Thank you for reading my story, I hope that you enjoy it. Love Mica xx, Yorkshire England.
Please note that I am a British female, and I write in British English and vernacular, so for me a fanny is the correct term for female genitalia, a pussy is a pet cat, and the ass is a bum or arse.
I live in a small town on the edge of a city near the pacific ocean. I moved there from England with my parents a few years ago, it was to do with Dad's job. It was okay, but to be honest, when you are blind, one place is probably pretty much like the rest, the smells may change, the weather may change, but, people are people, and for the most part a blind girl is herself, unseen. She could be anywhere, Yorkshire in her teens, or Oregon in her twenties, the differences were the same.
Mum and Dad had gone to Florida for a holiday, I had declined, there was nothing that I wanted to 'see' or experience, it was just upheaval, no, I had decided I would enjoy some peace here at home. I knew quite well the area around my home. I could walk easily to the local diners and order food, I had been to them a few times, they knew me and always accommodated me kindly.
I knew just exactly how many paces it was to the drugstore, three hundred and seventy-one, and to the supermarket, two hundred and sixty-three. I had a map in my head of the roads, and the paths and the crosswalks that made a sound, so I knew when to cross. I knew all that, but I only went out to those places when I had to. There was little point in going out, I was happy sitting in my garden at home, the yard the locals called it, and listening to my audible books.
Today however, I needed some groceries and so it was a two hundred and sixty-three steps walk to get bread and meats, some cereal and a gallon of milk. It was a lovely warm day so I was just wearing a cotton dress, well, obviously I had underwear on too, but that doesn't count. I had a pair of simple sliders on my feet and I locked my door behind me, put my key in my purse with my phone, my credit card and headed off on the adventure of shopping.
I try to go at a quiet time so that an assistant could help me, they don't have brail on food, so I couldn't tell by feel which was unsweetened low fat and which was sweetened full fat milk for example. I knew, by now, where the things I usually bought were, but sometimes they moved things around, so, if I didn't have Mum or Dad with me, I would ask an assistant, if they were free, if they could help me. They all knew me by now, and they were really helpful, when they weren't busy.
I hadn't gone far when something happened and I fell over, I just went flying, I couldn't understand it, I hadn't tripped over anything, I knew this walk well, there was nothing to trip me up. As I sat there rubbing my sore knee that had hit the sidewalk first I realised that the ground was moving. Oh my, was this an earthquake? I had heard of them, and felt a few small ones, but this had been big enough to knock me from me feet.
I heard a car pull up and a door open.
"You alright miss?" A male voice asked me.
"Er yes, I think so, I just need to find my stick, I dropped it when I fell."
I heard footsteps and then a hand held mine and pulled me to my feet and my stick was pressed into my other hand.
"You need to get out of here," he said "I reckon it's going to blow."
"Blow, what blow?" I had no idea what he was talking about, was something going to blow up?
"The volcano. Do you have anyone that can get you away from town?"
"No, my parents are on holiday. My house is just down there," I said pointing back from where I had come.
"Not safe anywhere in town, look, come with me, I will take you somewhere safe and then I can bring you back again when it's all over."
"Oh." I didn't know what to say, if he took me away then I wouldn't know where I was, I wouldn't be able to find my way home, but, if what he was saying was true, then perhaps I really wouldn't be safe at home anyway. At that moment the ground moved again, but the man had hold of me and I didn't fall.
"Look, it's not safe, I am going, it is up to you, but you can come with me to safety or you can stay here where it isn't safe. I guess from your stick that you are blind."
"Yes I am, thank you, I will come with you, thank you, I am Celia by the way."
He pulled me from where I was standing and I heard a car door open, "quick get in, mind your elbows and I will shut the door. I'm Pete."
I scrambled into his car, it was high off the ground so I guessed it was one of those trucks rather than a car, or a sedan as they call them here. It often confused me how words for the same things were so different between America and England. I heard his tyres squeal as he pulled away and I could tell he was driving real fast.
"I have a boat and I want to get out to sea, I reckon that'll be the only safe place if that fucking volcano lets loose. I will take us away from land, we will be safe there."
"Okay, thank you, I have never been on a boat." It was exciting to think I was going on a boat, and scary at the same time. I kind of knew that some of the mountains behind us were volcanos, but I sort of didn't think about them. I didn't really have a concept of the size of volcanos and mountains, I couldn't see them, and I just kind of ignored them, I think most people did. They just 'were.'
Pete was driving quickly, swerving left and right, and I was holding on to the door handle just to stop from falling across his seat. Eventually the car pulled up and I heard him get out and then my car door opened.
"Come on," he said grabbing my arm, "we need to hurry."
He pulled me along, the floor beneath us changed from a gravel to what felt like the decking Mum and Dad had in their garden and then he stopped us.
"Okay Celia, this is my boat. You are going to have to step up and forwards. I will go first and then pull you to me onto the boat."
I felt him move and then he had both of my hands and he pulled, lifted my leg and felt the edge of something a bit higher up. I shifted my weight and moved and I was sort of falling upwards. Pete grabbed me and steadied me, it felt weird, everything seemed to be swaying.
He pulled me along and then turned me round. "Sit here and I will get us moving."
I sat clutching my stick and my purse and realised that I was actually quite scared, things had happened so quickly, I had no idea where I was, what was happening, did Volcanos really just blow up? I had no idea. I heard engines start and then I felt motion, we were moving I guessed out into the ocean.
After a few minutes the motion changed, there was up and down and side to side added, it felt very, very strange, so different to a car. We kept going for what felt like ages and then the motion stopped, the engine noise reduced to just a purr and then I felt him next to me.
"I reckon we will be safe here," he said, "let's go and sit on the comfy seats now that we are away from the danger zone. I can see quite a few other boats on the water too."