e l e v e n

Chapter Twenty Two: Eleven Begins the Fun of Education

"Can you say the?" Mike asked Eleven. His voice was patient and encouraging, as if he were talking to a young child

"Th..The."

"Good, good. How about, the chair?"

"The...the...ch..chair"

"How about, the chair is blue"

"The chair...is bl..blue"

"You're doing really good." Mike said with a smile.

The two were being kept at the hospital under surveillance for the next three to four days. Due to the nature of their circumstances, they had to go through both mental and physical therapy.

Mike waited until the nurse came in to check on them.

"Sorry to be a bother," he said politely, "But could we possibly have some children's books to read?"

"Sure thing, dearest!" the nurse replied with a blinding white smile. She stuck her head out the door, and called to someone else on the staff, asking them to bring a few children's books to room 401.

After the nurse was gone, Mike slowly began to ease his way off the hospital bed. He held on to the rails of his bed, and other various pieces of furniture in the room, as he hobbled towards Eleven's bed. She moved over slightly, so he would have some room.

Once he was up and situated, she closed her eyes and concentrated. She thought only about the pile of books the nurse had brought in, and imagined it lifting off the counter, and flying towards her. Then she felt Mike's arm in her face.

"Sorry, they were flying right toward you, I had to grab them." Mike said, bringing the books onto his lab, and sorting through them to find an easy book. He found one he thought would suit her needs. "Here," he said, handing it to the befuddled Eleven. He began to notice from the way she held and inspected the book, that she had no idea what she was doing. He reached over her, and repositioned the book, gently lifting her hand off, and turning the first page.

"El, do you have any idea how to read?" he asked, trying to figure out where to start with this. She shook her head. "Oh okay. Do you know what sound the letters make?" She nodded "So reading is just taking those sounds and putting them together to form words, like the ones you and I speak on a daily basis."

"Okay" she said softly, still looking and the page, quite puzzled. Mike placed his pointer finger under the first word on the page. "So T and H make a...."

"Thh." she finished

"So if you put that together with the sound e makes you get..."

"The!" El said with a smile, quite obviously proud of herself for reading her first word. Mike went to move his finger to the next word. Eleven shook her head. Mike slowly drew back his finger, and sat with his hands in his lap, and watched her read. She confused and amazed him.

"Can you read it out loud?" Mike asked her, before she could turn to the next page. She read the sentence to him flawlessly, with a minimal amount of stuttering. She had amazed him once again. "Jeez, El. You learn so quickly." He said with a smile. "Hang on, I think I might have a book you would enjoy." He pulled out Matilda from the stack of books. He handed it to her. She looked at it with great interest, especially once she read the cover and discovered it was about a girl who could move things with her mind. And with that, she was hooked.