Loud and Clear

Loud and Clear (2016) Aidan Wayne

Jaxon is a cab drive–and a good one, despite the fact he can’t read.

He turned on the light in his car and squinted. Those were letters, all right. Probably there was even a sentence. Caleb had written something on the receipt. Huh. Curious, Jaxon bent over the words, trying to sound them out.

For several months he has a regular Tuesday night pickup, a gentleman who is clearly successful at what he does, but never speaks a word to Jaxon.

Caleb has a sever stutter, and unless he has his talk prepared and practiced, he prefers to us writing or ASL to communicate. And he really can’t talk at all when he’s drunk.

I utterly love this story.

It’s not just two people who are seemingly incompatible falling for each other, it’s the stark contract between what each was able to achieve despite their disabilities, because of their backgrounds.

(Caleb) also knew he was a privileged bastard who’d gotten good grades without much trouble, who’d gotten into great schools as a result, who worked hard, yeah, but who’d also had the method and means to get to where he wanted to be.

Caleb fought the urge to clench a fist. Jaxon always acted like he’d done something wrong when he didn’t know a sign, like he was stupid for not learning an entire language in a weekend. Caleb really wanted to find Jaxon’s old teachers and punch them all in the face.

It’s just a lovely short story.

Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Rating: 9/10

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