A Love Language Spoken With Hands

For a deaf man used to broken promises, a video message delivers a fresh start.

On a gloomy January day, my phone lit up: Will had texted me a video. Something coalesced in my stomach. I knew what the video had captured, but I didn’t quite believe it. In the solitude of my bedroom, I hunched over my phone and pressed play.

In the video, Will stepped back from the camera (his phone). He wore a striped polo shirt. Behind him was a multicolored shower curtain. He signed slowly, carefully: “Hi, how are you? I’m good. Thank you, my friend, Ross.” Nervous relief flooded his face when he finished fingerspelling my name.

I fell into a state of disbelief. Will had texted me days earlier to say that he had been teaching himself sign language. Reading his texts, I had felt a shock of surprise — followed by suspicion.