CHAPTER NINE
Keith was able to convince the little boy to allow them to give him a bath. When they’d found him, they thought he was maybe five or six but after examining the boy, he appeared to be closer to eight or nine, possibly ten.
“Why is he so small?” asked Luke.
“I’m guessing malnutrition and perhaps other congenital issues.
He also may have been abused even before getting to that clinic.
I can’t be sure yet,” said Riley. “Jane is more familiar with pediatric conditions, so she’s leading this.
I’m just here for support and to kill his abusers if you need help. ”
Luke grinned at the woman and nodded. She was fiery and feisty. Just like all their wives but he didn’t doubt her words for a moment.
“Other than what’s happened to his head, now that he’s clean he’s a beautiful little boy,” whispered Hex.
“This kids making me crazy with the need for paper and pen,” said Keith.
“Here,” smiled Kelsey. “I ran upstairs to the pediatric wing and found some color books, crayons, markers, pens, pencils, and several notepads.”
“Thank you,” smiled Keith handing it to the boy.
He immediately opened one of the empty notepads and with his good hand, began scrawling things all over the notepad.
“What is that?” asked Hex.
Bull and Erica walked in to meet the newest member of their child genius crew. Erica stared at the scrawl and looked at Bull. He bent over the paper and smiled at the boy, signing something they could see.
“Bull? What is that?” asked Cam.
“He’s writing a symphony. Something I’ve never seen before in my life,” said Bull.
“I haven’t either,” said Erica. “It’s complicated, complex, advanced. It’s so fast I don’t know if my fingers could play it. How? How is this boy, who can’t even hear music, writing a masterpiece for the ages?”
“Holy shit,” muttered Cam. “A symphony.”
“That could be why he was opened or why they left him,” said Jane. “Maybe they thought he had musical talent with an instrument. But it’s his brain that’s the instrument.”
“What do you mean?” asked Luke.
“Luke, that boy is writing a complicated, complex symphony and has never heard a note of music. Explain that to me.” Luke looked at his cousin, Jane, then back at the boy, shaking his head.
“I can’t.”
“Neither can I,” she said. “And yet we’re all witnessing it. They tried to figure it out or take it from him. I’m not sure. But either way, that child is creating something miraculous and if I had to guess, the other children will be able to perform it.”
The boy was determined to not allow Keith to leave him. After repeated attempts to get his name, he continued to just shake his head. Hex walked in with Sutton and she stared at the boy, then back at the rest of the people in the room.
“Was he in that hospital? Was he one of the kids?” she asked.
“We were hoping you could tell us, Sutton,” said Luke.
“I don’t remember seein’ him but they kept a lot of the kids separate from us. He looks different,” she said staring at him.
“He is different. He doesn’t play music, he writes music,” said Jane. “Do you understand what that means?”
“Yes, ma’am. They tried to make Pip read music once and he couldn’t. He said it made his head hurt but if they played it, he could repeat it. You know what I mean?”
“I know what you mean, honey,” said Hex. “It’s an amazing gift your brother was given.”
“Why do you ‘spose I wasn’t given a gift?” she asked thoughtfully.
“But you have the biggest gift of all,” said Eric. “You protected all those children for more than a year. You were clever, careful, and thoughtful. Not everything you did was legal. But your gift saved all of them.”
“You really think so?” she asked with a small smile.
“Honey, I know so.” Eric paused and then sat down beside the girl. “Sutton, do you ever remember seeing them take children to the basement?”
“The hospital didn’t have a basement,” she said shaking her head. “I remember because there were tornado warnings once and they said there wasn’t no basement for us. We had to hide in the library. It scared me.”
“Why?” asked Eric, knowing what he’d found there.
“The doctors and nurses and all them folks told us we couldn’t touch the books. What kinda adult tells kids not to touch books? That didn’t make no sense to me. I got a whippin’ once because I went in there and was readin’ a book about kids like Pip. I think it was somethin’ called prodgides.”
“Maybe prodigies?” smirked Luke.
“Yeah. That was it. Anyhow, they came in and saw me with the book and screamed at me, gave me a whippin’ with a belt and everything. It wasn’t my first. Or last,” she frowned.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” said Luke.
“Better me than Pip,” she said straightening her shoulders. “He never understood when he got whippins’.”
“They beat the children?” asked Jane with concern filling her features.
“Wasn’t really a beatin’. Beatins’ are real bad. Whippins’ are better, I guess. If they didn’t do what they was told they were given a whippin’. For bein’ so smart, them doctors were stupid. The kids didn’t understand what they were askin’ of ‘em.”
“And what were they asking of them?” asked Cam trying to repeat what she said in correct grammar, hoping to give her a hint.
“They wanted ‘em to play the music. All the time. They’d hook ‘em up to them machines with wires, scarin’ ‘em and then tell ‘em to play. They’d play stupid stuff on the record player or the radio or somethin’. I tried to tell ‘em that’s not how the kids learned the music. They needed to see it, feel it for themselves. Adults never listen to kids,” she frowned, shaking her head.
“I can promise you this, Sutton, we are all listening to you and to the others. We want to help you and we want to help the children learn about their gifts.”
Sutton stared at them and nodded, then turned to the other boy.
“I been thinkin’,” she said walking closer to the boy. “I heard ‘em once talkin’ about a boy that could see music play in his head like a movie. Called it somethin’ special but I don’t remember what it was. He was new to the hospital and we were already thinkin’ how we could get out.”
“Did they have a name for him?” asked Luke.
“They called him Wig.”