The Prodigies [First Draft]

Two

Kenny never let go of that piece of chalk in her hand. Not when Miss Kaylee praised her in front of her scowling classmates, not when the class sat in the reading corner to read a story, not when resting time came around (the kindergarteners at CCC were much too mature to call it naptime), not even when everyone had to pack up their backpacks and get ready to go home. Instead, she slipped it into her backpack and followed Miss Kaylee's orders to walk in a single file line out of the classroom.

I must tell you something very important: Kenny Frodell is not a thief. Never has been; never will be.

Now I bet you're wondering, What in the world is she doing with that piece of chalk in her hand? All I can say is that no matter what, she'd give it back. That chalk was the death of her. The start of a new investigation on herself. Kenny would find out what that darkness was even if it was going to kill her.

Kenny paused. That was slightly drastic. Maybe not if it was going to kill her.

Anyhow, the dismissal at CCC was nothing but chaos, chaos, and more chaos. You pointed to your parent and the teacher would shove you towards them without a "bye" or even a "see you tomorrow". Almost three hundred kids, babies and all, had to leave from the same door, so Kenny had no trouble pretending that her guardian cared enough about her to pick her up from school. She just pointed to a crowd of people and off she went, pushing her way through the heavy mobs until she could finally escape. Then Kenny started her one-and-a-half-mile walk home. If she could call it home.

Kenny was an orphan—not a charity case but a child whose parents were either dead or had been pronounced dead. She was the very youngest orphan in the entire home, too, and the only one who had to suffer at CCC. However, Kenny told no one of her troubles at school. Living in a foster home with Ms. Greenwood was enough of a problem. The young woman had a distaste for children, especially Kenny and all of the expenses the woman had to pay since she was a child with "special needs," as CCC enjoyed putting it. Cell phone in hand, Ms. Greenwood constantly complained about her job, her taxes, her ex-boyfriend, her external family, and even the orphans themselves as she chatted with whoever was always on the other end of the line. It seemed as though she hated everyone and everything on the planet save for the thousands of dollars she received in monthly reimbursements as their guardian.

Kenny sighed softly and breathed in the late autumn air. It was early November, and the leaves were trying to hold on to the trees as best as they could. Kenny could tell they would be all over the ground by Thanksgiving, but for now, few leaves scattered themselves across the sidewalk. Kenny stepped on one dried up leaf just to hear the crunch it made. She looked up to see another and hopped on that, too. She was doing just that, hopping from leaf to leaf and making a game out of calculating the probability of the next left she found being a certain color, when a baseball rolled in front of her.

The baseball wasn't new. It was the color of old paper, and the stitching was loose and pink with wear. Kenny was about to walk around it when somebody called, "Hey! Could you pass me my ball?" She then hesitantly picked it up and turned to see who it belonged to.

A boy who couldn't have been much older than Kenny trotted towards the young girl, stopping when he reached the iron fence that—fortunately—kept the two at least three feet apart. He had skin the color of milk chocolate and eyes the same shade as caramel. His hair was as dark as licorice. However, his smile was sweeter than any candy. The world seemed to brighten around Kenny when he looked at her with his joyous eyes. She almost smiled back.

Almost. But almost was enough for now.

The boy stuck his glove out, and Kenny placed the worn baseball inside. She doubted he knew how to read so she didn't bother pulling out her flashcards like she did with adults. On the cards were casual phrases like Hi or My name is Kenny or, most importantly, Where's the bathroom? Then there were the answers to the often asked question "Why don't you speak?"  Answers plural—the people who asked her seldom wanted to hear the truth, so she had nearly ten different lies to choose from in response.

The true answer was on an index card that was tucked away somewhere safe.

"Thank you!" the boy pulled his glove off and stuck out his hand. Kenny stared blankly at it. Children his age—her age—didn't give handshakes to each other. But he had offered his hand, and after a moment's hesitation, Kenny took it in her own.

"My name is Gabriel. What's yours?"

Kenny probably would have made up a reason to leave at this point. She would have made a gesture to explain that she had to hurry home (which she didn't), and Gabriel would probably let her go. She would forget about ever meeting the boy whose smile lit up the world, and he would forget about her.

Yes, that would have happened if Gabriel didn't know American Sign Language.

Kenny watched in surprise as Gabe signed out his name. He couldn't have been deaf, as he looked her in the eyes rather than at her lips while he waited for her to answer. She stood still for a moment before signing her name back, thinking back to the chart in the K1 room of the alphabet in sign language. Now it was Gabe's turn to be shocked.

"Are you deaf?" the boy asked when she was done. Kenny shook her head rather than spelling no out like she had done with her name. She knew that there was a sign for the word no, and if she spelled the short word out rather than use the sign, he would realize that she wasn't very familiar with sign language. It was better if he didn't know that. Knowledge was power, and even if it wasn't much, Kenny liked to have at least a little.

"Can you speak?" He continued to sign his words as he spoke.

Kenny shook her head without any hesitation or thought to the question. Gabriel didn't ask about it. Instead, he asked Kenny if she wanted to play catch with him, and Kenny nodded, no hesitation or thought there, too. Looking back on it years later, she was never sure why she had said yes. Perhaps it was his smile, or the fact the Kenny didn't need to talk to him to communicate. Maybe it was because she knew she didn't have anything other than math homework (which would take two minutes) to do.

Or maybe Kenny just wanted a friend.

Gabe opened the gate that had separated the two and let Kenny in. He handed her a glove that was two sizes too large and taught her how to catch with it. After that, they played in complete silence. Kenny found it awkward and slightly uncomfortable. However, Gabriel seemed content, so she made no attempts at conversation. It wasn't long before she got used to the silence too.

"It's starting to get dark," Gabriel called from the other side of his backyard. He threw the baseball towards Kenny, and she just barely caught it. She was getting slightly better, but physical activity—unlike the Pythagorean Theorem—wasn't something you could learn overnight.

Kenny took her glove off and waited as Gabe ran over to her. He walked with her to the sidewalk and gave her a bright smile. Kenny waved goodbye started on her way home.

"Bye Kendall!" She turned to watch as Gabriel spelled out her whole name. She wanted to tell him to call her Kenny instead, but she didn't know how. She just signed goodbye back, copying what he had done before he signed her name.

It was only when she was minutes away from her foster home that she thought of going to the library to pick up a book about sign language.

Kenny had to run to make it before it closed. The librarian smiled at her when she hurried in, already familiar with the young girl. She took her library card out of the front pocket of her backpack and placed it down on the reference desk. Then she placed an index card down next to it and scribbled frantically on the blank paper.

Do you have any books on American Sign Language or Signed Exact English?

The librarian read the card as Kendall wrote and had searched up ASL before the girl had even finished the word language. There were several books for her to learn from, but when it came to SEE, there was only one. Kenny took out and put holds on them all. She was determined to learn sign language even if it took all night. If she ever saw Gabriel again, she would be able to fluently communicate with him without ever having to open her mouth.

She owed his kindness that much.