Excerpt from Chapter 10 *
By the end of my second year at Gallaudet, my grades were pretty bad. You had to maintain a C average to stay in school, and I was making Ds. So I got suspended. I guess I was having too much fun. Not just with Angela, but I spent a lot of time talking to other students and telling stories. I was pretty immature then, and I didn’t spend enough quality time with my homework. By the end of that year, I had to leave campus. It was the summer of 1976.
I moved back to Memphis and got a job. But after two or three months, I really started to miss Angela. I decided to take a chance and go back to see her. I bought an airplane ticket. When I got to D.C. I had about $20 in my pocket, no place to live, and no job.
The good news is that I still had some friends at Gallaudet who said I could sleep on the floor in their dorm room until I found a place of my own. But when the R.A. (resident advisor) found out I was there, they said because of the insurance that I couldn’t stay. I had to be gone by Monday when school started. I prayed about it and hoped it would all work out. I’d only bought a one-way ticket, since I was planning on staying.
Well, that Saturday night they had a party in their dorm. I got to see some of my old friends who were still at school there. But there were some other people there who had already graduated and had apartments off campus. Two of them found out I needed a place to live and asked me if I wanted to move in with them. I asked them if they were sure they had room for me, and one of them said, “Yeah, we just kicked out our other roommate this morning because he wasn’t paying his rent. You can move in tonight.”
I thought that was awesome. I moved in that night with Randy and David.
The next night, Sunday, I was having my first dinner with them. Spaghetti. Then somebody rang the doorbell. Except it was a deaf doorbell, which makes the lights flash a certain way so you’ll know someone is at the door. When the phone rings, it’s another light that flashes, so you’ll know the difference.
They answered the door and a guy came in and they all hugged him. They introduced me as Kenny, and we shook hands.
Then the guy turns to my roommates and said, “Hey, I came over to borrow your vibrator.”
Now, I had only heard about vibrators shortly before this. and I thought it was strange that a man was asking to borrow one from another man. I thought it was only something a woman would have. I just listened.
David said, “I’ve got one, but there’s no battery in it.”
Then Randy said, “I’ve got a vibrator. But it’s really thick and big. You might not want it.”
Kenny’s face took on a look of shock and confusion, and he let out several short gasps. As I was learning, Kenny doesn’t just tell his stories. He experiences them. And as the audience, I get to watch him experience those moments all over again.
And I was just watching this, and I couldn’t believe it. They were making this conversation like it was no big deal! I was wondering, “Am I missing something?” I mean, I didn’t exactly know what a vibrator was, but I kind of knew.
Eventually, Randy said, “Let me go get it,” and he goes back into his bedroom. When he came back out, he was holding it in his hand. And it was huge!
Another gasp and look of disbelief from Kenny.
He handed it to the other guy, who said, “Thanks, man. I’ll bring it back when I’m done using it this weekend.”
Another gasp and befuddled look. Each somehow different from the ones before.
And then he left. I was just standing there in shock. My eyes were probably as big as saucers. I still couldn’t believe they were just talking about it like this. And I guess Randy noticed, and asked me, “What’s wrong, Kenny?”
“Oh, nothin’. Nothin’.”
Then David said, “Aw, come on. Somethin’s wrong. You look like you’re sick or somethin’. We can’t help you if you won’t talk to us.”
Kenny let out a long sigh, as if conceding under duress.
I didn’t like talking about that kind of thing. But I told them what I thought and why I thought it was strange. And they both just started to crack up laughing. I didn’t think it was that funny. But they just kept laughing and laughing.
Finally, David went into his bedroom and came out with his vibrator and put it on the table right in front of me.
A look of disgust washed across Kenny’s face. His nose crinkled up, pulled his head back, and turned his face slightly to one side, as he let out a few incoherent sounds that I could only translate as “ick.”
And then David said, “Kenny, it’s not what you think it is.”
And I said, “Well, what else are you gonna use a vibrator for?”
He said, “We use it to wake up.”
The bewildered look on Kenny’s face got an audible laugh from me.
“What!? You mean, you put that in there and just sleep with it inside you and then it wakes you up?”
“No, no, no. Look, you see this button? You set the time you want to wake up. Then you put it under your pillow. Then when it’s time to get up, it vibrates and you wake up.”
Well, then I felt pretty dumb. And I said, “Okay. But that one he borrowed from Randy was huge! What’s that for?”
And Randy said, “That’s because I’m a heavy sleeper. The bigger they are, the more they vibrate. Plus, I don’t like them under the pillow because it’s lumpy. I put mine under my mattress.”
That turned out to be an embarrassing way to learn something. But I learned it.
* In the book, Kenny Wexford is telling his story to Paul Smith. The Italicized portion of the text indicates when Smith interrupts Wexford’s story with his own comments, thoughts or observations.
About the Authors
Paul Smith is an expert on organizational storytelling and one of Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers of 2018. Paul Smith is the author of several books including Lead with a Story and The Ten Stories Great Leaders Tell. He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Times, Forbes, and Fast Company. He can be found at www.leadwithastory.com.
Tedford, Jr. is a motivational speaker, actor, comedian, counselor, experienced Deaf ministry leader, and a former Executive Director of the Tennessee Council of the Dead and Hard of Hearing. He can be found at www.kennytedford.com.