"What's that?"
"Ginagamit ng mga visually impaired para makapagbasa at makapagsulat,"
"And?"
"The system was called 'Braille'. Raised dots yung bawat letter doon sa bagay na ginagamit."
"What? I mean, how?" I don't have any idea about this thing. "Saan mo nalaman 'yan?"
"Internet. I searched some things that actually made for the visually impaired people to use. I also searched how they use it kaya... pag-aaralan na'tin 'yan!" excited na sabi niya.
"How to use it, then?"
Pumayag ako sa gusto niya at pinaliwanag at ipinaintindi niya naman ito.
I've learned that Braille is a touch writing and reading system for visually impaired people. It uses combinations of raised dots to spell letters and numbers.
"Anong itsura?" I asked. Hinawakan niya ang kamay ko at dinala ito sa isang bagay.
"This thing is called Slate. Internet says that this one was a guide that opens with a hinge on one end. This is where the paper is inserted. Nabubuksan 'to, Light, parang notebook. Gets?"
I nodded. "Medyo." mahirap pa rin kapag hindi nakikita.
"Same." he chuckled. Ipinahawak niya naman sa akin ang isang maliit na bagay.
"This one is called.. sty.. lu..? Oh! Stylus! This is about three inches long with a metal point and a knob at the other end served as a handle. Yung hawak mo ngayon, wooden handle but some can be made by plastic."
"So this is like a pencil?"
"Yup! A small pencil pero metal yung point. At hindi 'to pinangsusulat. This Stylus is used to punch holes, and the punched holes are the raised dots. Tapos yung raised dots naman, yun yung babasahin mo gamit yung dulo ng daliri mo. Clear?" tumango ako. "Okay, next.."
Nagpatuloy siya. "Braille have this series of characters, also called as 'cells'. Bawat cell, may six raised dot patterns. And then.." may ipinadama siya sa akin sa likod ng 'slate'. "These six raised dots are arranged in a rectangle containing two columns with three dots each."
"We need to memorize all of these. Gets mo ba? This was like a code for me."
Sinabi niya na pumikit siya habang dinadama ang mga nakaangat na tuldok sa Slate. We memorized some letters using the dots by feeling it with our fingertips. We also punched holes on the card stock paper that we inserted inside the slate using the stylus and read it using also our fingertips.
"Oh, mali! Canan? Letter O dapat." reklamo niya nang mapalitan ng 'a' ang dapat na 'o'.
"Yabang, ah? Porket nabuo yung 'Ceres'?" I tried again to spell his name again.
Nang magtagal ng halos dalawang oras ay nagpasya kaming bumaba para kumain. Kahit ayaw ko ay wala na akong nagawa nang dalhin niya na ako sa lamesa sa baba at sabi niya rin na siguradong tapos. a kumain ang ibang tao sa bahay dahil isang oras na ang nakalipas sa tamang oras ng pagkain.
"Conan, can you get me a glass of water, please. I don't know where it is."
"Here." binigay niya agad ang hinihingi ko.
"Thank you."
"Always welcome." sagot niya na sinagutan ko ng ngiti.
Natapos kami sa pagkain at inihatid niya ako sa kwarto ko para matulog na.
"Bakit parang ang lamig?" tanong ko sa kanya at naramdaman ko agad ang paglagay niya ng kumot sa akin.
"Malakas ang hangin sa labas."
