CODAs Fighting Over The Phone

July 17, 2007 in Children of Deaf Adults

* No narration on this one. Narration is strictly determined on whether the kids are screaming in the background or not. Smile.

How my brother and I fought over the phone, we were around 10 to 12 years old.  My brother and I had our own phones in our rooms. The kitchen was the main phone line with the old TTY that was giant and would vibrate when you clacked the keyboard.  Mom would send us to bed at 8:30 p.m. She would then go into the family room to watch TV. To get to the family room from the bedroom, one must cross through the kitchen.

When my brother was expecting a phone call, he would sneak into the kitchen and turn off the light flasher device. He know when the phone rang, the lights would not flash. Since I knew what he was doing, I would make up an excuse to go to the kitchen. I might say something to my mom, or get a drink of water. On my way through the kitchen I would press the light flasher ON!

Sure enough when the phone rang, the lights would FLASH. Mom would jump out of her chair to the hallway and flick on the lights to find out who was on the phone. Once my brother was in trouble. I was in the clear to make my phone calls.