“He really sees them you know, I know it doesn’t seem possible, but it’s true.”
“Rubbish.”
“The fly and they dance and they float on the wind. He says they are
all different colours and when they dance together they stream rainbows
behind them.”
“I’ve never heard such twaddle in all my years. Your brother is a liar plain and simple, now shut up and do your work.”
Tilly
sighed and put her head down, staring at the book on her school desk.
Her brother Ortence had been kicked out of class again, the truth of it
all was the teacher just didn’t like him, he didn’t think Ortence
belonged in his class or in the school. Tilly had once heard him remark
to another teacher,
that boy should be locked up. His name was
Mr Glos, he believed in old school ways and was not adverse to wraping a
student on the knuckles with his big wooden ruler. He had struck Ortence
many times but it never crushed his spirit.
Tilly thought the main reason Mr Glos hated Ortence was because he couldn’t intimidate him with his deep and threatening voice.
She
stared blankly at her workbook until the bell went and then she packed
up her things, Mr Glos stopped her on her way out of the classroom.
“Tilethaba, Tell Ortence if he misbehaves again I’ll see him expelled,
he listens to you.” Then he started laughing, “Listens ha!”
He
continued laughing; Tilly left the room before her anger got the better
of her. She found Ortence standing on a table in the playground with his
arms outstretched pretending he could fly. She taped the table he was
standing on and he stopped and smiled at her. They walked home together
as they always did, Ortence trailing her slightly as he looked at
everything around him.
He was older than her by a few minutes, but a
whole head shorter. To look at him you would think he would still be in
primary school, not in year 9 at high school. He was very bright, much
smarter than Tilly, but she didn’t mind, she saw herself as his
protector.
Every now and then she would glance back to make sure he
was still behind her, every time she did he would always smile merrily
up at her like he hadn’t a care in the world.
When they got home they put their bags on the floor near the front door.
“Bags in your rooms kids.”
It was their mother, Tilly didn’t know how she did it, it was like she
had eyes in the back of her head, she nudged Ortence and they both put
their bags away and got changed out of their school clothes.
“What happened at school today?” Their mother ask and they ate their after school sandwiches.
“Nothing really, Mr Gros picked on Ortence again.”
The woman sighed and sat down at the table next to Ortence, “that man!
Why can’t he leave my boy alone? Doesn’t he recognise genius?”
Ortence patted her hand, “It is okay mother.”
She smiled and hugged him, “don’t you listen to any bad thing he says. No eat up and run along and play.”
Ortence
and Tilly threw a ball back and forth for a while before they sat down
and talked, being twins they shared a special bond no one else quite
understood, except their mother, she seemed to know.
“Tell me.”
“I’ve already told you.”
“I know, but I want to hear it again, it all sounds so beautiful.”
Ortence smiled, “Okay, but I was right about other people wasn’t I, they just don’t believe.”
“Yes you were right, I am sorry. Now tell me just as you did before.”
“I
see words, I see them float and sometimes fall out of people’s mouths
and fly around. Some dance as if carried by music, the words of singers
dance all the time, some fast, some slow, but they always dance. Some
peoples words fall to the ground straight away and shatter on the floor,
words said in anger do that, dark words. When people cry the words are
blue and they trail down people like tears trail down faces. Happy words
bounce and they are always bright colours. Loud words are big and they
jump out of people’s mouths like they are exploding. Sometimes I sit in
the playground at lunch time and watch all the happy different coloured
words fly by me. They meet up with other words and make rainbows in the
air that swirl around and it is beautiful. Sometimes they crash into
people and explode like coloured fireworks, if they could make a sound
I’m sure it would be a loud bang like cannon.
Late at night when
the air is cold I sneak outside and talk to myself. I watch my words
appear as the cold air hits them. My words are always white, I don’t
know why. There is only one other person I know whose words do not
change colour. Mr Glos, his words are always charcoal grey and they
shatter a lot.”
Tilly had lied back on the grass and dreamily
listened to him talk, now that he had finished he turned to look at her,
envying her ability to do that.
“You make it sound so beautiful, I wish I could see it Orty.”
He smiled at her and shook his head, “No, you have something even better.”
She didn’t respond, she hated talking about better or worse.
“We are what we are,” Orty said, knowing she wasn’t going to say anything, “And do you know what I am?”
Tilly looked at him not knowing what he was talking about, “No, what?”
“I’m the better looking twin,” he said and laughed.
“Not for long!”
She grabbed hold of him and started tickling him, not stopping until their mother called them in for dinner.
Ortence and Tilly walked to school the next morning as they usually
did, Tilly didn’t realise another boy was following them, but Ortence
did.
“Tilly, Jake is behind us and gaining ground.”
Tilly looked
over her shoulder, Ortence was just behind her and there not far behind
him was Jake. He was a year ahead of Ortence and Tilly, he had never
spoken to either of them before so Tilly shrugged and kept walking.
A little while later she heard a thud, she turned around to see Ortence on the ground. Jake was standing next to him
“Orty!”
She helped him up, his nose was bleeding.
“Why did you attack my brother?”
Jake was looking confused, “I didn’t.”
Ortence the moment he was standing had run off with his nose all
bloody, Tilly didn’t notice until it was too late to run after him.
“Oh no!” She watched him run, he was so fast, “I’ll never catch him now, why did you do that?”
“I didn’t,” Jake repeated, “I walked up and touched his shoulder, you
know, so he would know I was here and then he just faceplanted the road.
It looked painful.”
Tilly looked at him not believing a word.
“I swear, I would never hurt him, I wanted to talk to him.”
“Why did you want to talk to him then?”
“I uh…” Jake turned kind of pale, “I wanted to know if he thought you would go out with me.”
Tilly stopped walking and stared at him, “seriously?”
He nodded, “Yes, I swear I wouldn’t of hurt him.”
Tilly didn’t say anything, she just kept staring at him.
“Will he come back? Come to school?”
That brought her out of her shock.
“No, he will play by the river, he will probably learn more there then he does at school anyway.”
They walked the rest of the way together, talking about what ever
random thing they could think of, and by the time they reached the
school they were both really enjoying each other’s company. By the end
of the school day it was official that they were an item. Tilly hoped
Ortence wouldn’t mind. She thought it would be a good thing; Jake would
be able to look after him too.
After school she and Jake went looking for him.
“Are you sure he’s down here?”
“Yes, we just have to keep looking, he feels safe here, nothing loud can hurt him.”
“Or…” Jake started to shout but then stopped himself, “force of habit”
Tilly smiled at him, “I’ve been with him since birth so I never acquired that habit.”
They walked as they talked, looking in any hidey hole he might have crawled into.
“Is it difficult, having a deaf brother?”
“No, but then, I’ve never known life without one, and I’d never want to either.”
“No I, I didn’t mean anything.”
She smiled at him showing that she knew he hadn’t meant any harm.
“It’s all round the school you know, that thing he said about seeing words. Do you believe it?”
“Of course, it’s not like he can hear them, how else would he know exactly what we are saying?”
“He could lip read.”
“I thought that too once, and I said something when I was facing away
from him. I think I called him a prat or something. He didn’t react
right away, like it took time for him to see the word float by, but then
he jumped up and said
, I am not. How else do you explain that?”
“I can’t, he sounds pretty special.”
“He is.”
“I just hope he likes m…” Jake had been about to say
me when he pushed a branch aside and could see the river bend.
Tilly looked at him wondering why he didn’t finish what he was saying,
she saw him jump into the river, she ran to the spot he had been
standing and saw what he had seen.
It was the body of a boy face down in the river, Jake had got to it and turned it over.
Tilly gasped, it was Ortence.
She could see right away that he was dead, Jake got him to shore and
tried CPR, but he had been in the water for hours, there was nothing
they could do.
At the funeral she cried and Jake held her hand.
The music was beautiful, she knew Ortence would have loved it, he
wouldn’t have heard it, but he would have seen the words dance.
As
the mourners left the cemetery a rainbow appeared in the sky, but no
one saw it, no one noticed it was there, but just maybe Ortence knew.
