The Lucky Ones, by apondinabluebox

[suzy turquoise blue]

THE LUCKY ONES

 

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: that knock on the door with the news that something terrible has happened to your child. For the Baileys and the Garlands, that nightmare is about to come true — the families have been next door neighbours for over twenty years and their sons, Thomas and Luke, have grown up to be best friends. On a night out to celebrate their A-Level results, the boys’ car is hit by a drunk driver, and Luke dies immediately upon impact while Thomas is rushed to hospital, fighting for his life.

 

The police are sent to their houses to break the news, but the families’ experiences are very different. Hearing privilege gives the Garlands quick access to the FLO and all the resources the police have to offer, but while they’re convinced that their neighbours are the lucky ones to have a son still living, the Baileys are in the darkest place they’ve ever been: their information is unclear and incomplete, the authorities’ nonexistent deaf awareness is causing complications, and the lack of BSL interpreters is forcing their hearing daughter Hannah into situations that no 12-year-old should have to be in.

 

In times like these, just who are the lucky ones?

 

This idea originally came to me as an idea for a play, but somehow I’m plunging into NaNo at the last minute with no idea of how this fic ends, no concrete plan or outline, and only a working title. I hadn’t intended on participating this year, because November is a month of Much Overtime at my new job (starting tomorrow, I’m working the next ten days in a row) and my house is a chronic mess that desperately needs sorting out — and let’s be honest, despite several attempts, I’ve never actually won a NaNo.

 

I did come close to it once: during the busiest, most stressful November of my life, I wrote 35,000 words in a single week (and then lost my job mid-month, which derailed everything else) so my illogical brain has decided that of course, this very busy November is the perfect opportunity to write. 

 

So here I am, with The Lucky Ones, which I picked because the fanfic option would have required starting a brand new fic and I have way too many WIPs to consider it. I’m a little bit anxious about this fic, because a lot of the events within will be inspired by my family’s and my personal experiences with the police a few years ago (who I now, er, actively avoid) but also, my experiences fortunately didn’t involve a family member being hospitalised or killed, so the process will differ in some ways and I really need to do some research. (But how does one research police procedures without coming across like a Very Suspicious Character?) I hope to at least be able to write the core of the story though, because the differences between the two families’ experiences is something that needs to be highlighted.

 

So… as you could probably tell from the synopsis(?), the Baileys are a Deaf family who prefer to communicate in British Sign Language, and the Garlands are their hearing next-door neighbours. When tragedy strikes for them, the Garlands get seamless access to the Family Liaison Officer — a specialist-trained police officer who supports the families of major crime victims — because the system has been designed for abled people. The police force take a while to arrange BSL interpreters for the Baileys, the first officers on scene have no idea what to do, and Hannah Bailey, 12-year-old CODA (Child of Deaf Adults), is used to inform her parents of what’s happened to Thomas, and that’s just the start. Things definitely don’t get better in the hospital.

 

Some might consider the Baileys as the lucky ones out of the two families, because Thomas is still alive (at least at the start of the story — I’ve no idea how it ends and I’m a sadistic enough author to kill him off if the plot came to it) but with so many barriers and the process so difficult to navigate, their trauma is a very different experience than hearing families’ would be. I definitely need to be careful while writing, because I don’t want the story to become a “who suffered most” competition between the Baileys and the Garlands, but I do want to highlight the differences because a lot of people in society aren’t aware of them.

 

I desperately need to flesh out this idea more before NaNo starts, so I welcome all enthusiasm, questions, etc, because I find it so invaluable in my plot development. I’m at the stage where I have literally four characters named (Thomas and Hannah Bailey, Luke Garland, and Aleida Ruiz — the witness to the crash) so I’m definitely going to be pantsing this NaNo. I’ve pantsed most of 2020 though, so…

 

If you’ve read this far, thank you, and I’d truly love to hear your thoughts and questions!

[victoria_anne]

Hey Isobel! This story idea sounds so sad but so interesting. I hope this is the best NaNo year yet for you!  I have some questions for you 

1. They say the #1 thing you shouldn't do during NaNo is research. How are you going to balance searching for what you need without losing writing time?

2. Can you tell us more about the characters?

3. Do you know how the story is going to end?

I can't wait to hear more about it, and good luck next month! 

[suzy turquoise blue]

B!! Thank you so much for stopping by!

21 hours ago, victoria_anne said:

1. They say the #1 thing you shouldn't do during NaNo is research. How are you going to balance searching for what you need without losing writing time?

To be completely honest, I have absolutely no idea. I’m toying with the idea of just writing the story with more focus on the emotions and the impact the crash and what subsequently happened has had on the families, and figuring the research part out after NaNo. I don’t know if I have the willpower to do that though, so we’ll see...

21 hours ago, victoria_anne said:

2. Can you tell us more about the characters?

Mr Bailey (first name TBD) and his wife Nora are both deaf, and both prefer to communicate in BSL. They have two children: Thomas, who‘s been deaf from birth, and Hannah, a CODA. Both children were raised bilingually, with BSL as their first language. Up until now, the Baileys have been careful about how much they ask of Hannah, because while it’s infinitely easier to get a hearing person to make a telephone call and sort something out in five minutes, they’re very aware that if something’s done once, people tend to assume it can be done again, and they don’t want Hannah to shoulder an unnecessarily greater responsibility than other children her age. Hannah herself disagrees: she’s seen her parents struggle, and it’s her natural instinct to want to help them, but she has no idea of the stress that she’s placing herself under (yet).

Frederick and Susan Garland have lived next door to the Baileys for over twenty years, but Frederick and Mr Bailey have never quite gotten along — a lack of common ground, or so they say. Susan’s on fairly good terms with Nora, but they’ve never really been part of each other’s friendship circles; theirs is a bond of neighbouring housewives, especially when their children were small, but now that the boys are growing up, their friendship’s been fading. The only reason the Baileys and the Garlands have been so close is Thomas and Luke, who have been best friends since infancy. Luke has always been the apple of his parents’ eye as an only child, but the Baileys love him like another son; he learned BSL from them (and Thomas) so he’s integrated himself into their lives and social circle far more than his mother ever did.

I haven’t fleshed out Aleida’s character too much yet, and I know that there’s so much more about the Baileys and the Garlands that I’ve yet to discover, but at this stage I’ve mostly just worked out the basics. NaNo will hopefully be illuminating?

21 hours ago, victoria_anne said:

3. Do you know how the story is going to end?

Not a clue.

Thanks so much for the fun questions, Bianca, and good luck to you too!! 

[Aphoride]

omggg your stories always sound amazing - but then you know i love everything you write so that's not news   

1. i lovelovelovelove the premise of this story. it's tragic and angsty and deals with so many big, important, emotional themes. with the two families and their very different experiences of the same events, how are you planning on telling it - will it be through multiple povs, an omniscient narrator, or will it be limited to one or two characters only? 

2. how much will the story revolve around the crash and subsequent legal proceedings - will there be a death by dangerous driving case taken or has the driver run away and got away with it, or also died? will it go to the end of any legal proceedings, or hospital treatment, or are you thinking the end will be decoupled from that kind of full-stop-type event? 

3. i love that thomas and luke grew up next door and stayed best friends all the way through school  did they go to the same school all their lives or did they go to different schools at any point? what were their plans for post-A level celebrations? 

4. what kinds of hobbies do/did thomas and luke have together? separately? were they similar enough that if they met at 16 or later they'd still have gravitated towards each other or did they grow into different enough people that they might not have been friends but for the fact that they'd just always been friends? (if that makes sense lol) 

[magemadi]

Isobel, welcome to the chaos of NaNo!! I am quite invested in you and this story, because I agree that it’s a story needing to be told, and I also believe that you’ll do a fantastic job telling it. Since you asked for questions about it, here’s a few for you!

1. As I’m unfamiliar with how the UK system works in situations like these, will you be going into relatively great detail on the process for the Garlands and how it’s different for the Baileys both because of the difference in outcomes for their sons and also their hearing abilities?
2. What part of the UK do you imagine this taking place in? Will that affect some of the police resources?
3. Do the Garlands have any other children besides Thomas?