Mute Songbird (boyxboy) -Complete-

Learning the Ropes

The rest of that week flew by. All that mattered, and all that was on my mind, was the end of next week. Now that it was Saturday, things were right around the corner. We'd decided to start CIT right after the State Championship and that would leave only 3 weeks of school before summer vacation. Part of me wanted to wait until summer to start since it would make things simpler with my schedule at school. There was another part of me that held out some hope that I would be magically fixed in time to enjoy my summer and that won out. Plus it's what the adults wanted, so I went along with it. I think they were worried I would chicken out or change my mind. They were wrong though, my parents didn't call me 'stubborn' for nothing.

My mom had asked me to invite Dan over so they could 'talk'. She wanted to find out some details about the trip to Houston before she let me go off into the wild. It also gave her the opportunity to drill the details of my therapy into Dan's head. I was with him a LOT and part of her was worried that he wouldn't be strict enough with me and it would be enough for my brain to not switch. She wanted him 100% on board. So, pizza had been ordered and he had been invited for dinner. I saw him walking up the sidewalk through the front window and met him at the door.

"Hey Asher" he said, and then softer "how bad is this going to be?"

I shrugged and flipped my palm back and forth a few times before motioning him inside.

"Hi Danny" mom said. "Pizza should be here soon. I was hoping you could tell us what happens at States, just in general. You guys take a bus down and then what happens that evening? And then afterwards?"

"Oh, yeah, we all ride down and then we usually head to the school. We get a classroom to practice in. Last year we went to the hotel rooms to check in and change in the afternoon, then ate before heading back to the school again in the evening. Then we perform and hit the hotel once it's all over. Hopefully with a trophy. The next morning we all do breakfast together and we leave pretty early. Does that answer your question?"

"And you do all this as groups?"

"Yeah, they keep a tight leash on us. It goes pretty quick, we're really not there very long."

"Okay, thank you. And you'll keep an eye on Asher? I worry about him with his communication issues."

"Of course Mrs. G. I promise he'll be on the bus when it leaves Houston. But really, the entire hotel is full of students and there will be two busses of us who all know about Asher, so you don't need to worry."

"Thanks Danny. Let's talk about his CIT after dinner, okay?"

After she had left, Dan turned to me. "So that wasn't so bad."

'Fine'

"She's going to let you go, right?"

I nodded.

"It's so much fun, and I get to be with you so I can't wait." He was distracted by the doorbell and hopped to open it. He took the pizza from the delivery guy while mom paid. After we'd each had a few slices and my dad had disappeared again to finish up work, Dan was brave and started the conversation. "So tell me about CIT, Mrs. G."

"We're going to need your help with this Danny. As hard as it is, you have to ignore his gestures and not let him write. No signing or texts. We have to force his brain to speak."

"I really have no say in any of this, I know, and should keep my mouth shut, but it seems so mean. Isn't there anything else?" he asked.

"I know, it does sound rather extreme. Mr. Rodriguez explained it to me like this: If I asked you to go outside and build a fire without tools, you probably wouldn't be able to do it. You'd give up. But if you were stranded in the forest with no hope of rescue until tomorrow, you would try anything and everything to build a fire then, right? You'd try rubbing sticks together, and then striking a rock. You'd try to light one with a piece of glass if you could find it, or anything you could think of -- right? Well that's what we need Asher's brain to do. He doesn't HAVE to speak now, so his brain isn't willing to force itself to. We have to take away the other options so that his brain will try different solutions."

"I kinda see what you mean, I guess. But for how long?"

"Until he gives up. It could take weeks, it could be months. We're hoping that a LOT of progress will be made over the summer. But Mr. Rodriguez said that it absolutely won't all come back at once. He's going to keep an eye on him and decide when enough progress has been made, when the foundation is laid, so that things like having his phone won't hinder his progress."

"You're going to take his phone?" Dan asked aghast and I joined him. I hadn't even thought of that.

"Of course we are. I need you to promise not to let him slip or cheat, Danny. It has to be all or nothing or it could undermine the entire therapy. You have to make him try to talk. Can you do that?"