River really wanted to get this right. He kept saying his name in his head and tried to push it into his mouth and out. River. River. “Riv…ur.” Oh God, that was it. “River. River.” He laughed. “Newt. River.”
“You did it. Well done.”
“Fuck off, Newt.” But River smiled as he said it.
Newt grinned. “Oh God, there’ll be no stopping you now.”
One word?River pushed to his feet, went over to his bookcase and pulled down the thickest book on there. He couldn’t read that it said dictionary on the spine, but he knew that was what it was. A joke gift from a former director after they’d had a discussion about the meaning of aberration. He held it out to Newt and raised his eyebrows.
Newt took it from his hand. “I know. There are over a million words in the English language, but a lot less than that in current use. We only use between 20,000 and 30,000 regularly. And you only need about 3,000 for fluency in most situations and only 1,000 to communicate. Right? A thousand is achievable.”
River wasn’t heartened. But he pointed to Newt’s crotch and tilted his head in question.
“Jeans? Zip? Cock?” Newt asked. “Ah wait.” He pushed to his feet and came back a moment later with the strip of paper hanging from his zip. River nodded.
“Cock. The sound’s in your throat.” He took hold of River’s hand and put it on his own neck. “Cock.”
River’s heart lurched and he pulled his hand away. “Caw…caw.”
“Now you sound like a crow. A pretty good imitation. Put the hard sound at the end. “Caw…k.”
Cock, cock, cock.“Cawk, caw…”
“O.” Newt opened his mouth wide. “O. Cock.”
“Cock.” River gasped. “Newt. Cock. River. Fuck off.”
They both burst out laughing.
River’s delight faded far more quickly than he’d expected. Three new words. That was all he’d managed since Newt had arrived, and they’d not come easily. Not only that but he had a headache and he was exhausted.All that effort and I learn three fucking words?The pain in his chest was severe enough to make him think he was having a heart attack.
Frustration warred with confusion and fear. He’d still thought—fuck what I thought.That he was suddenly going to get his speech back just as he had his comprehension? Well, yes, he had thought that. He still thought that. He woke daily hoping for that even though he knew it wasn’t going to happen.
“Don’t be disappointed,” Newt said. “It’s a start. There’s lots of work to do but you can see now what’s possible. I’m not going to kid you that it will be easy. What won’t help is over-coaching or pressure. If you’ve had too much, you need to get me to stop. You also need to know it’s not true that if you’re going to get language back it has to be done fast. Rushing is counterproductive.”
But it needed to be fast. If he was going to do the film in the autumn, it had to be fast. And somehow, in the midst of his misery, he’d kept forgetting that he had to try harder if he wanted that role. Was it even fucking possible? It didn’t feel like it was. And down he went again.
“Hey! Listen. If I push you too hard, you’ll struggle. If you push yourself too hard, ditto. It needs to be a balance. You need to feel you can do it. I know you can.”
River listened carefully. He’d failed too often and that had depressed him.
“Language can be picked up in the undamaged part of your brain. You have to be patient. Your brain is having to learn all over again but it can do it. You’ve just shown that.”
River nodded.
“You’re lucky you can understand. Sometimes that doesn’t come back. You remember what it was like when all you could hear were sounds that made no sense? Think how far you’ve come.”
“Newt. Fuck off.”
Newt laughed. “We’ll learnthank you, my princetomorrow.”
River smiled.I really like you.
Seven
Newt really hoped he’d managed a breakthrough with River. He hadn’t been entirely convinced that waiting for him to mellow had been the right thing to do, but hearing him laugh had been everything. Newt hadn’t talked much when he’d been in prison. He hadn’t wanted to, but he wished he could chat to River, find a way to ensure he didn’t revert to his prickly side tomorrow. A trip to the seaside with fish and chips wasn’t going to happen every day.
Though Newt had impressed himself with his driving. It had all flooded back, even the parallel parking. He’d spent a lot of weekends doing that with cars on the forecourt, moving them around after he cleaned them, but he was surprised he’d retained that particular ability.
