Wasting in the Rain

Chapter 6: Rachel

The baby's birth hurt a lot.

It made me sad that the baby died.

I was lonely. I ate and felt sad that the baby died.

D-ach-ter Ha-rr-is is nice to me.

He has a nice smile.

He is quiet. I am quiet.

Lisa is back. She talks to me.

I learn new words. She says they are about the hoo-man bo-dy. I learn arm, head, bo-dy, ear, eye, and more. I point to them on myself. Arm, head, bo-dy, ear, eye. Lisa is nice to me. She shows me words. I learn.

I sleep. I eat soup for dinner. Lisa says it is to-mate-o soup. It is red. It is yummy. I like to-mate-o soup. She says I am a nice gu-rl.

I sleep more. I wake up in mor-ning. I watch white things float on big snake. Green ground is pretty. Green ground has pur-ple and white things on it.

Lisa comes. She has food. She says good mor-ning. She has to-st, froot, and m-ilk. M-ilk is white. Lisa is nice.

I eat my break-fast and look at big snake and green ground. It is pretty.

"What are you looking at, Rachel?"

"Green ground."

"Do you mean the grass?"

"G-Grass. How write?"

She wrote it on my paper.

"G-Grass. Grass is green."

"That's right, Rachel. Grass is green."

"Pretty."

"Do you want to go outside and see the pretty grass and gardens?"

To go meant to go to a new place, and probably stay... I didn't want to stay in the grass. I wanted to stay for a little bit... Not for long.

"Go... Go..."

"Do you want to go and visit the grass and gardens?"

"V-V-Visit... What do v-v-visit?"

"Visit means to go for a little bit."

"A little bit..."

"Would you like to visit the grass and gardens?"

"Visit... For a little bit... Yes."

"Okay. Let's put you into some clothes-"

"What clothes?"

Lisa got clothes for me. I wore a new shirt with blue, and new pants with purple. She helped me wash my face, and she put me in a chair with big round things called wheels. She led me to a new place, and I saw grass. I saw a bright thing in the sky and pointed at it.

"That's the Sun, Rachel."

"Sun pretty."

She took me into a small area, where I saw red and blue and white and pink and purple and orange things in grass. I pointed to the colors.

"Those are flowers, Rachel."

"Flo-wers... Pretty..."

She took me to the big snake with the white things floating there.

"Big snake..."

"It's not a snake, silly. It's the river."

"R-River... What white things?"

"The white things... Those are boats."

"B-Boats."

"The boats are sailing on the river."

"Boats s-s-sail... Boats sail on river."

"That's right! Very good, Rachel."

She took me on a thing she called a "path." We saw more flowers. Flowers were in all colors, and I giggled at them. The river was pretty.

We went back to room, and Lisa sat down at the table in my room. She got my book and we learned more. She showed me river and flowers and grass, and I pointed to the river and flowers and grass outside. She showed me Sun, and I pointed to Sun outside. Lisa learned new words with me and I was happy.

She left, and I was lonely again. A new lady came in and talked to me, but I wasn't sure if she would take me anywhere. I did not want to go to a new place. She gave me something called sweet candy. It was yummy and was like froot. I liked it.

Lisa came back when I had dinner. She had a small thing with her.

"What thing?"

"This? It's a friend for you."

I pointed to her.

"You a friend."

"Thank you, but I brought you a friend for when I'm not here."

"Friend... For when you not here."

"Yes."

She gave me a small brown thing. It was soft and furry.

"It's a teddy bear."

"Te-ddy bear."

"That's right."

"What do?"

"You cuddle-"

"No! No! No!"

I dropped the teddy bear and ran to the window. I cried by the window and didn't want the teddy bear anymore.

Lisa came and sat by me.

"Rachel, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that word. You snuggle with the teddy bear. You sleep with it."

I stopped crying and sniffled.

"No cuddle, please."

"I'm sorry. I forgot. No cuddle."

I crawled over to the teddy bear and looked at it. It was very soft and snuggly.

"Do you like your teddy bear?"

"Pretty teddy bear."

I hugged my teddy bear and looked up at Lisa.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, Rachel."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up in the morning and ate breakfast. Lisa came with a new lady today.

"Rachel, this is Belinda. She's going to work with you today."

"Be-lin-da."

"That's right. I'm going to leave-"

"You come back later?"

"Maybe..."

"Please come back."

"I'll try, Rachel. I am very busy today."

I nodded. I really liked Lisa, and didn't want her to leave me.

Belinda sat at my table and we learned words. She was very nice.

Lisa came with my lunch. She called lunch a sandwich and car-rot sticks. They were yummy. After lunch she gave me something called ch-oc-ol-ate. It was brown and sweet. I liked it.

She left, and told me a new lady would come and learn with me. She was busy. The new lady's name was Emma. She was a really nice lady. We learned more from my book of words.

Lisa came back during dinnertime and put me into bed.