The sign said "Lunch Room." A simple two words, really. Easier than "dining hall" or Snow forbid, "cafeteria." Still, the last thing Gage expected to see here was a small child trying to read it. She must have been about three or four years old, and her fingers traced the letters as she tried to sound it out.
"L...l...uh....n....lun...kuh...hah..." her voice was barely above a whisper, and Gage smiled. "Lun-kuh-ha," the young girl tried again.
"Close!" Gage said, and squatted down next to her. "Do you see how the C is next to the H? When a C is next to an H, it makes a special kind of sound. Do you know what sound that is?" The girl shook her head, so Gage enunciated a ch sound once, then again a little louder. The girl nodded vigorously - either in earnest understanding or in the desire to appear as though she understood - and turned back to the sign.
"L...un....chuh. Lunchuh. Lunch!" The girl squealed as she recognized the word, and Gage grinned.
"Yes, that's right! Lunch! Where there will be cheese and chips and we'll chew them all up!" She held up her hands for the girl to high five, laughing as the warm joy of seeing a child's eyes light up when they learned something new began to fill her.
@lindenunderstory