February 2009
I’m sitting in the blue plastic chair. It’s very uncomfortable. I can feel the sweat on my forehead from the heat of the lights. I look back at the mirror behind me. I know my family is standing behind it, ready to watch the white-coats bombard me with questions. I now know how Claire felt; scared and alone. I just wish I could see her little face through the mirror. How the hell had she known where I was standing when she had been in this spot? I can’t see a thing; I just know she’s there somewhere.
Maria sits on a chair to my left. The white-coats stand in front of me, clipboards at the ready.
‘State your full name,’ Maria says.
‘Tanna Juliet Carmel,’ I reply, doing everything I can not to let my voice shake.
‘And your age,’ Maria smiles comfortingly.
‘Fourteen,’ I reply.
‘How old is your older brother?’
‘Fourteen, but he’s fifteen in May.’
‘And your little sister?’
‘Two.’
‘Is your little sister different to most girls her age?’
‘Yes.’
‘How?’
‘She’s incredibly smart. Also, she doesn’t talk.’
‘When you say smart, what do you mean?’
‘Well, she can solve problems on her own and, even though she doesn’t talk, she finds ways to communicate.’
‘Do you understand her when she tries to ask you something?’
‘Yes. Sometimes it’s easy and I can tell what she wants just by looking at her. But when she’s trying to be precise, it can be a bit more difficult and take a bit of time.’
‘Does anybody else in your family understand Claire as well as you do?’
‘Sometimes, Mum, Dad and Tom can understand the simple stuff, like when she’s hungry or something like that. But they don’t get a lot of the other stuff.’
‘Why do you think that is?’
I shrug.
‘I don’t know, I think I just connect with her on an emotional level, she’s my baby sister.’
‘Why doesn’t your mum then connect with her? Claire is her daughter,’ the snobby man from three weeks ago asks.
I look up and glare at him.
‘Do not answer that,’ Maria says to me then turns back to the white-coats, ‘that question will be stricken from the record. This interview is only about the relationship Claire and Tanna share.’
Snobby casually looks away and steps back with the others.
‘Continuing on,’ Maria says, ‘how often are you with Claire?’
‘An hour every day, I guess. She watches me do my homework after to school. Then, on weekends, we go to the park with my friends.’
‘How do your friends react to Claire’s silence?’
‘They don’t really notice. They just all think Claire is adorable.’
‘How does Claire react to your friends?’
‘Claire is always nervous at first, she doesn’t really like meeting new people, but after a few minutes she’s fine.’
‘Do you worry about her silence?’
‘Not really. I know one day she’ll talk. When she’s ready.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘I asked her.’
‘And she replied?’
‘She nodded, if that’s what you mean?’
‘How do you know she understood you?’
‘Like I said before, she’s smart.’
‘Ok, enough about Claire. Tell us, Tanna, how do you get on in school?’
‘I’m top of all my classes.’
‘What about Tom?’
‘He’s top of his classes too.’
‘So intelligence runs in the family?’
‘No, Tom and I work hard to be the best. For Claire, it just comes naturally.’
‘How do you know she’s not working hard too?’
‘She’d complain if she was working hard.’
‘That’s an interesting answer.’
‘It was an interesting question.’
‘Touché.’
All the white-coats, with the exception of Snobby, laugh. I blush under their gazes.
‘Well, the topic came back to Claire,’ Maria laughs, ‘does this happen often?’
‘In our family, yes. Claire is usually a hot topic.’
‘Why is that?’
I turn and look at the mirror, smiling.
‘Claire’s special,’ I say simply, ‘that’s why.’