A special childhood pt 2

Her father had become an entity instead of a blurred shape when she turned six.

Her mother had been a good teacher. She had taught her not only the songs of  the flowers, the trees, the birds, the butterflies and the bees, but she had also explained about parents and children, that every child had a mother and a father, that fathers were important, especially when a child had already learnt how to talk, walk and sing. Her father’s time to teach her was approaching, and she was to be a good, obedient daughter, her mother had told her.

Her mother had seemed shocked when she exclaimed: “But I don’t know my father! I’ve never even seen him!”

She had not quite caught what her mother had muttered under her breath in response, but it had sounded like: “I never noticed. She is too much here.”

The next day, they had started a new kind of lessons. Her mother had called them “Listening and Watching”.

At first she had thought: “But I can listen and watch!” But then, she had learned that she had only been able to hear and see half of her world all her life.

“Listening and Watching” was even more difficult than walking had been. She had thought her eardrums would split from the wailing and screeching. She had thought she would never get used to it. Her eyes had kept hurting from trying to focus on the blurred shapes and colours.

But finally,  she succeeded!

She saw…a face, so very different from her mother’s that it came as a shock. But her mother was at her side, whispering in her ear: “Your father. He will be delighted if you call him Daddy.”

“Daddy”, she whispered.

“Louder”, her mother prompted.

“Daddy”, there, that should have been loud enough.

“Louder still”, her mother commanded.

“Daddy.”

“Even louder.”

“DADDY!”

Her vocal cords were close to snapping, her eardrums resounding to the point of splitting.

There! He stirred! He turned around and looked at her.

He roared her name, and then he swept her into his arms, and she felt like the air was being squeezed out of her lungs.

She had not seen her mother again since that day.