Never To Speak
A little boy hopped out of a big silver car. His father got out after him and walked him up to the big hospital in front of them. The father smiled as his son skipped along happily. He opened the big doors with aqua lettering on them for his son as they made their way to doctor September. As soon as they got into her clinic the boy stopped and looked at his father uncertainly, but his father just gave him a little shove into the brightly lit room. Doctor September smiled as the boy jumped up on a chair and looked at her with bright intelligent eyes. The boys father started talking first he sat down and then said, "He hasn't spoken a word yet doctor. I don't know what is wrong. Did his voice box tests come back?" Doctor September frowned and almost in a whisper said, "Oh, they came back." She almost looked sad as she said her next sentence, "He will not learn to talk like other children. He will come onto words slower and will need tons of encouragement. I have a few places where they work to get kids like him talking, but it is all about personal interests of his. I'm really sorry, but he'll otherwise be fine. His brain development is going smoothly and he should be able to understand things clearly, he just can't respond. At the age of 15 I expect him to be able to say a few words that consist of 3 letters with only some stuttering." She lowered her head in sorrow. The little boy looked up and opened his mouth to say something and the 2 listened very carefully but he couldn't make a sound. The boy's father looked at the doctor and said, "Thank-you doctor September, you were a really big help. I mean it." He then got up from the oak chair and looked her very closely in the eye and said, "So what are the places I can bring him to for help?" Doctor September then hauled out a large yellow sheet with names and numbers on it. "I suggest these to everyone, but remember it won't help if he isn't interested." The boy's father gladly took the sheet and said his thanks and they left to go back to their home.
The evening neared on the boys and father's house as they both sat in silence together. The father scratched his chin thoughtfully and the boy played with his dump trucks. The father looked at his son and said, "You know Jake, I think you're a fantastic kid! And I know that you soon will be able to talk because I'm going to get you in one of those programs. Come on Jake, lets go phone some people!" Jake looked at his father intensely trying to come up with an easy response, but he just hopped up and brought his dump truck to the kitchen where the phone was. His father followed and started calling places, he called places but at the end of every conversation he muttered something like, "To expensive, to picky, to hard-core, to far away, or the most used one, my boy wouldn't like it." He stayed up all night and by the morning there was one place left. Magic Riders. Jake's father picked up the phone yawning and as the girl on the other end answered with a cheery, "Hello, this is Magic Riders farm. Where every kid feels special! How may I help you?" Jake's father smiled at the sound of the bright voice but then fell into business and said, "Hi, um, I'm Ken and my son Jake um, won't ever be able to fully talk, and I was wondering if you could help?" Ken said uncertainly- this was his last hope! "Most certainly. I offer everyday lessons to children with horses. They come in 7 days a week and work with a horse here. After a while they want to learn about horses and to do that they need to ask questions, and then they'll want to talk to their friends and maybe they might give a speech on horses, it works rather well." Ken paused, it sounded about the right thing for Jake, no pressure and no hitting, but how expensive was it? "That sounds fantastic," Ken said, "But err, you see, money is a slight issue, and how expensive is it?" Ken waited eagerly on the other side, "50 dollars every 5 months and then when we get results it goes up to 60 dollars every 5 months." Ken almost leaped with joy! "Good enough then, I'll sign him up!" Ken was asked some questions and then they said, "He will start today!" Ken rushed up to his little boy's room and burst in. "Son! You're going horseback riding!"
First Lesson
They car drove up a dusty lane by the name of Pine Cage Lane, Jake looked out the windows at the horses and all the people passing by in their own cars. The little boy smiled as ponies playfully nipped at each other and gave little kicks. When the car stopped Jake was out in an instant! He looked around at the new scenery and smiled. A girl walked up to them and gave a wide smile showing all of her nice teeth. She crouched down next to Jake and said, "So if I'm guessing right you're Jake?" She said in a clear nice easy to understand voice. Jake nodded, but he didn't say "yes." She stood up at full height again and looked at Ken, "Hi, nice to meet you! I was thinking that I could show you're son the horses and let him pick which one he wants to work with. Would you like to tag along?" Ken thought for a minute and then said, "Sure, I'd like to see the ponies." Jake eagerly looked around and said in a squeaky and fast tone, "G-G-Go?" The woman smiled in an understanding way, "You want to go see the ponies?" She asked, Jake nodded, happy she had understood him! "Oh, my bad, I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Juana and I would hope that when you get really good at speaking you would call me by my name!" She giggled and smiled at Jake and then said, "Lets get started!" She walked slowly onto a trail leading into woods and Jake and Ken followed. They walked for a bit until they came to the first paddock tucked neatly onto the side of the trail deep in the woods. A little paint pony looked up at them and whined sweetly, "This is Patches everybody, he is really nice!" The pony trotted over and Jake reached up and petted him, "Pat----c-c-c…" He tried desperately to say the ponies name but didn't succeed. "It's alright," Juana, said in a soothing voice, "I didn't expect you to know how to say his name already!" Jake looked up but didn't smile or giggle he just stared at her.