A/N: This story was originally drafted for my one-shot book: "What if I ain't no violinist?" but I was enjoying writing it so much that I decided to put it into its own book. This chapter does end like a one-shot but I do intend to write more. I hope you enjoy it. I aimed for a high UwU and wholesomeness factor in this episode. Please let me know in comments how I scored ;-)
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Brett is an inquisitive 9-year-old in the 3rd grade.
One day when Brett ran into the classroom after recess, he almost bumped into another boy.
"Oops, sorry !"
Brett took a good look at the boy. He looks about his age but did not look familiar.
"Um... who are you ?"
The boy faced Brett directly and smiled.
"Hi, I'm Eddy!"
Eddy's deep dark brown eyes were captivating and Brett felt like he was getting drawn right into them.
When Brett was stunned for words and went silent, Eddy tilted his head.
"Are you still there ?"
"W, what?"
"I'm blind. What's your name ?"
Brett jolted in shock. He has known of visually impaired people but he had never met anyone his own age that was blind. He stammered.
"Oh, u, um.. I'm Brett. I'm sorry I almost bumped into you."
Eddy smiled again.
"That's okay, no harm done. Hey, you've got a really nice voice! Nice to meet you Brett !"
"So class, today we have a very special guest, Eddy. He is about the same age as you all and he usually attends the special school for the visually impaired but has kindly made this special visit today to meet us."
Brett sat quietly in his seat watching Eddy smiling.
I can't believe he can't see me, or anyone else in the classroom. Is everything just dark to him? Wouldn't he get scared like I do at night? Was he born blind or did his eyes used to work before? I wonder which is worse, to be blind all your life or able to see then one day have that taken away from you. How does he get by on his daily activities?
"Brett? ....Brett Yang? Are you paying attention ?"
Brett looked up at his teacher. She did not look impressed.
"I'm sorry I was just thinking about stuff..."
"Well, would you care to share your thoughts with the class ?"
"Um... um..."
Brett didn't want to ask his questions in front of the class, he wasn't sure if they were appropriate questions and he was worried that his questions might hurt Eddy's feelings.
Brett looked down and didn't say anything. His teacher decided to let him off the hook today because she had visitors in the classroom.
"Please be respectful and pay attention, okay?"
"Yes miss, I'm sorry."
Brett felt like crying.
"Ok, so, Eddy would you please explain to us how you read and write?"
"Yes, Miss. For reading, I use special letters called Braille which are little bumps that you can read by touching them with your fingertips. We've brought some to show you."
Brett straightened his posture in his seat to have a better look as Mr Hill, Eddy's teacher from his blind school, took a large book out of a bag.
Brett saw with his own eyes, Eddy receiving the book from his teacher, letting his long fingers trace the bumps on the front cover of the book, then breaking into a smile.
"This is one of my favourites; it's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone."
Brett almost stood up from his seat.
No way!
The whole class was thrown into a commotion of excitement. The children called out in a messy chorus;
"Wow, how did you do that Eddy?!"
"Did you really just read those dots with your fingertips?"
"Can we touch your book too ?"
The same question spun around in Brett's head.
How does he do that ?? I've seen those letters in places like in lifts and on the trains and I've touched them before but I can't read them like that!!
Next, the children were each given a pocket slate, a stylus and a small piece of Braille paper.
Eddy's teacher Mr Hill explained how to use the equipment to write their own Braille.
"Up here on the whiteboard shows you how to write the alphabet. So each of you can now write a word or sentence then come up to the front to show me."
The children were all excited and threw themselves into the task of looking up letters of the words they wanted to spell out in Braille. As soon as they managed to poke out a simple word, they would get out of their seats and head towards Mr Hill, who touched the words and read them out. The children were fascinated.
Brett looked up the letters on the whiteboard and carefully poked out a bunch of letters. He closed his eyes and traced the letters with his index finger. They just felt like random dots tickling his fingertip and Brett thought there was absolutely no way he could distinguish any of them. He became very sceptical. He wondered whether you had to be visually impaired to develop some kind of heightened sense of touch to read them like Eddy.
He watched as the children rushed up to Mr Hill to have him "read" their Braille words with his index finger. Brett concluded that Mr Hill was actually just reading the bumps with his eyes because he wasn't blind.
Brett got out of his chair and walked towards where Eddy was sitting. Eddy was typing something on Brailler, a Braille typewriter.
"Hi Eddy, it's..."
Eddy stopped typing and quickly turned towards Brett and flashed a warm smile.
"Hi, Brett!"
"OMG, how did you know it was me?"
"I remembered your voice."
"Oh, okay. Wow"
Brett sat down in the chair next to Eddy and lowered his voice so that others wouldn't hear him.
"Hey, Eddy... can Mr Hill really read Braille by touch?"
Eddy looked puzzled.
"Um, yes, I'm pretty sure he can, why ?"
"Well, don't you think he just reads those bumps with his eyes? I've tried touching these and I really don't think I can read them with my finger."
"Oh you wrote something ? May I read it, please ?"
Brett handed Eddy his Braille paper.
Eddy touched over the braille with his right index finger. Eddy broke out into a smile but he also looked a bit confused.
"You read it ?"
"Yeah! But, um, what is it ?"
"Oh, it's a person's name. I just taught myself how to spell it. But wow, how can you read this? I mean, I can see that the bumps are different but when I touch them they all feel the same."
"Well.. it does take a bit of practice. Brett, can I have your hands, please ? I think I can show you an easier way to read them."
Brett gingerly placed his hands into Eddy's opened hands.
Eddy gently held onto Brett's index fingers.
"Here Brett, try using these two fingers together to read. You will need to take your time when you first start reading Braille. Nice and slowly like this.."
Eddy guided Brett's fingers to show him how much pressure he should apply to recognise each bump.
Brett closed his eyes and tried to focus.
"...Oh yeah...I've got my eyes closed and I can now feel the difference! This is amazing! Thank you for showing me how it's done properly, Eddy!"
Eddy smiled.
"You're welcome, Brett."
"So Eddy, I'm still not sure if Mr Hill can read Braille with just one of his fingers without looking. So I've come up with a plan."
Eddy grins and shuffles in this seat excitedly.
"Yeah? Tell me Brett, please"
Brett leans over to Eddy and tries to cup his hands around Eddy's ear. Eddy flinches.
"Oops, sorry Eddy, I just wanted to whisper into your ear."
"Hah, okay."
Brett whispers his plan to Eddy.
Eddy giggles.
"That tickles. And your voice sounds even nicer when you whisper."
Brett blushes.
"So what do you think of my plan? Do you think it will work ?"
"I think so. I'm curious now, too! Please let me know how it goes!"
"Why don't you just watch us... oh, I'm sorry... oh no, I'm so sorry Eddy.."
"It's okay Brett. I might be able to figure it out by listening, but if I don't, will you come and tell me how you went?"
"Yes, of course, Eddy, I promise"
Brett picks up his Braille paper, gets up from his chair and walks towards Mr Hill who is still surrounded by a large number of Brett's classmates. Mr Hill was busy reading out the children's Braille words with his right index finger. Instead of joining the children gathered up in front of him, Brett stepped behind Mr Hill and held his Braille paper against the man's left hand which was resting against his lower back.
Brett looked up at Mr Hill's face intensely. He didn't want to miss anything. He wanted to make sure Mr Hill didn't "cheat" by looking at his Braille sheet.
Mr Hill kept facing the front when he noticed something was pushed against his left hand. He must have recognised it was Braille paper because he wiggled his fingers as if he was feeling for something. When one of his fingers touched the Braille he stopped moving his hand and pointed his index finger to slowly trace the dots. He still looked puzzled. Then he touched them in the reverse order and he smiled. He turned around to face Brett who had been busy staring back and forth of Mr Hill's face and left hand.
"TSCHAIKOWSKY. Good brailing and great spelling there! You held it upside down so I was a bit confused at first."
Brett's jaw dropped.
OMG He read it with just his left index finger !!!
Brett couldn't believe it. He turned towards Eddy who must have heard what Mr Hill said because he was smiling. Brett smiled back at Eddy then realised that Eddy wouldn't be able to see him so he quickly thanked Mr Hill and rushed back to where Eddy sat.
"Eddy, Eddy, Eddy, Mr Hill read my word correctly with just his left hand!"
"Yeah, I heard him say your word!! So did he say it correctly ? Wow, maybe he knows the person??"
Brett giggled.
"Yeah, I think so."
The boys giggled together with excitement and delight.
As soon as Brett sat down next to Eddy, Eddy lowered his voice.
"Um, Brett, can I ask you something ?"
"Yeah, of course, you can, Eddy."
"I noticed it when I was showing you how to read Braille; how come your left fingertips feel so different ?"
"Oh, that must be the calluses from playing the violin."
"You play the violin ? That is so cool !! I'd love to learn how to play."
"Cool ! I think you would be a good musician, Eddy. You've got really good hearing, like how you remembered my voice."
Eddy smiled.
"Really ? Maybe I can ask my mum if I can take violin lessons. I'll tell her that my new friend plays the violin and he told me I could be a good musician because I have good ears!! Thank you, Brett!!"
"You're welcome! That would be so cool if you learnt to play the violin, then we could play duets together."
"Brett?"
"Yes, Eddy?"
"I wanna tell my mum about you. Can I find out what your face looks like?"
"Um.. yeah, sure. ...but how ?"
Eddy reached out both of his hands towards Brett's face.
Oh, like that.
Brett didn't blush anymore. He thought it was the most natural thing Eddy could do to him.
He leaned in towards Eddy as Eddy gently caressed Brett's cheeks with his hands.
"Brett, can I feel your face without your glasses, please?"
"Sure, okay. There."
"Thank you. ....Hey.. I think you're handsome."
So much for not blushing. Brett's cheeks went bright red.
"Hey, your cheeks just got warmer ?"
"OMG don't say stuff like that!"
"But my mum said if I say that to my friends they'll like me."
Brett giggled.
"I like you already, you don't have to lie."
"I don't think I'm lying, I bet you do look nice. Oh wow."
"What?"
"You have really long eyelashes. My sister told me that boys with long eyelashes are gorgeous."
Brett snorted. He had no idea what to say anymore.
Eddy then gently patted Brett's hair.
"Brett, you have black hair and dark brown eyes like me, right ?"
Brett was so surprised he pulled his face away from Eddy's hands.
"H, how could you tell !??!?"
Eddy smirks.
"I remember your teacher calling you Brett Yang. Your family is Chinese like mine."
"!!!! Hey!! That's cheating! I thought you had another super-power besides your hearing!!"
Eddy giggled as he pointed to his temple and furrowed his brows.
"It's my super IQ intelligence power..."
Brett laughed out so loud his teacher called him by his full name again. Brett didn't care this time, he liked his new friend so much!