All of these fantastic new stories, and I had to decide whether to post this sooner rather than later. In the end, I opted for sooner, in the hope that it would inspire someone else to write the next story…
“Well, Miss Brown, your eyes are still nice and healthy, and although there has been a slight change in your prescription, there’s no need to get new glasses this time. I’ll see you again in a year’s time.”
I thanked Mr. Gruber, the optician, as he gave me a copy of my prescription on my way out of his examining room. I had seen him nearly every time I had been in for an eye test since I first started wearing glasses, and occasionally bumped into him in the shops, as well. It had been 15 years or so since he had last said those same words to me. My feeling of relief this time was very different to my feeling of disappointment the previous time.
…
I hadn’t wanted to go to the optician at all, because there was nothing wrong with my eyes, but my mum insisted on dragging me along, as it was clear to all of us that my younger sister, Katie, did have a problem with hers. We could all see things across the road or out of the car that she couldn’t, and if we wanted to watch the same programme as her on the television, we had to move her out of the way first. Katie was eight, and I was ten at the time.
I remember going in and sitting at the side of the room while Katie had her eyes examined. From the big, black chair, she was only able to read the first three lines of big letters, before she started to complain that they were too fuzzy for her to read. Mr Gruber had put a funny pair of glasses on her, and had started putting different lenses in the frame, until he seemed to have run out of lines of letters for her to read. They really were quite small by this point, but I could still read them all from where I was sitting. He then looked at her eyes very close up with all sorts of devices, and made her look in various different directions as well.
“You were right to bring Katie in to get her eyes tested. She is quite short-sighted, and needs to be wearing glasses. I’ll tell you more about it after I’ve had a look at Sarah’s eyes; it might save me from having to say the same things twice.”
Katie looked upset as we changed places. She cuddled into Mum, while I climbed confidently into the big, black chair. I could read all of the letters Katie could, and a lot more as well. The very smallest letters were quite tricky, and I had to guess at two or three of them with my left eye. Mr Gruber put a lens into the big frame and asked me whether it made things any clearer. It actually made things much harder to see, which seemed to please him, for some reason. He then started to put in lenses which made it easier for me. By the time he finished, I could tell that, what I had thought was a B was actually an E, and when he tried a different lens, the O became a D. He then moved on to using the other tests he had tried on Katie on me. After that, he paused to write a few notes, and then turned to my mother.
“I’ve examined your daughters’ eyes, and they are both becoming short-sighted, and should get glasses. Katie will need to wear hers all of the time, as her uncorrected vision is quite poor for an eight year-old. Sarah is much more of a borderline case. At this stage, her glasses will help her with board work at school, but she probably won’t want or need to wear them for much else. I need to see Katie again in six months’ time; Sarah could probably wait a year, but as you’ll be bringing Katie in, we might as well have a look at Sarah’s eyes at the same time.”
He gave my mum a couple of sheets of paper, as we made our way out to look at the selection of glasses in the shop. As the next part was more like shopping, Katie was more than happy to try on every pair of glasses in the shop, and Mum had to steer her back to something “more suitable” for her age.
A week later, and our glasses were ready. We had both gone for a similar style, although Katie’s glasses had a bit of a blue tinge, whereas mine were purple. I was hard-pressed to tell whether my glasses made a difference or not. I could read all of the letters on the eye chart nearby both with and without the glasses, although Katie was able to read the last three rows with them on, which she couldn’t without. Mum persuaded us both to wear the glasses for the journey home (she told me afterwards that she had done this so that Katie would realise what she couldn’t see). Once in the car, we traded glasses. Katie complained that my glasses did nothing for her; I could tell that hers were far stronger than mine.
Katie did wear her glasses most of the time. Whether it was because she recognised that she needed them, or whether she was afraid I would tell on her if she didn’t, I don’t know. There were a couple of other children in her class who had worn glasses since before they joined the school, but Katie was the first in her class to get glasses. I occasionally wore mine in school, and very rarely at home; I still didn’t feel like I needed them.
It really didn’t feel like six months when the time came around to go back for our follow-up appointments, but as Mum had pinned our prescriptions to the notice board, I knew it was. I also knew that my prescription was R -0.25 and L -0.50, and Katie’s was R -1.75 and L -1.75.
The routine was much the same as the first time. Katie went first. Without her glasses, she could now only read the two largest lines, and needed a few changes of lens until she could read the very smallest letters. Mr Gruber explained that her eyes had got worse, that she needed to go out and find a frame for her new lenses and that he’d see her again in 6 months. She went off to look at frames with one of the ladies who worked there, while Mum sat in for my turn.
I managed to read all of the letters with my glasses on, and when he put the chunky frames on me, I only made one mistake with my right eye. A quick change of lens, and what I had thought was a P became an R. When he tested my left eye, the changes of lens seemed to make things a bit sharper, but I couldn’t read any more letters, so we reverted to where we were. After he had finished, he said the words I had remembered so well over the years: “Your eyes are still nice and healthy, and although there has been a slight change in your prescription, there’s no need to get new glasses this time. I’ll see you again in a year’s time.” As I came out of the examining room, I felt a strange mixture of pleasure and disappointment. I was pleased that my eyes were still good, but disappointed that I was not getting new glasses. It didn’t help that I had to wait around for half an hour while Katie continued to try on frames, and then get measured for the fitting. I suppose you would probably call it sibling envy. I didn’t want to have to wear her glasses, just to have the fuss of getting something new. She also seemed to milk the situation for all it was worth. She had spent most of her nearly nine years getting my old cast-offs, so to be getting something new for herself was probably quite a novelty.
I had just started secondary school by the time Katie’s next eye exam came around. Sure enough, the prescription sheet on the noticeboard, which had shown her as R -2.25 and L -2.25 was replaced by one which read R -2.75, L -3.00. Mine remained there, gathering dust, as R -0.50 L -0.50. Her new glasses were far too strong for me. Again, I felt a pang of jealousy over the attention that she had been getting, but at least this time, I had not had to sit there and watch.
As the time drew near for our next optician’s visit, I started to think of how I could make sure I got to pick new frames. I contemplated breaking my glasses, but as I had started to realise that they did make a bit of a difference when I was sat at the back of maths lessons, I realised that it probably meant my eyes had changed anyway, and I probably couldn’t afford to be without them for the time it would take to get things sorted.
When the day came, I paid much closer attention to what Mr Gruber said and did as he examined Katie’s eyes. I noted how he seemed to put an extra lens into the frame when she said the red letters were clearer than the green, and how he took one out on the one time she said the green was clearer than the red. Again, Katie went off to choose a new frame, as I made my way to the chair.
I could tell immediately that my eyes were worse than they had been 12 months earlier. Without my glasses, the bottom two lines on the chart were a blur, and when I put them on, I realised I had made a mistake on the line above as well. A succession of lenses followed, and I made sure to say that the red letters were clearer than the green, even when the two looked pretty similar to me. When he moved on to the other tests, I waited nervously (mixed with a fair degree of excitement), to see what he would say.
“You still have healthy eyes, Sarah, but your vision has changed quite a lot since I last saw you. You need to get new glasses today. Wear them as much as you like. You probably don’t need to wear them all of the time, yet, but that will probably change when I see you again in 6 months’ time.”
“Six months?” My heart skipped a beat. Katie had been told 6 to 12 months.
Mr Gruber turned to speak to my mum. “It’s probably best if you bring both girls back in 6 months time. Katie is already what we would call a medium myope, and she is not quite ten, and Sarah has reached that age where a girl’s eyes can change quite a lot in a short space of time. The change in the last 12 months is nothing abnormal, but it would not be unheard of for it to climb a little more rapidly in the next few years.”
By the time I got to choose my new frames, Katie had already selected hers. They looked good on her, and I was slightly jealous. I had to go for something slightly different, as I did not want it to look as if we had both been told to wear the same frame by parental decree (or to save time).
Mum pinned the verdicts to the kitchen noticeboard, as usual. Katie R -3.25, L -3.50, Sarah -1.25, -1.50. When I got the glasses, they were a little on the strong side, but I had been warned they might feel like this as they were quite a lot stronger than my previous pair. In order to help with this, I wore them most of the time at school, and sometimes around the house, especially when I had forgotten that I was wearing them.
Although I was free to wear my glasses as much as I liked, and had just got a new pair, it still bothered me that my younger sister had got glasses before me, wore stronger glasses than me, and had had more new pairs of glasses than me. She had had to wear her glasses all of the time from day one; my new glasses, which were a bit too strong for me, were still not as strong as her first pair. I tried them on again while I was waiting for my new glasses to come in; they were still too strong, and a pair of glasses made for an eight year-old were too small for my twelve year-old face. I did wonder whether she’d ever cheated at an eye exam, like I felt I had at the last one, but then I remembered how upset she had been at having to get her first glasses, and so dismissed the thought. I certainly felt now, that I was wearing “proper” glasses; I could see much better with them than without.
As the time for my next eye exam came around (I felt like it was mine, because I had been told 6 months, and Katie 6 to 12), I started to wear my glasses around the house. Mum commented upon it once; I told her I felt I needed them more, and reminded her that I had been told I would probably have to start wearing them all of the time, so I was just getting myself ready for that. She even asked me whether she needed to book the appointment sooner, but I declined, as I didn’t want to sound too keen.
The morning came eventually. I knew my eyes had changed, as Katie’s first pair no longer seemed too strong. I let her go first, as always, so I could watch what happened. Again, her eyes had changed, but it was a smaller change than before. Mr. Gruber gave her the choice between getting new glasses today and coming back in 12 months, or leaving it 6 months and then getting new glasses. Mum wanted Katie to go for the first option, but Katie was eager to meet up with a friend in town, and wanted the second one. In the end, she went off to find her friend, and brought her back to help her select her new glasses.
When Mr. Gruber asked me about my eyesight, I told him how I had been wearing my glasses most of the time and that I didn’t feel I was seeing as well as I had six months earlier. I reminded him that he had said this was likely to happen. I couldn’t read the bottom line, or much of the line above it, with my glasses on, and again made out that the red was clearer than the green. As Katie had chosen a different frame, I was able to choose the one I had coveted six months earlier, and get my new prescription put into that.
I had begun to look upon the kitchen noticeboard as a sort of scoreboard, and although Katie was still ahead, I was catching up. Katie R -3.75, L -3.75 (12 months), Sarah -2.00 -2.25 (6 months) – and I was going to have another appointment before her!
Again, my new glasses seemed a bit on the strong side. This was no real surprise, but I soon got used to them, especially as Mr. Gruber had confirmed that I needed to wear them all of the time. The frame was a perfect match for my face shape and my complexion, and they looked even better on me than they did on Katie (or so I thought). I got a lot of compliments on them at school.
I had had the glasses for about 4 months, when I started to notice that things were not as clear as they had been. Katie was out, so I snuck into her bedroom to try on her old glasses. The first pair was too small, and too weak. The second was a better fit, but I could still tell they weren’t strong enough. The third pair was a little too strong, but a much better fit. The fourth pair was identical to mine in everything but lens strength. I took both pairs into the bathroom, to get a better look at myself in the mirror. Katie’s glasses gave my face more of a cut-in, but you had to look quite closely to notice it. I put my own glasses back in Katie’s drawer, and kept hers on, to see whether anyone would notice. They didn’t. At least, Katie commented that I looked different somehow, but I passed it off as some eye make-up I had been trying, and I got comments on that, rather than the glasses.
I continued to wear the glasses right up until the day before the eye test. They still seemed a little on the strong side, but when I swapped the glasses back, I knew that they were much closer to what I needed than what I had been prescribed last time round. I didn’t bother with trying to fake anything, and at the end, Mr Gruber looked a little worried.
“I’m hoping it’s just your age and your stage in life, but your eyes have changed quite a lot in the last 6 months, Sarah. There can be a number of reasons for this, but I’d like to monitor you a little more closely. It may become necessary to send you to see a specialist, but as your eyes are still healthy, and it’s only a prescription change, we’ll leave it for the moment. However, I’d prefer to see you again in 4 months, rather than six, just in case there is something else going on.”
“I’ve been wearing my sister’s glasses is the something else that’s been going on,” I thought to myself. What I actually said was “What do you mean by ‘quite a lot’?”
“You’ve gone from -2.00 and -2.25 to -3.25 and -3.50. It happens occasionally to teenage girls over the course of a year, but only once or twice have I seen it happen in six months, and never to someone who is still only twelve, albeit less than a month off turning thirteen.”
As my own glasses were practically useless, I persuaded Katie to let me wear one of her old pairs, until my new ones came in. Mum wanted me to wear the weaker ones, so they did not damage my eyes any more, but I complained that they weren’t really strong enough, so I went back to wearing Katie’s fourth pair. I did try her current glasses on – they were a bit stronger, but nowhere near the blur I had experienced when she had first got them. Even by the time I got to pick up my new glasses, nearly a fortnight later, things didn’t seem quite as sharp as they had with Katie’s glasses, but I was going to have to cope for a few months.
I don’t know whether wearing Katie’s old glasses was what caused the issues, or whether they would have happened anyway, but by the time 4 months were up, I knew my eyes had got worse again. Mum decided to get Katie’s eyes tested at the same time as mine – three visits to the optician a year was enough; she didn’t want to have to go on two more occasions with Katie.
We both needed new glasses. The scoreboard now read Katie R – 4.25, L -4.50 (8 months), Sarah R – 4.00, L -4.25 (4 months). Mr Gruber said that Katie could probably go a year, but if genetics were the cause of my rapidly deteriorating eyesight (his phrase, not mine), it would be as well to check up on Katie a little more frequently. For the first time ever, I was able to see pretty well with Katie’s glasses on, and she with mine. We had both chosen the same frame this time, and when we got home, we tried all of our old glasses on together. I’m not sure I didn’t end up with Katie’s new glasses, and she with mine, but as we could both see better than we could with our old glasses, it was hard to tell (actually, I’m pretty sure we did).
The inevitable happened four months later, and I took the lead: -5.00 and -5.00. When it came to Katie’s turn again four months after that, she tried my glasses before going to the optician’s. They were still a little too strong for her, and at the age of 11 and a half, she was wearing -4.75 in both eyes. I picked up my new glasses on my fourteenth birthday -6.00 in both eyes (now officially classed as a high myope, even though there had been little wrong with my eyes four years earlier).
The next few years were relatively kind to me. The changes in my eyesight, although unrelenting, did slow down, and I went back to six-monthly eye exams. The scoreboard in the kitchen still gave me a sizeable lead, as I headed off to university. Mr. Gruber had warned me that this could have an adverse effect on my eyesight, and I ended up going to see him every two terms or so. There’s something about the way other people’s glasses look on them, and Katie’s -8.50 glasses, at age 18, looked so much stronger than my own, even though I was well on my way towards a prescription in the mid-teens. She eventually decided she wanted to give contact lenses a try, but they had never really appealed to me. Certainly, when we swapped glasses, neither of us was any better off. I could see to read by bringing a book right up to my nose, while Katie could just about squint and make out shapes in the distance.
After graduating, I didn’t want to move back home, so I got myself a flat in town. I didn’t drive, because I didn’t need to. I was able to walk the quarter of a mile or so to the office where I worked, and stopped off at one of the shops on the way home whenever I needed something to eat. A year or so later, and my boyfriend, James, moved in, and we were looking forward to starting a family. And I was finally back to annual eye appointments.
…
“However, this is probably the last time you’ll see me,” said Mr. Gruber. “I’m retiring next Easter.”
I thanked him for all his time over the years.
“Did you realise, it’s 15 years since you last said that I didn’t need new glasses?”
He laughed. “That’s why I’m retiring. If my regular customers don’t need new glasses, how am I supposed to feed myself?”
“That’s a shame. I was planning on introducing you to a potential new customer next year,” I said, as I patted my stomach.
“Congratulations!” he beamed.
“Thank you.”
“Well, if you feel you need to come back and get your eyes tested again sooner, make sure you make an appointment.”
I glanced at the prescription sheet he had just given me. R -15.15, L -15.50.
“I will. Thank you, and goodbye.”