colorblind (cth)

calum

December 1993

1993 was just another year. Terrible things happened, beautiful things happened, and by the time Christmas came around, everyone was looking forward to the next year. The world held it's breath, dared to hope for more, made promises that were sure to be broken and then renewed the next year.

New Year's came and went, one year passing seemingly effortlessly into the next. No one could have known about the change that took place on the stroke of midnight, January 1, 1994. No one could have guessed that the biggest scandal in history was taking place, right under their very noses.

June 1995

Only 18 months later, everyone had already forgotten about New Year's Day, 1994. It was just another celebration to be forgotten and relived once a year. 1995 had it's own terrible things, it's own beautiful things, to occupy people's thoughts.

That is until Phoebe Sweet noticed something strange.

Phoebe had been working at East Valley Daycare for almost ten years. She'd seen countless babies, toddlers, and preschoolers through before sending them off to primary school. She'd met hundreds of busy parents, stressed aunts, scared adoptees. She'd witnessed thousand of tantrums, playground injuries, and budding friendships. Phoebe thought that she'd seen it all.

It was a Tuesday in May when it started. Babies that were only one and a half years old were starting to walk, talk, and communicate. It was a wonderful time in child development, full of firsts. Phoebe was sitting on the floor with Abigail, a stubborn, red and curly haired girl whose speech ability was more advanced than most of her peers. Phoebe was pointing at the different colored, foam puzzle pieces on the floor, trying to teach Abigail which color was which.

"Red, Abby".

Abigail would nod and repeat, "Wed."

"Blue."

"Bwoo."

After a few minutes of cycling through all the colors Phoebe pointed to the purple puzzle piece Abigail was sitting on. "What color is that Abby?"

"Wed."

Phoebe smiled softly, "No, Abby that's purple."

"Puwple."

"That's right." Phoebe watched as Abigail's eyes moved across the colored tiles. Earlier the baby had seemed to understand when Phoebe had walked her through the colors. Abigail was a fast learner, and Phoebe was a slightly taken aback that she had forgotten her colors so quickly. But the teacher brushed it off as a mistake and pointed to a different puzzle piece only a little distance away.

"What color is that piece Abby?"

"Puwple."

Phoebe frowned, "That one is green. Do you remember the color green Abby?"

"Gween."

Phoebe was perplexed as she continued to quiz Abigail on the colors, even going over them again with her several times to try and aid her learning. But no matter how hard Phoebe tried she couldn't get Abigail to understand the difference between blue and orange, or green and red. It was as if they all looked the same to the baby. Phoebe wondered if the little girl may be color blind, and made a mental note to ask her parents to work more with her on her colors as she started getting the daycare ready for nap time.

Only an hour later and naptime was over. Phoebe was playing with trucks with a group of boys in the corner of the day care. Thomas was dragging a blue truck across the wall when Phoebe started trying to teach him what she had failed to teach Abigail.