✔ Aspen | Sherman Yang

[7.07]

"Mrs. Yang?" The teacher spoke, looking up from a pair of spectacles into Caroline's almond eyes. "I'd like to talk about your son."

"Yes I know, isn't that why you called me here?" She glanced at Sherman, who was sitting on a blue plastic chair outside the classroom, squirming around and fighting with his hands. "And it's Miss if you would madame."

Seeing the judgemental look on the grey-haired reached, she quickly continued. "What is it about Sherman?"

She merely nodded her head and sighed. "He's having a hard time reading Miss Yang. And focusing."

Caroline's eyes widened to be twice the size. She would have assumed he gotten into the fight due to all of the influence he could have received from the guys from a gang. "Pardon me?"

"Yes I was wondering if you or his father may have had anything close to dyslexia or ADHD?"

"Dyslexia and ADHD." She muttered under her breath in confusion. Her kid could have dyslexia or ADHD?

"Yes attention deficit-"

"With all due respect ma'am, I know what ADHD is but there is no way he could have dyslexia and or ADHD right? I mean I was at the top of my class when I was his age and didn't have trouble focusing at all! Surely there is a mistake?"

"Miss Yang, these are only my guesses and I have seen very similar cases to him. The father however?"

Caroline hated the way the old teacher looked at her, as if she couldn't raise her child properly because of it. She wanted to be looked at as if she was smart again. Not the girl who was raising a child on her own.

"Well the father you see, he was a soldier in the military. He never told me about any of these disorders but unfortunately, I'll never find out." She sniffed a little and looked down, the perfect way to send the teacher the message. It was partly true after all.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry." She exclaimed, immediately changing her expression.

The sudden warmth angered Caroline very much. "It's fine, he died bravely."

༻*༺

"Mom?" Sherman nervously approached her mother with cautious and hesitant steps. Stopping by the sofa where she was on her phone with Sebastian, he felt a little bad for ruining some of their time together. He could tell that Sebastian kind of had a crush on his mom and they were still young. It wouldn't be a bad age for her mom to get married when she was 26, and Sherman kind of wanted a real father.

"Yes little sapling?"

"Can I talk you for a sec?"

"Of course Sherman." Without even hesitating to look at Sebastian, she led him into his room and they sat down.

She opened her mouth, possibly expecting him to have a hard time telling her his worries. This wasn't it for Sherman since in his opinion, why bother asking or hiding a secret. Just get it over with.

"What is wrong with me?"

He saw the change of expression when they got back from the hospital. He saw the disappointment on her face after she had him tested. Sherman thought he had cancer or something.

"Nothing is wrong with you sweetheart." She smiled, easily concealing the truth. But she couldn't hide the trip to the hospital or the conversation with his wicked teacher no matter how good of an actress she was.

"Don't lie. I know something is wrong with me." His voice suddenly dropped. "Am I going to die?"

His mother laughed, possibly because he was insanely cute when he was worried. "Oh no sapling, you just-"

She paused for a moment, appearing to be considering her options. Infuriating Sherman, his face grew red and let out a high-pitched cry. "Tell me!"

When she only looked at him, he felt more overwhelmed. "I deserve to know mom!"

Sherman was a smart seven-year-old. He might of had trouble reading and listening properly but he undoubtedly got his mother's intelligence for solving puzzles. It didn't take much for him to figure out that after a talk with the teacher and w trip to the doctor's office something was definitely wrong.

"Sapling you have two disorders. One is why you can't read properly called dyslexia and the other makes you jittery called ADHD."

"So I can't read?" His sad voice was filled with sorrow to such a degree it broke Caroline's heart.

"I'll help you read ok?" She smiled, pulling a classic storybook from the corner of the nightstand. "Every night."

"Every night?" He grinned.

"Every night sapling."