Erick Draws

Erick was a simple guy, or at least he saw himself as one. He’d graduated high school with mostly A’s and B’s, enough B’s that his grades look average by today’s standards. He didn’t have any extracurriculars in high school, though he wanted to do wrestling. When he had approached his parents in his sophomore year of high school to ask if he could do wrestling, the $250 fee to compete for a single season was too high. His parents told him: “250 dollars is a lot for an activity you might get bored of before going to college, and we don’t have the time and energy to pick you up from practice every day.” So Erick didn’t join the wrestling team.

Erick’s peers suspected that he wouldn’t go to college. His grades were fine, but they weren’t elite state university level, and he had no activities to bolster his applications with. He had a meager twenty community service hours by the time that he graduated, and was excluded from some of the best scholarships due to his lack of hours.

Erick read a lot of books, mostly fantasy novels and comic books. His peers knew this about him, and they saw him recreate pages from all sorts of books. Some made passing comments about his drawings that were meant to encourage him. Others tried to strike up conversations if they saw Erick reading books that they were familiar with, but Erick was quiet. He gave one word responses, if he gave any response at all, and often would stare blankly at those who tried to talk to him, assuming he could be bothered to look up from his books or drawing at all.

To the astonishment of his parents, classmates, and teachers, Erick got into the University of Virgina. Erick told his parents that he believed he got in due to his essays. No one proofread Erick’s essays, and he made no other remark about his writing. Erick was right, as even though the acceptance letter didn’t specify what exactly shone about Erick’s application, the reviewers in admissions had gushed over his ornate prose and uniquely structed explications. Writing and drawing came very naturally to Erick, but as his family seldom commented on such matters he concluded that his best bet was to study something with better job prospects, so he chose Physics.

His family briefly pressed him to consider Engineering instead, but Erick wanted to study Physics. Truthfully, Erick didn’t want to study Physics so much as he wanted to write and to draw. He determined that a stronger foundation in Physics would improve his drawings, without disappointing his parents the way studying something like animation or art would. Erick’s parents wanted him to study something that would provide him with a more stable career path. Erick was not eager to take courses like differential equations and multivariable calculus, but in his head he rationalized that they would be useful to his drawings so he made sure he could enroll in calculus one in his first semester.

His other classes included Introduction to Physics, English 1, General Chemistry and a Physics lab. Erick didn’t struggle too much in his first semester classes, but he particularly excelled in English, which thankfully didn’t require him to talk much. He got B’s in every class, except for English, in which he got an A. He didn’t speak to other students in his classes, and the other students didn’t speak to him.

His second semester seemed normal at the start, but he disappeared for three weeks in February. When he returned, he was even quieter and more withdrawn than before. People who recognized him from the previous semester attempted to talk to him, but he never said anything back.

One day, he was supposed to work in a group for English 2, but he would only write and never talk. This annoyed the students in his group, and by the third day of working on the project a guy who always wore a black hat and red button-up over a t-shirt tried to confront Erick.

“Why don’t you talk?” The student asked.

The other two students quietly waited for a response as Erick began writing an explanation.

“No dude, talk to us. We need the work on this project to go faster, and you constantly writing and not talking is holding us back!” The student explained with an irritated tone.

Erick tried to write faster, but the other student had had enough.

“Whatever, we’ll just finish the project without you. Come on.” The student in the red shirt motioned for the other two students in the group to move with him to a different table in the library. Before they could stand up to move, Erick’s face contorted into a scowl and turned red. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. He grabbed his bag and sprinted out of the library.

“Wait!” Another student in the group yelled, this one in a blue shirt, but Erick was already out the library front door and couldn’t hear her.

A student-librarian shushed the English students.

“Forget him.” The student in the red shirt told the other two.

The following day, Erick didn’t go to his regular classes. He went to a sign language workshop in the education building, and after a few hours felt he could finally explain what happened to him, most of which he did in a written note to the ASL professors. Erick had caught strep throat which spread to his larynx and caused severe Laryngitis. The doctors were forced to remove his vocal cords, and thus an already quiet young Erick had been rendered unable to speak.

The more Erick went to the ASL classes, the easier his life felt. He occasionally had to write out that he simply couldn’t speak and was not deaf. His teachers in particular seemed very understanding. Unfortunately, the professors understanding his situation didn’t always make the classes easier.

Erick began drawing the way he did in middle school and high school. He showed the drawings to people in his ASL class, and they not only appreciated Erick’s art, but they showed him their own drawings. The group of artists in the University ASL class learned from each other and their art got better.

By late April, Erick was doing extremely poorly in most of his classes. He had managed to communicate with the students in his English class, enabling them all to contribute and do well on the project. The student with the red shirt and black hat even apologized. The project grade helped Erick to have a passing grade in English, but he was tired of all his classes.

He dropped out and started an animation project with the students from his ASL class, and it made for an extremely successful series on YouTube. He occasionally worked as an ASL interpreter when revenue from YouTube slowed down. His work brought him joy.