@vivianxeyre
“Daddy,” said Danny as he walked over to Wesley. Wesley was in his study, hunched over his desk and computer. He had earphones in as he was trying to edit an article and listening to the rapid fire voice reading back to him to trying to figure out if he could change the flow of his words. He felt a gentle hand at his side trying to get his attention and pulled out the headphones.
“Hey, buddy,” Wesley said. He reached out a hand to get a sense of where Danny was. He immediately felt that head of hair, tousling it.
“Daddy,” said Danny again as he leaned into his father’s embrace. “What are you doing?”
“I’m editing an article.” Wesley went ahead and reached out to pick Danny up. He was getting bigger and harder to carry. He was just on the verge of his sixth birthday, but he was growing so quickly. Wesley could feel those changes occurring every time he picked his son up and felt another pound had been added or another inch of height.
Danny looked at the computer screen, squinting as if he was trying to read the words. “The,” said Danny who could identify the first word, but it was clear he was lost from there, the second word already being too long.
“Sound it out,” said Wesley rather amused. “What’s the first letter?”
“S,” said Danny.
“And the second letter?”
“O.”
“Good, now pronounce those two letters together,” said Wesley. “It should look like a word you know already.”
“So,” said Danny immediately.
“Good! Now, let’s do the next part of the word. What’s are the next two letters?”
“L. U. L-l-luh. Sooo-luh,” said Danny as he slowly began to string together the syllables, trying to sound it out.
“Almost. You actually want to pronounce the L-U like loo. So-loo— There you go,” nodded Wesley when Danny repeated after him. “Very good. Now, the last part of this word is very tricky. Because you have letters that pretend to be other letters and it doesn’t sound at all like what it’s supposed to. You see the T-I-O-N?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Danny. “Tye-on. So-lu-ti-on,” he pronounced slowly. “What is that, daddy?”
Wesley laughed. “Nothing. Because that last part of the word is actually pronounced ‘shun.’ Whenever you see those letters, the T-I-O-N, a lot of times they make that sound together. You’ll see it in a lot of words, usually at the end and when it’s at the end of the word, that’s how it will sound,” said Wesley. “So, now that you know how to say that. Say the full word.”
“So-loo-shun,” said Danny slowly, working syllable by syllable. Of course, his mouth was still getting used to longer words. “Solution!” he said as he recognized the word itself.
“Very good,” grinned Wesley. “Look at you, I bet none of the other kids know that word in school. You’ll be able to teach them when they show you how to pronounce those words ending in T-I-O-N.” He could feel Danny wiggling on his lap, excited by this idea. Somehow, Danny had turned into a reader. It was something Wesley had always hoped for in his son, and he had gotten it. Danny loved hearing stories, loved trying to read stories. He was still learning plenty, but he was also well ahead of most kids his age when it came to reading level.
Danny had gone silent. He seemed to be thinking. Wesley could tell when his son was thinking hard. Danny could get contemplative. He loved to question everything and anything he could, in an attempt to figure out the world around him, just like any other kid, but Danny had a special kind of curiosity. It was probably the same part of him that made him so good at reading, that made him question his world.
“What are you thinking?” Wesley asked as he tilted his head.
“Do you know what I look like?” Danny asked. Wesley could feel his eyes on him.
“Yes, of course I do,” said Wesley. He had a soft, slightly sad smile at the question. “You have black hair.” He tousled his hair. “You have your mom’s nose.” Wesley let a finger move down the center of his face over his nose. “My eyes, dark, and mom’s ears as well.” His hand moved to the side of his face, tucking some of his wild hair behind his ear.
“But you can’t see,” said Danny, frowning.
“No, I can’t.”
“How do you know what I look like?”
“Because your mom told me, because I can feel your face, just like this.” Wesley ran a hand over his face, feeling his cheeks, his lips, and chin. “Close your eyes,” he told Danny.
Danny listened, his eyes closing. “Are your eyes closed?” Wesley asked.
“Yeah,” said Danny, nodding obediently.
“Alright, here, feel this.” Wesley felt around at his desk, finding something to give to Danny: a pencil. “What’s this?” he asked and handed him the pencil. “Describe it to dad.”
Danny took the pencil from Wesley. There was silence for a moment. “It’s a pencil.”
“Did you cheat and open your eyes?” Wesley asked.
“Noooo.”
“How did you know it was a pencil?”
“Because I could feel it,” said Danny.
“Describe it to daddy. Eyes closed, describe what you feel.”
There was another moment of silence. “It’s long,” started Danny. “The pencil is sharp. The eraser is on the other end and there’s metal between the eraser and the other part of the pencil. The metal feels cold.”
“That’s what daddy does. He can feel all of that and more. He knows exactly what you look like and exactly what a pencil looks like,” nodded Wesley. “Besides, daddy could see for a long, long time. I was old when I couldn’t see any more,” he explained. “So, I know what things look like, and when your mom describes things to me, I know what they look like, which means I know what you look like. Mom says you look a lot like me, too.”
Danny laughed. “Daddy has a beard,” he said as he pointed out an obvious difference. “And hair on his arms and legs. And chest!”
“Yes,” laughed Wesley, but, “soon you might have hair there too, and soon you might have a beard,” he told him. “Either way, daddy knows exactly what you look like, and what mommy looks like.”
“And the dog?” He asked.
“Yes, and the dog.”
“That’s why daddy likes when we talking about everything,” said Danny. Wesley knew what Danny meant that he and Vivian often described their surroundings. Danny, after starting school, had started to realize not everyone talked descriptively. He had started to realize the way Vivian spoke to him and the way Danny spoke to him was different than the way other people spoke to each other. It was another thing that had made him so smart— he turned out to be very observant.
“Yes, that’s exactly it. It tells daddy what he needs to know about the world around him,” nodded Wesley. “Because then I can see with my imagination.”
“Wow,” said Danny sounding impressed. He always sounded impressed. “Is that way daddy has really good hearing, too?” he whispered as if it were a secret.
“It is,” nodded Wesley, also whispering.
“You’re like a superhero.” Danny sounded awed.
“Maybe more like a bat,” said Wesley.
There was silence, only this time Wesley knew it was more a silence of confusion. Wesley chuckled. “I’ll explain it one day,” he added. “Now, are you hungry?”
“Yes!”
“Let’s go get some lunch, see what mommy is making.”
Standing up, Wesley took his hand and they both walked to the kitchen together.
