Page 19 of Bad Daddy

Danny winced and rubbed his fist over his chest. “Sorry.” Tests were pretty much the only time he actually needed to write anything down for class, when they had to translate what Adrian had signed to them. He knew his tests were usually a mess of scribbles. He was just glad Adrian had never marked him down for spelling like a third grader.

“No, it’s fine! You do great in class,” she signed, beaming. “Good student.”

“Thank you,” Danny signed, not expecting the praise.

“I will make different homework and tests for you.” Danny blanched as she continued. “With no writing.”

“That’s fine,” he hurried to say. “The workbook is fine. I just wanted to let you know.”

Adrian made a face, showing just what she thought of the workbook. Like most Deaf people, she was incredibly expressive. “The workbook doesn’t teach good. I’ll give you different work.”

“Thank you,” Danny signed again. That was… way more than he had expected. Or even hoped for.

She beamed at him again. “You’re a good student. It’s no trouble.”

***

Statistics was the class Danny was dreading most. Professor Edison was… not his favorite. He talked fast and wrote fast, and had the absolutely bewildering and distressing habit of writing notes with one hand and erasing them with the other. Danny had no idea how anyone else in the class was managing—he certainly couldn't keep up. The best he could do was commit everything to memory as fast as possible and flounder otherwise.

He wasn't expecting Professor Edison to impatiently call out “Garcia!” and then hurry away, muttering about probabilities. Danny watched him go with a sinking feeling in his stomach. He didn't think he’d be able to get up the nerves to approach his professor about accommodations twice.

“Uh, hey! Danny Edwards?”

Danny turned… and looked up and up at a guy in a yellow sweater and khakis wearing a green beanie over his dark brown hair. He wasn't a complete stranger–Danny sort of recognized him from class–but he didn't know why he was being approached, or why this guy knew his name.

The guy was also huge and looked like he could easily break Danny in half with one arm tied behind his back. But his expression was friendly, so Danny tried to focus on that. “Uh, yeah?”

“Hi!” The guy smiled and held out his hand. “I’m Manuel Garcia. I’m your note-taker for class.”

Danny warily took his hand. Manuel’s hand was huge in comparison to his, but Manuel didn't posture or squeeze too tight. The shake was firm and then he let go. “Note-taker?” The office had mentioned one, but Danny hadn’t actually known what they’d meant.

“Yeah,” Manuel didn't drop the smile in the face of Danny’s question. “Have you had one before?”

Danny shook his head, feeling stupid.

“That’s okay! Here, want me to explain how it works?”

“Uh… yeah. Okay.”

“Here, c’mon, I’ll get set up.”

Manuel led Danny over to a seat and motioned for Danny to sit next to him, then pulled a tablet with a case and stylus out of his bag. He unlocked it and fiddled for a minute, humming as he set up the keyboard and then pulled up what looked like a note-taking app.

“Okay,” he said, pointing with his stylus. “So I type up all of Edison’s notes and equations and stuff here. Then I run the notes through this text-to-voice program, go through it to make sure there aren’t any mistakes or whatever, and then I email you both the written notes and the verbal ones.” He paused, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ll need your email though, if that’s cool. They didn’t give it to me.”

Danny’s mouth worked soundlessly for a second. That was it? It was that easy?

Then he had an awful thought. “Do I, uh, have to… pay you…?”

He could probably swing it if need be–but it depended on how much Manuel asked for. Danny was stretched thin as it was, with his goal of trying to save money. He didn't want to eat into what he was able to put away each month.

Manuel’s eyes widened and he held up his hands. “What? No? I… no?”

Danny frowned, confused.

Manuel looked from Danny to his tablet and back again, as if at a loss. “It’s a volunteer thing. You know?”

Danny did not, in fact, know. It all seemed like a pretty big thing to do for nothing. Maybe Manuel was expecting to be paid some other way.

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