OCR Text |
Show even higher up than them both, demanded the child's return to school. The phones began to ring again. And, while she would be making her own progress, the tension of an unresolved issue hung over our heads like a black cloud before a storm. We all waited for her return. My aide quit. A huge burden was lifted. I no longer had to deal with a fifth child. A child who only saw monsters, unless their physical beauty reassured her- The new aide had already worked at the school for awhile and she was afraid of Patty but had not seen her for almost a month. I was afraid of her regression. This would not be your ordinary amount with an ordinary amount of emotional draining,' it could be the probability of beginning all over again. It had been long enough to have been a "summer vacation' and I was not so sure that I could begin again without crumbling inside, without letting her exhaust me, draining all of my own safeguards for survival. A man with an invisible smile walked in, and with him, one of Patty's teachers. She was a new teacher, because Fatty's three-year companion had refused to come. The new teacher was afraid of Patty- And finally behind them Patty, herself, trailing on the wall to our classroom door. She was totally at ease, totally calm, and quite ready to begin her lessons again. There wasn't a trace of anything lost on her face, even the natural smile on her lips indicated that she had rested but was glad to be home. So, we began again. There were no more "necessary" lessons to be learned. The channel had been opened for good. And now that one person knew her, she would know many others. Teachers and aides began to search for the door to it, some for just half-hour lessons and others for whole evenings of time. Her second "teacher" emerged in the form of her afternoon dormitory aide, she began to see Patty and Patty began to see her- And like a puppy having passed through his potty training and losing his obnoxious whine and hyperactivity, Patty was no longer feared or hated or misunderstood. She was found to be a good companion and affectionate troublemaker, but always to be forgiven in the end. She had become popular- There were, however, no pom poms or beauty contests, no secret notes to boyfriends whose dark shape might edge through her window in the middle of the night. She only knew women, and trusted those few. as if she were Annie Sullivan or Alice B. after forty years with Helen or Gertrude. |