Mute Songbird (boyxboy) -Complete-

After School

So that's how I ended up in the backseat of my mom's car with a song binder on my lap and a very tall, very blonde guy sitting next to me. He and my mom were hitting it off like I'd never seen. I'd never seen a kid so at ease with adults and actually seem like they WANTED to talk to them. Weird. I have a working theory that he is definitely an only child. Maybe his parents are divorced and his mom works like two jobs and never has time for him? I don't know. Either way, they hadn't stopped talking for more than 3 seconds at a time since he'd gotten in. She wanted to know all about the school, and the choir, and the neighborhood and Dan was more than happy to fill her in. Next they'd probably move on to politics and agree about that too.

I wasn't complaining, not really. I knew that most of the happiness on my mom's face was the fact that I had a 'friend' and not the fact that she had a teenager in the car she could actually carry on a conversation with. I didn't really blame her for being talkative, especially since she'd been stuck with just me on the car ride to Texas, since my dad had flown in for work a week before our house was ready. It wasn't *that* bad, we sang a lot, but still....

"Here we are Danny" she said, pulling into our driveway.   Why did all the adults call him Danny?  "It's still a mess inside, sorry. You boys just find wherever works the best for you, and let me know when you want me to take you home. I'll whip you up a snack in a few minutes, okay?"

"You live here?" he asked me, and I nodded.

"I literally live like 3 blocks away. This is so cool. I can just walk Mrs. G, no worries."

"Well isn't that convenient! I guess you'll probably be on the same bus too? That's great. Isn't that great Asher?"

She disappeared in a blur of red jacket and I grabbed my stuff and headed upstairs. I looked back to make sure Dan was following me and he was, so he gets a few points for that one. Trust me, try not talking for three years. Some people have NO clue how to deal with themselves around me. I reconsidered letting him see my room but really, the rest of the house was a mess and I didn't want to keep my mom from working. We'd be more out of the way up here.

I tossed my bag on my bed and motioned towards the desk chair which he took over. His long legs took up half of my room, but I had the bed so I didn't care. Now for the hard part. I opened my song binder and sort of waved my hand over it, then made two thumbs-up and bounced them up and down.

"Is that sign language?"

I nodded.

"Do you know a lot of it?"

I shook my head no. I knew some of the basics, some of my therapists had insisted. My folks knew too, and it was really convenient to be able to sign 'which', 'where', 'hungry' or 'sick' but it's not like we used it much. I managed just fine with my trusty notepad. I raised my eyebrows, questioning.

"Um, want to just start with the one we were doing in class? Since it's still in your head?"

I nodded emphatically, then found the page.

"Hey, do you play?" Dan asked, noticing my keyboard still propped on it's side in the corner. When I nodded, he continued. "Want to accompany me, or will that throw off your learning curve? Sorry, I don't know how it works."

I don't really know either I scribbled, earning a chuckle. But I can if you're nervous

He leaned in, squinting at the pad, then sat back. "Me? Nervous? Doesn't happen. Okay, sometimes, but I'm fine. Just trying to figure out how to make this work. Hey, why don't you record it on your phone? Then you can play it back whenever."

He was smart. That WAS a damn good idea. It also meant I wouldn't have to rely on him coming back which was probably a good thing. He went through that song and then one more before mom called us downstairs to eat.

"How's it going up there? I heard you a bit Danny, you have a great voice."

"Thanks Mrs. G."

"Have you gotten Asher to sing something for you yet?"

I gave my mom the look of death and silently begged 'Cut it out!' but she was undeterred.

"It's amazing, really. How he can sound like that.... well it's a miracle and a blessing. We're holding out hope that he'll be speaking again soon."

"He might talk? I mean, it's possible?" Dan asked, mouth half full.

"Yes, absolutely. The thing is though that his speech centers were horribly damaged. He'll need to relearn to speak using a different part of his brain and that's not an easy process. But he's strong, and stubborn, and I'm hopeful."

"Can I ask what happened? I mean, how did you have a stroke?"

I shook my head no, then headed upstairs. I'd officially had all I could take of her optimism and I really didn't need her recruiting Dan onto the 'Have Faith!' committee. Yet somehow, as much as I hated that, I needed to spend a half hour listening to my mom practically break into tears talking about what happened even less. I understood that she needed to believe that I'd speak again but THIS was my reality and when you're living with something day in and day out, dreams are a double edged sword. Sometimes I needed to accept what WAS instead of hoping for change that probably wouldn't come. It was a coping mechanism for her, I got that. But this was mine.