Blind Boy

Around the time I was about eight or nine years old, we moved back to Mississippi and were living at my Grandmother's house. Mom and Dad has split and now it's my grandma, my mother, and my baby brother living at our family house in small town USA. My brother and I had shared a room since the time we were born, and I was at the age where I wanted my own room. I was beginning to feel myself and actually thought I was the man of the house.

For weeks, maybe even months, I begged my mom to let me have my own room. My mom wasn’t having it, telling me I wasn't ready and that we didn't have space in the house for a new room. My brain began to turn, and I was over it. I went into the computer room to play some games and blow off some steam, and BAM, it hit me! I could sleep in here, the computer room. I'm in there all the time, anyway, so it was a perfect fit. Rushing, I find my mom, and with excitement, I say, how about we use the computer room? She looks at me with exhaustion on her face and say, “Once we do this, there's no going back.”

Little did she know I was born for this, so I said, Yes, mom, I'm ready. She tells me that we will get up and clean up the computer room in the morning and move my bed into the room tomorrow. That night I was so happy to finally be moving into my own room. I was finally becoming a man and have some privacy. I thought of all the things I could do in my own room; I could stay up playing games all night. I could be on my phone until it was time to get off it. My mind was a candy shop, and I was literally the kid.

Finally, morning came and having my own room was moments away. It seemed like I took all day to clean and move my bed to my new room. Let’s set the scene: the room is a supply closet at the time. I thought it was a big room, but looking back on it, it was tiny; wall to wall, maybe two and a half strides. There was a table with an old school Dell computer on top; this table took up half the room; hence the computer room name, we really only had space for a computer table. I had a twin-size bed that we put in the corner that you ran into as soon as you walked into the room; one stride in, and you're ready for bed. If you faced the back of the house and looked on the wall, you'd see three bookshelves side by side filled with all types of household items. Now that you have the scene, let me tell you the story inside the room.

And it goes like this… It was a stormy, summer night in the countryside of the Mississippi Delta. I didn't think anything of it, just normal business. I didn't leave my room all day, just me, my bed and the computer. Boy was I in heaven. Around seven or eight, my mom called for dinner, and by nine, it was time for bed. I had eaten and taken my shower, and I was ready for my first solo night of bachelorhood. Did I tell you, this time, my room didn't have a door? We hung a white sheet at the doorway, and that was my portal.

I'm ready for bed; I jump in, snuggle up, and off to dreamland I go. I would like to believe I was having the best dream of my life, but I can't recall. The only thing I do recall is my fan cutting off in the middle of the night. I've always slept with a fan because me and heat just don't mix well, so I woke up instantly when my fan went off. I tried to turn on the fan from my bed, but it wasn't working, so as any normal person would, I sat up to wipe my eyes, trying to see better, and the next thing I know, I don't see anything. Darkness, it was pitch black in an eerie kind of way.

I had a night light underneath the computer table that I could see while lying down, but I couldn't see it. I looked for my fan, but I couldn't see it. I looked at my hands, but I couldn't see a thing. I thought I was being punished with full-blown blindness, I mean I was as blind as a bat. Scared and Panicked, I let out a scream I made sure the whole house could hear. All you heard was “Momma, I'm Blind, Momma I can’t see, I'm blind Momma!” I was screaming at the top of my lungs. I was banging on the walls, I was knocking everything down onto the floor. The computer, the stuff on the shelves, pillows, everything. I was desperately trying to escape the tiny room and go back to the room I shared with my brother. Did I tell you the room had no door?

At the age of eight, I thought my entire life is over. I wouldn’t be able to play games anymore, I couldn’t see my friends anymore, I could no longer use my beloved computer, I couldn’t do anything. Why me, Lord why me? It felt as if my mom would never come. The time I was without sight seemed like an all-night battle, kicking and screaming for help. Then suddenly like all the stories you heard, I saw the light.

There I am, facing the back wall, opposite way of the door, and I glance over my right shoulder, and my Grandmother is coming to the rescue, guiding me out of the darkness. She grabbed my hand and pulls me out of the room all the way to the kitchen table in the dining room. In comes to my mom running from the back with a baseball bat in a panic, saying, “Boy, I thought somebody broke in on us!” Before I could say a word, my Grandmother said, "The Boy thought he was blind." "Blind?" My Mother says.

I wiped my eyes, and then I didn't see anything; I thought I was blind, Momma! She looked at me and said, "My Son," and went back to her room. My Grandmother was making some tea and told me after my mom left that it was storming bad, that's why the power went out. She sat with me for an eternity to make sure I was good, and then we both went back to our rooms. I laid back in my bed, blinking my eyes, making sure I wouldn't have a blind relapse.

Once I realized all was good, I turned on my fan, the overhead room lights and went to sleep. The next morning the topic of discussion at breakfast was none other than the little kid who was ready to live life on his own. My Mother started it off with a "Son You Ok?" then my brother hit me with a light giggle, and my Grandmother was spilling all the tea with "Yea he just thought he was blind when we couldn’t see any light last night." I was embarrassed at the moment, but the situation was so funny. I really thought my whole life was over because I thought I was blind. I overreacted. which taught me at a young age never to overreact to a situation, always remain cool, so you don't embarrass yourself in front of everybody.

It is inevitable that there will be embarrassing moments in life, but the key is to keep that moment in wraps, contained, almost like damage control over yourself. Yea, so that’s life during a power outage for a wannabe, independent, man child, living on his own for the first time, suffering from self-imposed blindness, in small town USA that is better known as the Mississippi Delta.