"Rose would you please come down stairs, our neighbours are here," came the voice of reason, also known as her mother from the front room. Rose slowly made her way down the stairs and was greeted with the site of four people. One looked like a grandfather, a mother, and two children, one of which was the kind stranger from just the other day.
"This is our daughter Rose. She doesn't talk much, she claims it wastes too much strength," said her father. Rose ignored his comment and just nodded her head towards the guests in a sort of awkward bow.
"Oh well we don't mind, Dwayne, my son, recently took a vow of silence," replied the woman. So now the kind stranger had a name, but would he remain a stranger?
"I'm Olive! And that's my Grandpa, he teaches me how to dance. Do you like to dance?" she asked shaking Rose's hand. Rose merely shook her head 'no' .
"Nice to meet you folks," said the grandfather.
"And I'm Sheryl, my husband is Richard, but he's at work right now," the mother introduced and shook hands with Rose's parents.
"I'm Anna, and this is my husband Paul," said Rose's mother.
"Well if you need any help finding things around here you can always ask us," said Sheryl as she put and hand on Dwayne's shoulder.
"Actually, we know where everything is, we used to live here," said Paul proudly.
"Oh really, and where did you move from?" asked Sheryl.
"Come on Olive let's go work on your routine some more," said their grandfather. Olive nodded happily before giving a hasty 'good bye' and walking out the front door with her grandfather.
"Oh Dwayne why don't you help Rose here unpack. I'm sure she could use the help," said Rose's mum.
"That's a good idea, I'll come get you when I'm leaving," said Sheryl. Dwayne just turned to Rose and they both silently walked up the stairs. Rose had spent all her earlier energy working on her brother's room and now she had to organize everything in her room. All her furniture was set up, but she still had to move it and add all her things to them.
While they were walking up the stairs Rose had not paid any attention to Dwayne, it was when they were in her room when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She saw him hold up a pad of paper and looked over and read what it said.
'What do you need help with?'
Rose just point to the furniture and Dwayne got the point behind it. They walked over to the bookcase first and together lifted it and put it against the wall.
Dwayne continued to help Rose until his mum came and said they had to go home for dinner. Rose nodded her thanks to Dwayne and he accepted that as her way of thanks.
"So Dwayne, did you like the new girl next door? You'll finally have someone nearby who is your age," said his mum that night when she walked into his room while he was reading. His response was to just stare up at her telling her he knew there was more meaning behind the words.
"And she was very pretty with a unique name. You know you don't hear classic names like that enough anymore. Anyway I think you two would be good for each other. Her parents told me she is a slight insomniac and when she does get some sleep, it isn't much. That's why she doesn t talk much because she thinks it wastes too much energy that she doesn't have."
Dwayne grabbed his pad of paper and wrote a response.
'She's nice. But I don't see how we can help each other.'
"Well maybe you two can become an invincible silent duo? I don't know, I'm probably just tired so I'm babbling. Good night sweetie." Sheryl kissed Dwayne on his forehead before leaving his room. Dwayne decided to get some sleep and laid down on his bed and stared up at his ceiling. For some reason, he couldn't get what his mother said about Rose out of his head. He never even thought people couldn't have the energy to talk.