2.
He hears
next door.
Listens to a chair
Across the linoleum
Kitchen floor.
The
Chink of a glass
Set down on the table.
Then the voices start up:
Back of the classroom
Confessional and
Secret sounding,
Beneath speech
Above a whisper.
_____
It's a voice he knows well
This is dad,
And a voice he knows
Almost as well
This is teacher.
_____
Sometimes she helps
After school:
Drives him home
Makes him spaghetti bolognese
Reads him stories
About giants and witches,
Makes him wash his hair.
She's speaking,
He gets some of it.
- But George you have to think
what's best for him..
Division, homework
Schedules, late notes,
Weekends and Little Chef
Carparks. She smells of mint
And knows the right things to say
And when to say nothing.
- Yes, I've talked to him
- So you've told him?
- Not yet
- George, he understands
more than you think.
______
There are things,
This is true,
That the boy doesn't understand.
But then,
Some things he understands just fine:
5m, 10m, front and back crawl.
He has the badges to prove it
His towel is covered in tigers.
He knows his nine times tables
And a trick with his hands to show it.
He can do long division,
He knows the first three stories in the Bible
And can sing hymns from memory.
He has gold stars in his workbook,
And, before today,
He was always well behaved,
Polite, quiet,
He reads well above his age,
He likes to draw.
______
Yes, as a rule
He is good at understanding
And the parts of things that
He doesn't understand
He gently twists into meaning.
______
Blue and yellow blocks of Lego
On the floor
And a half drawn picture of a fire engine.
No firemen
Just the engine
And in the background a house
On fire,
Yellow and orange,
A red sky topped with a centimetre strip
Of dark purple smoke.
The paper is tacky with wax,
Shiny with colour.
_____
He understands
Parts of things.
- You've got to do what's best for him.
Sorry, no, for you all
And the parts of things that
He doesn't understand
He gently twists into meaning.
Sometimes he's unsure
If he's dreaming
Or listening.
- It's been three months
George, he has to talk to someone
It's all in and out of focus
And the parts that he hears
He understands only as parts
Like words he doesn't know
Or a language he doesn't speak
He is awake but he's exhausted.
It's been a long day.
- I can't thank you enough
- Promise me you'll talk to him
_____
Moonlight on his sheets
Like a bowl of milk.
♫ Itchy cotton mooner ♫
He thinks of the song in Japanese
That his dad plays
At night
In the empty house
Whilst he pushes the vacuum cleaner
Across floors and into corners
- This can't happen again
- The parents?
- They understand.
But George, you should talk to him.
Over and over he's heard
That song,
Tried to untangle the sounds,
And he's built out a story
With its own logic.
♫ Something in the kitty, Charlie? ♫
Yes, as a rule
He is good at understanding
And the parts of things that
He doesn't understand
He gently twists into meaning
_____
Now there are other noises next door Things being put away
Metal on plates,
Glass on metal,
A door opens,
Street sounds,
Then closes.
More
Dad opens his door,
The boy screws up his eyes
Feeling suddenly ashamed.
_____
Dad kisses his forehead
And pads softly out the room
The boy hears him going up the stairs
Door sounds, some creaks,
And then silence.
♫Twiggy moving in the ball pit, eh?Twiggy living in Scarborough, eh?♫
______
BOY
TURN OFF NIGHTLIGHT
CHAPTER 2