Girl in the Shadows (Shadows 2)

You're a coward. April Taylor. I told myself, You run away from everything, even yourself.

I went directly to Echo's room. The door was open. When I looked in. I saw her hovered over the novel Tyler had given her to read. I sat beside her and she looked up at me. Her face was still a little peaked from her fright and her hands were trembling. I took them into mine, squeezed them gently to comfort her, and smiled at her. Then I reached for a pen and some paper.

Here we go. I thought, and began to write about my uncle, his dear assistant. Destiny, and the doll. I gave it to her in small doses, explaining why my uncle had the doll made and what its purpose was in the show.

She continued to look skeptical and wrote. "But isn't it a real lady?"

Again and again, I told her no but she still looked skeptical. I apologized for not warning her about Destiny. I explained how I hadn't gone into the motor home since I had gotten my things out of it and some of the magic tricks, and how I had forgotten about her in the bedroom. Again. I emphasized how the doll was part of the magic show. helped do tricks, and was used like a puppet, a ventriloquist's doll. Being deaf, her knowledge of that was nil and I had a difficult time explaining it.

Nevertheless. I promised to show how the doll worked someday and that seemed to calm her, although she still looked quite confused.

Exhausted. I went to my room and prepared for dinner. As soon as I was downstairs. Trevor caught me in the hallway while Mrs. Westington was in the kitchen. He pulled me aside to whisper.

"Something happen with Echo?" he asked, "I saw her running into the house earlier."

I told him what had occurred and I also told him quickly that I hadn't revealed it to Mrs. Westington.

"Oh, that doll," he said. I recalled how he had reacted when he saw Destiny for the first time the day I had driven up to the house,

"I don't think Mrs. Westington is going to be happy about it," I said. "It was my fault. I had better explain."

"For now, let it be." he advised.

Mrs. Westington saw us whispering and looked at us suspiciously, but she didn't ask any questions.

At dinner Trevor and I talked more about the winery, how it had been so successful and why his grapes were so special. He went into a long lecture about methods of cultivating. Mrs. Westington put on a touchy face and complained about his wasting my time now and not just his own, but I could see she enjoyed my enthusiasm. Echo struggled to be part of our conversation, but neither I nor Trevor

remembered to explain everything as we went along. I. of course, had a limited ability with signing. Every once in a while, I did what I could to keep her in the discussion, and then I suddenly got a great idea from watching her struggle to keep up with us.

However, I thought it was a terrific idea. but Tyler Monahan thought it further proved that I was too weird to be around Echo.

When he arrived the next day. I greeted him with, "I want to learn like a deaf person."

He froze in the hallway and pulled in the corners of his mouth. Then he tilted his head and said, "What?"

"I thought if I was deaf. I would be forced to learn how to communicate through signing. It would put the same pressure on me that a person really deaf has on her, and perhaps I'll learn faster."

"Oh, is that so? And how do you intend on becoming deaf, pop your eardrums or something?"

"Wax," I said.

"Wax?"

"Yes, I'm going to fill my ears with wax. My uncle Palaver was once part of a circus act that required him to assist the man who

was shot out of a cannon. He told me he filled his ears with melted wax to keep himself from going deaf and he couldn't hear a thing and that they had to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention."

Tyler shook his head. "Let me understand this. You not only want me to tutor you for the high school equivalency exam. You want me to do it through signing, lipreading, and all the other techniques I use on Echo?"

"Exactly," I said.

"You're crazier than I thought," he replied. I smiled. "It won't work," he insisted.

"We'll see:" I said. I had spent hours and hours the night before on the ASL book even after Echo and I had practiced for hours. I wasn't proficient yet. but I had come a long way and I was determined he would have a better impression of me and my abilities.

"Look, if you think I'm going to waste my time just to amuse you. you're"

"I'll be right back." I interrupted before he could warn and threaten me, and I went upstairs and filled my ears with the candle wax I had already melted and prepared in a cup. I tested myself by banging a brush on the vanity counter and then by running water. It was very difficult to hear anything. With the ASL book under my arm. I returned to the office, where Tyler was already instructing Echo. He looked up suspiciously, and then he produced a packet of tests he obviously wanted me to take.