Chapter 5

Situated some five paces away from Dennis was a girl of about eleven or twelve years of age, she sat in a collapsible wheelchair, a laptop balanced on her legs. Her hair was richly black and slightly curled, they came down to shoulder length and obscured a portion of her face, her skin color was milky white; a shade healthier looking than Dennis' colors. It could be assumed that they were related.
You must have many questions,' The voice said, coming from the telecommunicator, 'Now that I'm here, I will answer them.'
'Um...' Dennis thought, he looked at the device in his hand and then at the girl, 'What-I mean-is this you talking...um...in here?' He pointed at the microphone in the telecommunicator, raising it with the hand he was holding it with.
'It is, but I am not speaking, I am typing into my laptop.' The girl typed into her computer at an incredible speed and the voice from the telecommunicator said simultaneously. 'It's all technicalities, the words I type into my laptop are transcribed into an audio voice mode and sent wireless to the device in your hand, where you receive it. That is why the device is called a Verbal-Linguistic Transmitter.'
'The voice, it's the computer's voice.' Dennis said, he found it very difficult to match this person speaking to him with the monotonous voice of the telecommunicator, 'So how do you hear me?' He asked.
'Vice versa, the device transcribes your audio voice into words which I can read.' The girl said, 'Just more technicalities.'
'You do not speak-I mean, with your own voice?' Dennis asked.
The girl did not type out a response, she raised her left hand and rapidly spelled out a succession of gestures that Dennis did not understand, and then she typed, and the voice spoke, 'Do you know what those gestures mean?'
'They're in sign language.' Dennis said, recalling a book on non-verbal linguistics he had read in the library once and found really dull.
'Just then I had said: I am deaf.' The girl typed, 'I do have a voice that I can use, but I prefer this method with the laptop, it suits me better.' She looked up at Dennis and smiled. 'You look uncomfortable.'
'I'm...to me...the voice you are speaking with is strange.' Dennis said, a little embarrassed.
'I can change it for you, that's what I'll do,' She typed into her laptop and then typed some more, 'There, how does that sound?' The robotic male voice coming out of the telecommunicator transformed into a high-pitched girl's voice.
'It sounds better.' Dennis said.
'Don't you mean more suitable?' The girl said, smiling.
'Uh-hm, that's what I meant.' Dennis smiled too, but he did not meet her eye.
'I don't mind whichever voice I use, since I can't hear them myself, I could, but I like the silence. When you can't hear everything like most people, you can be a little selective on what you want to hear.' The girl typed, 'I believe we forgot our formal introductions, you are Dennis Raveley, and I am pleased to meet you,' She typed with one hand and manoeuvred her wheelchair towards Dennis, lifted his hand and shook it, 'I am Adelaide Wyatt, but that given name makes me feel like an old maid, call me Addy.'
'Good to meet you, Addy Wyatt.' Dennis said, their eyes met.
'You have very unique eyes, Dennis.' Addy said, 'They look nice.'
'Thank you, you have very nice hair,' Dennis said, 'It's unique.' Addy laughed, she did not need to type this instruction into her laptop, it came naturally.
Dennis did not remember the last time he had said something clever intentionally, he felt surprised as if discovering something on himself that he ever noticed before, like a birthmark (he still had not actually discovered a birth mark on himself). On that first day arriving at the Wyatt Mansion, Dennis formulated the opinion that he likes Addy Wyatt, despite knowing very little about her, and unknowingly to him, she felt the same way, despite already knowing all she could about him.
'Another rain is coming,' Addy typed, looking at the gray clouds rolling across the sky right above them. 'We should go inside and I'll introduce you to my brother, he will be delighted to see you, and remember what I've told you during the tour of our house, do not agree to his offers to take you on any sort of an 'adventure'. Can you push me?' Addy asked.
'Sure,' Dennis said and got behind the handles of Addy's wheelchair and together they headed back in the direction of the mansion.
'Can I ask a small question?' Dennis asked.
'Of course.'
'You have a large house, so a lot of people must live here, but I haven't seen anyone except you and Mr. Quincy, where are everyone else?'
'They're estranged and living elsewhere, right now, there's me, my brother, Mr. Quincy and you, and that's where you come in, you are going to help me make this house seem like a large house again.'