The Memories
"I never heard of Helen Keller".
The words hurt her so deeply she can actually feel them piercing through her heart. If she was told her Teacher had repudiated her that way, made their whole life together null and void, she would not have believed this. But her sensitive fingers are on Teacher's face and she feels the dying woman's lips say these awful words. "It's just the distraction", Helen tells herself. "She doesn't understand what she's saying. She can't say this on purpose".
Annie Sullivan may have forgotten her but she remembers perfectly.
She remembers their first meeting, the day she calls her Soul Birthday. She reached out to hug her mother but it was not Kate Keller. She found herself in the strong arms of a stranger who did not in the least resemble her mother. The stranger had a small, erect, vibrant body and smelled of cinders and coal smoke. Of course Helen did not know back then that that woman would change her life.
She remembers their first fight. It was over the doll the stranger gave her and then tried to take back. She knocked out one of the woman's teeth – now she shudders each time she thinks about this.
She remembers their first proper introduction. As soon as she realized everything had a name, she was eager to know the name of the woman who had revealed that wonderful fact to her. Teacher.
She remembers their first kiss. Overwhelmed with emotions, she hugged Teacher clumsily and brushed her lips across Teacher's cheek, wet from tears. Teacher seldom cried, at least in Helen's presence. But that day she kissed Helen's brow and spelled that she would love her forever and ever and they cried together.
She remembers their first separation. Teacher had to go to Boston and though she was absent only for four days, her departure made a huge gap in Helen's life. Helen missed her greatly. Years later any separation from Teacher still unnerved her. And soon they are going to part forever… Helen forces herself not to think about it.
She remembers their quarrels and reconciliations, their dreams and plans, their long night talks and quiet moments when they just sat together, hand in hand, happy with each other's presence. It seems to Helen she remembers every day, hour, minute of their life together.
And what frightens her is that she will always remember these hurtful words, the last words of her Teacher – " I never heard of Helen Keller".