her voice, or maybe just the snapping of her gum.     Lonny’s other four other senses had developed to a fine point compensating for the lack of one of them.  His, sense of hearing, taste, touch and smell were nearly uncanny. Standing in the opening Lonny listened and heard his mother’s distinct voice and walked to her.  Sitting on a stool he waited while his mother studied his glasses and he in turn marveled at the freckles and other spots his mother exhibited on her face, items that had never been there till that day.   “How do you like your glasses?”  His mother asked.   “I don’t, they hurt the back of my ears and they give me a funny feeling on my nose.”   “Well, that’s too bad, they cost a lot of money and you’ll just have to wear them, okay sweetie?”   “Yes, mom.”   “You go on home, I’ll be off in an hour and maybe I’ll bring you some blackberry cobbler.”  His mother teased knowing that other than canned figs Lonny loved the fruit desert better than anything in the world. Walking carefully out of the door Lonny continued to search all around and wonder at the many changes that had occurred in just a few minutes.  Seeing a boy walking toward him he felt that he should know him but wasn’t certain.   Dressed in the uniform of summer the boy had on old cut off jeans and a stained pull over shirt.  His hair was blond and even from this distance Lonny saw he had blue eyes.  Slim and a few inches taller than Lonny the boy sauntered nearer to where Lonny stood.   “Hey, Lonny, almost didn’t recognize you.  Whatcha got on your face, glasses?   Why you got them on for?”  The boy was Ned, Lonny’s cousin and best friend in the whole world.  “I didn’t know who he was,” Lonny thought, “how sad.?   “Yeah, Ned it’s me.  Mrs. Miller talked Mom into getting me this set of specs.  I don’t know how bad I need them but the world is sure different with these on.”   “Yeah?  Let me see.”  Ned slipped the glasses on his face then waving his arms around he pretended to be drunk.  "Dang, how can you see anything with these on?  Makes me dizzy, here take them back.”  Lonny put the glasses back on and the two began walking.  Ned noticed that Lonny was walking slowly and seemed to be constantly holding back, stepping very carefully, especially off of and on to curbs.  After a few blocks they turned to the right heading south.  The street they were walking down was graveled and had been nicknamed railroad avenue, although that wasn’t it’s name, but very few people if asked could have told you it’s real name.  Railroad tracks ran on either side of the long street and cars were situated at intervals.  Lonny stopped, staring at a railroad car.   “There’s writing on that thing, S&P what does that mean??  Lonny asked.   “Southern Pacific, of course there’s writing on the side of the train, always has been.”  Ned explained.   “Yeah, I know.”  Lonny lied. While Ned walked by his side not noticing anything in particular, because he’d seen it all many times, Lonny would stop and stare, sometimes for minutes.   “What’s with you, we’ll never get to your house if you stop and look at everything, you’ve seen all this stuff a million times anyway, come on let’s move.”   “What’s CLECO?”  Lonny asked.   “What?”   “CLECO.”   “You mean, that sign, over there?  That’s CENTRAL LOUISIANA ELECTRIC COMPANY.”  Ned stood very still Lonny had finally gotten his attention.   “You don’t remember seeing that sign and the writing on the boxcars before?”   “No.”   “Ah Jeez, you really did need those glasses didn’t you.  I’m sorry I laughed at you, wow.  I didn’t know, how about when we went to the picture shows, did you know what was going on?”   “When we sat way up front, I did.”  Lonny answered.  Ned felt instantly contrite.   Lonny was always trying to get him to sit close to the screen but that always gave him a crimp in his neck, so he hardly ever did.  Now he felt bad because he had been so completely unaware of his best friend and cousin’s need.  But then he was just a child, unlike parents, aunts and uncles, teachers and business owners all over town who hadn’t noticed Lonny’s plight or if they had, hadn’t cared.   “Can you find you’re way home?”  Ned asked.   “Sure, you think I’m nuts or something?”   “No, I asked because I know with those glasses everything is different.”  Lonny saw something in his cousin he’d never seen before, a caring deeper than he’d ever thought was possible in one so young.  Feeling a stinging in his eyes Lonny pulled off his glasses and rubbed the offending orbs.   “They, bothering you?”  Ned asked.   “Yeah, but I’ll get used to them, see ya.”   “Okay later.” CHAPTER FOUR   Although the day was warm Lonny preferred sitting outside under the large oak tree in the side yard.  Inside the house was uncomfortable although all of the windows were opened and the ceiling fans spun lazily.  Lonny enjoyed the cool grass and the shade from the thick branches covered with leafs.     Looking up Lonny noticed that he could see each individual leaf.  Small canals ran from the centers to the edges of the brown spotted green leafs, in the past trees had been large green blobs.  Sitting in his favorite place where he had read thousands of comic books Lonny thought about what he had discovered since that morning.  The world had changed, actually he had changed, no that wasn’t correct either everything had changed.  The world was the same Lonny was the same his ability to see his town was what had changed.   How?  How had his parents, his siblings, his many aunts, uncles and cousins, his teachers, his friends, hadn’t anyone noticed that he was blind?   Lonny felt a burning in his stomach as he became angry, really angry for the first time in his life.  How could they all do this to me?  Is everyone in my life so busy worrying about themselves they couldn’t find a minute to notice how blind I am?  I’ ve missed so much, learning how to tell time, my younger sister had to explain the hands on the clock.   “Didn’t you learn this in school, I did?”  Meg had asked.   “I guess I was absent that day.”  Lonny explained.  He knew he’d been in class that day but for some reason he hadn’t understood he had been unable to tell which number the hands were pointing to.   “All this beauty, the trees, flowers,” Lonny thought, “oh my I can see a bee sitting on that bud, I can see his wings moving, wow.”  Night slowly covered the town and still Lonny sat under his tree and studied everything within eyesight   His wonder had grown considerably that day, and the feelings that ran through him vacillated between being awed and angry.  Each time he discovered something new, such as the many shapes of clouds in the sky, he became elated but then feelings of hurt would wash away that emotion.  As the sun set and it grew dark Lonny looked up into the sky, he knew about stars he’s read about then in science class, in fiction books by Asimov, Bradbury and all of the other wonderful writers but till that second he’d never seen one.  Crawling out from under the branches he sat and stared up.  Hundreds, thousands, no millions of tiny lights winked and blinked as though they were laughing because they were so happy that Lonny could finally see them.  Reclining on his back Lonny searched the heavens.  That must be the big dipper, he thought, and the North Star!           Feeling something slide from the corner of his eyes and into his ears the boy realized he was crying.  He wondered, am I crying?  For joy of discovery, overwhelmed by the beauty I see everywhere, or is it because I’m so damn mad at everyone.     Lonny could taste milk and knew two days before anyone else in his family it would soon grow bad unless someone else drank it up in the next day or so, his sense of smell had helped him find others when playing hide and seek or cowboys and Indians.  He never told any of his friends he could find and identify them from their smell, that wouldn’t have been polite.  Any object he had ever touched he could later identify, and he heard trains coming minutes before his friends, warning them to get off the tracks when they went walking to the woods north of town. Eyes blurred he kept staring up into the night sky.  Anger burned and roiled in his stomach.  Then the moon appeared.  He saw dents, perhaps holes?  The moon had crevices and different shades, something he’d never know.  It was huge and beautiful, a wonderful sight.     “I suppose I should be angry with everyone in my life.”  He thought.  Yet he found as he contemplated the beauty of the night he felt the anger drain away.  Tears rolled freely from his eyes as he lay on his back.  As the anger and disappointment was replaced by awe, he began thinking about the five senses most people were blessed with.  Hearing is good I would never know what my friends and relatives’ sound like, and the sound of a train passing in the night. Music, I love music, think about never being able to hear music.  Smelling is nice, flowers and magnolia bushes, those were wonderful of course sometimes he wished he couldn’t smell anything, especially when his big brother would let out a stinky one in bed then throw the cover over Lonny’s head. Lonny loved certain foods and the thought of never being able to taste a black berry clobber and a big pile of his Aunt Clementine’s rice and gravy washed down with a cold RC Cola, hmmm.  And it feels so good to scratch when you itch that is nice but when you step on a rusty nail on a board or on a rock, well maybe then I would rather not have that particular sense. But the best one, the one that has now made me the happiest boy in Louisiana, the one that allows me to see all of the beauty God has made, of all of the senses, if he had to chose, Lonny felt the best one was, seeing.