CHAPTER SIX
Erica kneeled in front of the little girl and handed her a used, much loved, violin that she often kept for practice. She’d cleaned it up, tuned it, and had the bow restrung.
Eden stared at the woman, afraid that it was a trick. Erica smiled at her, taking the violin beneath her chin and playing for a few moments. She hadn’t even noticed that the child had her hand beneath the body of the violin. Smiling, she lowered it and handed it to Eden.
Tentatively, the little girl took the violin and placed it beneath her own tiny chin, just as Erica had. She carefully brought the bow over the strings and then copied, nearly to perfection, the same piece Erica played.
“Is that for real?” asked Luke.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said the woman. “I’ve seen savants before but they could all hear. I don’t know if she’s just memorizing my finger movements, and the movements of the bow, or if she can actually somehow feel, sense the melody.”
Melvin and Pip were handed guitars, both smiling from ear to ear. Amanda didn’t even have the chance to play her own when the boys began playing a fast-paced Spanish flamenco.
In the opposite corner, Samantha was playing a haunting Celtic melody that seemed to tug at the gut. When she finished, she hugged the flute as if it were her only friend in the whole world.
Bull sat across from the boy, Charlie, and smiled at him.
He began singing an old hymn and the boy stared at him, at his mouth and throat.
Slowly he stood and walked toward Bull, his hand coming to rest on his upper chest, then slowly to his throat.
When he finished, the boy sat back down and opened his mouth.
“Dear God in heaven,” whispered Bull. “I’ve never heard anything so perfect in all my life.”
“How do we explain this, Bull? I mean, we’re all intelligent people but how the fuck do we explain this?” asked Luke.
“I have no clue and I’m not sure I want to know,” he said shaking his head.
When the boy was done, Bull gave a big smile to him and the boy clapped. Bull clapped with him. He gave the sign for more and Bull nodded, singing another tune.
Mia was seated with Erica and Eden, shaking her head in disbelief.
“You know, when I was at Berkeley, one of my professors told a story of a boy that was blind, deaf, and mute who could play the violin as if it were an extension of his body. Of course, the experts all wanted to say the boy was faking but the doctors said it was real. He could not hear, speak, or see. And yet the music that he produced brought grown men and women to their knees.”
“It’s the most miraculous thing I’ve ever seen. I mean, we all know that Beethoven was deaf, or nearly deaf, but this?” said Layla shaking her head.
“I’ve been doing some digging,” said Ace walking toward them.
“This is beyond rare and in fact might be something other than what we think. Cases of deaf children exhibiting savant syndrome are exceedingly rare. Savantism generally involves a profound intellectual disability co-existing with an extraordinary, isolated talent, often in music, math, or art. While blind musical savants are highly documented, congenital deafness poses unique hurdles that all of you clearly understand.”
“Can you get to the part where you speak English?” asked Hex with a wry grin. Ace just smirked and nodded.
“People often assume deafness means total silence, but in reality, many who are deaf or hard of hearing experience residual acoustic hearing or feel low-frequency vibrations physically. While there are no famous, documented cases of profoundly deaf individuals demonstrating musical savantism, hard-of-hearing musicians frequently utilize hearing aids, bone-conduction headphones, or their sense of touch to feel the rhythm and resonate with the keys of an instrument.”
“So, you’re implying that maybe these kids aren’t completely and totally deaf?” asked Eric. Ace nodded. “Could that explain why Keith is so attuned to certain things, movements, strange nature sounds that no one else hears, that sort of thing?”
“It’s possible,” said Ace. “Even without perfect acoustic hearing, prodigies and savants can rely on extreme vibrational sensitivity.”
“Music is fundamentally composed of sound waves,” said Erica. “A savant whose inner ear is damaged but whose brain has an innate, compulsive capacity to process pitch and rhythm may process music entirely through physical frequencies and vibrations rather than auditory inputs.”
“Again, English would be helpful,” said Luke leaning back against the wall.
“Savants with extraordinary musical genius process sound in remarkably unique ways. For example, some famous musical savants are known for having an extreme, structural map of sound in their brains. This allows them to instantly identify multiple notes played simultaneously or instantly play back complex songs after hearing them just once.”
“Maybe that’s what those doctors were trying to find,” said Hex. “Could it be seen or identified on scans or during surgery?”
“I’m not sure,” said Ace. “I’ll keep looking for more information. For now, just know that what we have here is unbelievably rare. Oh. And that hospital? It closed a little over a year ago, shortly after the kids left. But everything is still there. I would encourage a field trip.”
“Thanks Ace,” nodded Luke. “Looks like we’re going to get a little dirty, fellas.”