Words Aren't Enough {Pokemon Watties 2016 1st Place in Misc.}

Chapter 4

It was a Sunday, the only day of the week that Seth let himself sleep in on. However, his sleep didn't last as long as he intended for it to last. He was awakened by a tugging at his and Kate's bed.

Seth's eyes slowly opened, and he quietly and lethargically stretched himself awake. He sat up and looked at the boy standing at his bedside.

"What is it Bran? It's too early for you to be in here."

Brian didn't seem to understand what the problem was, so he just ignored it and continued with his question anyways. He held up his 2DS to Seth's face, the bright screen blinding the groggy professor. "This word?"

Seth wiped the sleep from his eyes and picked up his glasses from the nightstand. He put them on and squinted at the word. "Withdraw? It means to take out."

Brian tried his best to comprehend the meaning of the word and remember it, but he only was able to catch part of it. Instead he just plopped down on the floor next to his parents' bed and kept on playing. The tune of the little game was emanating from the slate-like device and penetrating the room.

Kate stirred on her side of the bed.

Seth shushed his son. "Turn that down! You mother is sleeping!"

"Not anymore," said Kate, rolling over with a yawn. She stretched her arms far into the air then looked over at what was happening. She saw Brian and was surprised. "What are you doing here, Bran?"

He ran over to her side and thrust his game into the air. "Playing pokemon!"

"He asked me what 'withdraw' meant," explained Seth.

"Even though he can't read?"

"He just pointed to the word."

"But don't you find that a little bit strange, dear? That means he could recognize that word, even if it was just recognizing that he didn't know."

The professor looked at the boy. This was an interesting point. He might be hindered by his low learning speed, but he was still learning. Not in the way that he would if he was at the level of a normal child, but even remembering how the words' looks differed from each other was a great step.

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A Few Days Later

The Hartmann family sat around the dinner table, enjoying their meal. Kate was the first one to speak.

"So Bran started tutoring today."

Seth cleaned his face with his napkin. "How did it go?"

"He was working very hard, and was able to read a few words! The tutor said that he might not be as far behind as we originally thought!"

Seth looked at his son, who was currently playing with his vegetables instead of eating them. It looked like he was trying to make a forest out of the broccoli.

Once Brian noticed that his father was looking at him he stopped playing around and smiled at him. His face was completely covered in food.

Kate sighed. "Here we are, saying how great you are, and then you decide to make a huge mess of yourself." She went to the kitchen and grabbed a wet washcloth. She cleaned Brian's face, as much as he tried to avoid her cleaning. "He also was trying his best in the other areas, including speech and math. It'll be a long road, but I think it's good that we started early. I wish we would've started a few years ago actually."

"We probably should've," said Seth, "but we also have had quite the bit of trouble simply raising him."

"You mean I had a lot of trouble," she said. "Oh, and that reminds me. Can you take him to tutoring tomorrow? Something came up and I can no longer do it myself."