The Miracle of Love by Ondine Sherman

Author:Ondine Sherman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BIO026000, book
ISBN: 9781743434611
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2013-05-15T04:00:00+00:00

One Friday afternoon a few months after our return, Lisa and her children, Amanda and Patrick, came to play. ‘It’s so nice to have you back,’ Lisa said with a warm smile.

We sent the kids out to the swing set in the garden with high hopes that we would be able to catch up properly. Efrat had taken Dov and Lev out in the pram. They had just finished physio and the dinner routine would soon begin. I was relieved they were out of the house. I knew that I couldn’t give them the concentrated attention they required and at the same time focus on my friend.

Lisa sat on the kitchen stool, her long skirt billowing around her. I poured ground coffee into my plunger and placed a bag of dandelion tea in a cup for her. Lisa played with her hair, absentmindedly wrapping her rich brown curls around her fingers, just like she had done at nineteen when we were at university. So nice to be home, I thought for the thousandth time. Beyond the open glass doors I admired the burgundy red of the velvet kangaroo paws emerging from their nest of long green leaves. They matched Lisa’s skirt. As we watched the children play, she told me of her struggles with Amanda and Patrick’s rivalry.

The conversation paused and she noticed the red fabric board on the wall next to the fridge.

‘What’s that?’ she asked.

Fifty small laminated pictures were velcroed onto the red board and arranged in groups: some were photographs of toys, others were food choices such as spaghetti or cereal. Another group contained symbols communicating ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘more’ and ‘finished’.

‘That’s a . . . um, this communication system thingy we’re starting,’ I stumbled. I sat down opposite her, my back to the open door and the swing set. Deep breath.

What I should have said: ‘How much I want Dov and Lev to talk. So much. Multiply the “so” by infinite.’

I should have also cried. Given her the opportunity to show she cared. To support me.

Instead I started to explain, my voice carefully measured. I felt my lips tremble dangerously and I focused hard on keeping my face expressionless.

‘It gives them the ability to make choices with food and also to communicate simple things like . . .’

The truth was the ‘alternative’ communication system made my skin crawl and I felt the speech therapist had pushed me into it. She had pointed to their tongues. ‘See how they’re resting at the bottom of their mouths?’

‘Isn’t that where tongues usually sit?’ I’d asked.

‘Pay attention to your own tongue,’ she had said slowly.

‘Notice how it sits up in the roof ? Until that happens with theirs, it’s near impossible to make good sounds.’ She had also insisted that children who don’t learn the alternative communication system become frustrated and start to scream and whine. I could tell she didn’t believe in Dov and Lev. What’s more, she had insisted they drink only thickened fluids. Since they were babies, they had made heavy wheezing sounds.

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