16 April 2027
Friday. A girl tonight read out every single word in my house. Every note, every label, every scrawl on the wall. At first I thought she just liked the sound of her own voice. Then I saw she was reading for her friend, who can’t hear well, and who couldn’t hear my rhyme.
Her friend watched her lips, and pointed at things nobody else had noticed, and found more than all of them put together. My rhyme went right past her and she didn’t need it at all.
Another of them repeated everything the Ceiling Voice said in a different language, for his uncle, quickly and quietly. The uncle nodded the whole way round. Two languages in my house at once. It felt like a party.
I was touched. Then I remembered they were trying to leave, and I made the lights go out. A girl has to keep her standards up.
— Cathy (please come back)
