“I don’t want to.”
Dr. Durgin sighed. “What wouldyoulike to talk about?”
“How come nobody else ever comes to visit me?”
“You know why.”
“But you’re not afraid. You come.”
“I’m deaf, David. I can’t actually hear you. I read your lips.”
“And that’s why you’re not afraid?”
“That’s why I’m able to visit with you.”
“So if you could hear, you wouldn’t visit me anymore?”
“I would like to, but they probably wouldn’t let me.”
“You’d talk to me through the speakers, though? Like everyone else?”
“If they let me.”
“Dr. Peavy used to come in and visit with me. He wasn’t deaf.”
“But he doesn’t anymore, does he, David? Do you remember what happened to Dr. Peavy?”
“Yes. Dr. Peavy was mean to me. I made him stop.”
“That was two weeks after your parents. If you remember what happened to Dr. Peavy, then you certainly remember what happened to them.”
Silence.
“David?”
“I’m tired. Can we stop now?”
“Were your parents mean to you? Like Dr. Peavy?”
“My daddy was.”
“And you made him stop?”
Silence.
“David, you have to speak aloud, for the record. You made your father stop?”
“Yes.”
“How did you make your father stop?”
“I don’t remember.”
“I think you do.”
“He wasn’t supposed to hurt Mommy.”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
