His Eyes Read Free Page A

what happened? Nothing. Of course, nothing.
    I moved onto plan-B, talking. “Actually, my name is Amy.”
    The head returned to its forward-facing direction and made no reply.
    I swallowed and looked around the room for something to spark a conversation. Facing me was a large desk, which only held a small stack of books and CDs. They appeared untouched and the topmost book read BRAILLE in large, bold letters. I asked, “So, you’re learning Braille?”
    Silence.
    “Well, yeah....” I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Are you thirsty? I’m thirsty. I’m going to get something to drink, all right?”
    Predictably, he didn’t reply as I made my quick, awkward retreat from the room. Chris stood in the hallway, bent over in a fit of silent laughter at my plight. I clamped my fingers onto his shoulder and pulled him toward the stairs, hissing, “ We have to talk . I’m assuming you know where the kitchen is?”
    Chris led me through the foyer which opened into the kitchen. The kitchen was beautiful and immense...of course. It had a wall of cedar cabinetry, a large marble topped counter to the left, and state-of-the-art appliances in brushed silver to the right. Without noticing any of this, Chris wrenched from my grip and, while making a futile attempt to keep the grin off of his face, asked, “What do you want?”
    “I want—Do you have any pop?” I gestured toward the refrigerator and he nodded. “I want you to tell me about Tristan. I mean, as appealing as sitting in silence all day may be, there must be something he’ll want to talk about... I take it he’s not in school anymore?”
    “No.” Chris handed me a Coke. “Mom let him stay out. I think the doctor gave him a note or something.”
    I took a sip from the can and cocked my head to the side. “Hey, what’s inside of the closet?”
    “Oh, all of Tristan’s old stuff: posters, books, music, computer... Mom put it all in there after the accident.”
    That explained the emptiness of his room. I swallowed hard and shuddered. How terrible! He was sitting in that closet all alone, with his stuff around him, collecting dust. I recovered awkwardly, “Well, um, can you think of anything for me to talk about with him?”
    “Horses.” The tiny voice came suddenly from behind me. I turned to see the wide-eyed figure of Marly. She was staring intently up at me and repeated, “Horses,” before popping her thumb into her mouth.
    “Horses, okay.” I turned back to Chris. “Your mom said Tristan went blind from a horse riding accident?”
    The boy nodded. “Yeah, he used to ride all the time. There’s a place near here. It’s called, um...Legacy Stables. Aeris is still there.”
    “Aeris? He owns a horse?” I gasped.
    “Yup, but Trist hasn’t ridden since—you know.” Chris shook his head and said, “And I wouldn’t try to get him to ride.”
    “Okay, but maybe I could just bring him there to, I don’t know, hang out?” I raised my eyebrows at Chris, who shrugged skeptically at the idea. “Don’t suppose you know how to get there?”
    “Get where?” Mrs. Edmund walked out from the living room, a magazine tucked under her arm.
    “Legacy Stables. I thought Tristan and I could go there—someplace familiar.”
    She frowned, but nodded slowly. “If you think so, dear. The accident happened out of the state, so there shouldn’t be any bad memories...but just getting him out of this house would be a miracle.”
    “A miracle?” I laughed. “Well, I’ll try my best.”
    “All right. Now, just let me find a pen....”
    Chris, seeing his mother busy opening and shutting drawers, gave me a sneaky look and dashed toward the stairs.
    “Hey! Where are you going?” I shouted, but he didn’t look back.
    Mrs. Edmund fished a pen out of a drawer and began to hurriedly scrawl directions onto a small notepad. She sighed. “After everything that’s happened, Chris has been working extra hard to get Tristan’s attention. I’m sure gossip