When the Doctor heard about Chan speaking and being a prodigy, he rushed over to the orphanage to see him. The Matron greeted him in the doorway.
"Is it true?" The doctor burst out.
The matrom beamed, and replied with a simple yes. The doctor smiled and excitedly followed the matron as she led him to Chan.
"He received a cello from the orchestra." She said. "He's been playing it nonstop. I had to tell him to go to sleep when he was up playing past curfew." She laughed.
"I'm glad he's doing much better." The doctor replied.
When they got to the doorway, they saw a group of boys around Chan, who was sitting on his bed, the cello a few feet across from him.
He was telling a story about the circus. He talked about the ringmaster and his booming voice and tall hat. He talked about the lions, tigers, and elephants who were amazing, but very scary. He described the flying acrabats and he explained all of the flips and turns and jumps they did.
He had the little yellow car rolling along the floor beside him. When the doctor was eventually noticed, Chan stopped his story, looked up at the doctor, and smiled.
“Boys, let’s leave Chan and the Doctor alone for a bit.” said the matron. The boys all groaned, and reluctantly got up and went over to the matron. She led them out, which left the Doctor and Chan in the room alone.
The Doctor sat down across from Chan, and started to talk to him. “So, how are you doing?”
Chan just stared at the Doctor, but now instead of a blank stare that the doctor was used to, it was an ever-knowing stare. He was doing fine on the outside at the moment, but there was something deeper hidden in those eyes, something that stabbed at the Doctor’s heart; a certain pain that could never be cured.
But Chan just replied with a simple “Ok.” Yet he had a tear running down his cheek. The doctor reached out and touched Chan’s hand. He looked deep into his eyes, and asked him, “What happened that night in the woods?” Chan then collapsed into tears.
“Can you….bring me my….cello….please?” He managed to squeak out. The doctor looked over, and reached for the cello behind him. He picks it up gently, and hands it over to Chan, its sleek brown coat glisening in the daylight from the window.
Chan placed the cello and altered his body into the proper position. He then breaths, and starts a simple piece of music. While playing, he calmly lays out what all happened.
“My mother, my sister, and I all were out for an evening walk. We did that every Friday.” He started doing some double stops. “We normally would take a walk around town, just to see the people interacting with one another, and simply to be together for some time.
"But I wanted to go through the jungle. I’ve always loved the way it glowed in the evening…. So, we were walking and absorbing the beauties of the jungle, just like we would have done in the town. We were having fun together, And all of a sudden….” He stopped playing and collapsed into tears once again.
The Doctor didn’t push him any more. He had a tear running down the side of his clean shaven face. He knew what the rest of the story was, and it hurt them both just thinking about it. The doctor stood up and sat next to Chan on the bed, and engulfed him into a huge fatherly hug.
~~~~~
The matron opened the door to her office, and as she entered she saw Mr. Ly and another man stand up from the two navy blue seats across from her rectangular desk. Mr. Ly stepped forward and shoke the matron's hand.
"Thank you for letting me do this matron." he said with a smile. " I have found Chan a cello teacher." He motioned his hands to the man next to him, and he stepped forward to take the matron's hand as well, shaking it vigorously.
"Hello. You can call me Sovann. I'm willing to teach the young student anything and everything about playing the cello, and I intend to do it all for free." He had a beaming smile on his face. He had a young face. He didn't look freshly out of college, but he couldn't be any more that thirty five.
The matron smiled. "Pleased to meet you. Are you sure you want to do it for free though?"
"Seeing their improvement is a reward in itself for me. I don't mind at all. Don't worry about it at all."
Seeing that the matron had no words to say, Sovann stood up, and took her dainty hand once again. "Well, I ought to be going now. I will be back on Monday to have our first lesson with Chan. I shall see you then Matron. "
He took his hat off of the hat rack, placed it on his head, tipped it to the two, and closed the door behind him with a small wooden whack.
Mr. Ly turned to face the matron. "Thank you so much for allowing me to do this for the child. I won't need to poke around here anymore, but please updated me every now and then on how he's doing. You should also invite me to any of his concerts that he may perform in the future. "
"I shall Mr. Ly. I'll invite anyone and everyone who's helped and provided an interest in this learning." She strode over to her desk to mark down this promise she's made on another of her many blue sticky ntoes.
"I now should head out too. I need to get back together with the orchestra. We have another performance tomorrow evening." He took the matron's hand. "Thank you again, so much. I shall see you another time."
Then he strode over to the hat rack, and departed in a similar manner as Sovann, leaving the matron alone in her square office.
She slowly sank into her black leather chair. She leaned back with a creak, and simply stared at the closed wooden door. So much has happened in so little time.....She thought to herself. This young boy, in just a few days, has grown from a lonely, lost seed and now has bloomed into a strong, determined flower.
She glanced over at her blank black computer screen and noticed the dark circles under her eyes. She then realized how stressed she had been over this child, and how, all of a sudden, she was free of all stresses.
Her eyes began feeling like lead cages, and they shut fairly instantly. Her head sagged to the side, and her breathing became deep and slow. She had fallen into a deep, heavy slumber, free of all stresses.
