I asked him where Echo was and he told me she
was upstairs in her room working on some
assignments he had given her.
"I'll be waiting for you outside." he told me. He
tried to keep his emotions under a tight, firm face, but
his rage swirled about in the dark pools of his eyes. I went into the bathroom and began to remove
the wax using hot water and a toothpick very
carefully. I didn't get it all out. but I knew Tyler was
waiting impatiently for me on the front porch. "Let's take a walk," he said sharply the moment
I appeared. He charged dawn the steps.
Trevor was continuing his harvesting of his
grapes and watched us walk off toward the pond. We
went quite a way before Tyler spoke and when he did,
he nearly shouted. blurting. "I knew you were going
to create more problems and make things more
difficult for me, as if it wasn't hard enough for me as
it is. I just knew it!"
"What's that supposed to mean?What
problems?"
He kept walking, paused, changed direction,
and continued like someone caught in a great state of
confusion.
"Can you please stand still and tell me what this
is all about? What problems have I caused you?" Finally, he stopped and turned to me. "You wanted to help her with her schoolwork," he said, shaking her head. "You wanted to learn how to communicate with her quickly. You put on this whole show about simulating a deaf person's condition so you'd be forced to learn like she does. You did some job on Mrs. Westington when you told her your sad, sad store. Poor April Taylor, an orphan dumped on their doorstep,'" he said, mimicking someone who felt
terrible for inc.
"What did I do to get you so upset?" I
screamed.
"What did you do? I'll tell you what you did.
First chance you get, what do you talk about with
Echo? Her math problems? No. English homework?