Five: Evaluating
There were stranger things in the world than a child with no memory. It was easy to write off – just say “amnesia” or, even simpler, “lying”. But to Russell Dahl, these just seemed out of the question. He watched the child rip through the simple peanut butter sandwich he had made for her, chuckling at the odd motions she would make to chew through sticky sections. The look of pure delight on her face was just so…different.
“Hey kid,” Russell said, reaching across the table to grab her wrist and take her attention off eating. She looked at him with a blank and yet curious expression, which seemed to be her default look. “You know what a school is?”
She swallowed. “It’s…a…place, I think. I heard some of the kids talking about it. But they’re on…vacation? What’s vacation?”
“Lessee...for them, it means that they don’t have to go to school for a while. But back to the school thing – a school is a place where you learn.”
“But – I learn everywhere.” Tati made a face that seemed to be of slight horror and confusion. “Everywhere’s a school? Then what –”
“Nonono,” Russell had to soothe in order to calm down her panic. “It’s a special place to learn. It’s like – it’s structured learning. It’s uh…errr…”
“It’s special!” Tati seemed to have left the panic behind and now was excited. “And all you do is learn?”
“Uh – yeah, that’s right.”
The girl squirmed around in her seat before bouncing up and down. “There’s really a place like that?! Where is it?! Can I go?!!”
“Of course there is,” Russell said as he took a bite from his own sandwich. “But not like the one the rest of the kids go to. I’ve got a friend who can teach you.”
Tati’s eyes widened. “Is it special?” she whispered, leaning over the table, mouth agape. “As special as the one the others go to?”
Russell mimicked her pose, nodding. “Yeah. Real special. And tonight after we close shop, we’re going to go there.”
“Oooooooooh!” Tati bounced more excitedly in her chair. “Really?! We’re going someplace new?”
“Yeap. But remember, not until tonight. So you’re going to have to find a way to occupy yourself until then.”
“I can help you,” she said, still jittery in her seat. “I can help you organize stuff or count things or move stuff or –”
“No, I want you to play outside.” Tati stared at him, taken aback by his request. “You should play with those kids, not be in the shop. You’re just a kid, Tati.”
She still seemed to be unaccustomed to the name, smiling whenever she realized it was hers. “W-well…if you…if you want me to…”
“No need to feel worried, kid. Just finish eating and go have some fun, a’ight?”
The child nodded vigorously. “Okay!” she replied with a bit of a chirp, scarfing through the rest of the sandwich before scooting off the chair, out of the room, and down the stairs into the shop. Within moments, he could hear her outside again, the other children happy at her return.
Russell had no idea what to expect when he took her to the apartment of the Kimmlers that evening. Gertrude would do what she always did, which was performing an assessment of the child and work from there. But Tati…she just seemed so different.
Her vocabulary was good, even impressive, for someone her age, but she didn’t know how to read, write, or do math. She knew nothing of the world around her, which was why she always asked questions.
But why the heck was that so? As much as Russell brushed off things that bothered him (for the most part), this was the one bit that was just prying at his brain. He knew people in ways everyone didn’t. And yet this one girl, this one simple child, had him drawing a complete blank.
A blank slate.
That’s all she was. That was the answer to the problem. It somehow managed to answer all the questions while at the same time bringing up hundreds more. It made her make complete sense while at the same time turning her into a total mystery.
If he dwelled on it too much, it would drive him mad. So with a sigh and a shake of the head, Russell chose to ignore the questions. His world, right now, was the present, and that included taking care of Tati…not questioning her.
He held onto her hand tightly as they made their way down the block towards the river, though he felt that tying a rope around her might’ve been a better option, the way she kept pulling at the grip and wanting to explore. Russell just made sure to keep a tight hand on her small one, particularly when they crossed the bridge.
“Ever been here?” he asked, stopping when they hit the center to make her deliberately take notice.
“No…I always went away from the river.” Tati tried her best to look over the side, but to little success, prompting Russell to pick her up at the waist and allowing her to peer onto the water below.
“What’s it like?”
“It’s like – it’s like a big mirror! But…bumpy.” She leaned over further. “Russell! I can see us!” She pointed enthusiastically. “See!”
To satisfy her enthusiasm, he leaned over as well, looking down at the water and cracking a smile at the reflections of the two staring back. The water, shimming in orange from the waning sun, cast a glow to their figures, imparting a strange, other-worldly air to them.
Tati started wiggling in his hands, giving him the cue to set her down and for the two to continue on their journey. After the bridge came a four-block hike up the hill before they took a turn down a street. One block later, they stood at the front of an apartment complex, its walls battered with age and neglect, crawling in vegetation. But despite its condition, it was obvious there was life in the tall structure. Childrens' toys were scattered about, clothes hung off lines, stirring with the summer breeze. Russell gave a tug and dragged Tati away from the scene by entering the building.
Up four flights of stairs and down a dimly-lit hallway before coming to the door of their search, numbered 416. Russell knocked out a beat before waiting a few seconds, smirking when a return beat was issued on the other side of the door. There was a series of clicks and slides before the door swung open.
“Heeey, look at that, it’s Dahleroo! You did make it and kept your word, which is something you haven’t done to us in a while.” Brent grinned before stepping out of the entryway and allowing the two to come into the room. Russell finally let go of Tati’s hand, but for once, she didn’t move. She stared around the room, eyes wide, fascinated but frozen in her curiosity.
“You have any food?” Russell asked, to which Brent made a face. “Hey, just asking, you always seem to have leftovers…”
“We do, but geez, what’s that about? Not even feeding the kid before coming?”
“Hey, I figured that if we were going to eat, we were going to have something better than sandwiches or stir-fry.” He paused before lowering his voice and leaning closer to the younger man. “Do you know how much I’ve cooked in the past two weeks? More than I cooked in the last two months, I can tell you that.”
“What, does she eat a lot?”
“No, it’s not that, it’s just – that – I – I feel guilty if she doesn’t eat something decent, y’know? It’s…it’s weird Kimmler.” Russell stole a glance over at Tati, who was still staring around in wonder. “She’s…she’s just a kid.”
Brent let the words settle before nodding. “Wanna know what it is?” Without giving the other time to answer, he said, “It’s called parenting, Dahl. Like it or not, you’re now the kid’s father, pretty much. You’ve taken responsibility for her.”
Russell was set to respond but had his thoughts interrupted by a hand pulling on his short hair. “Ow hey, what –”
“Russell Dahl,” the pullee said with a snap of her voice. “Finally managed to drag your ass over here, huh? What took you so long? I know the walk is so hard, being a grand ten minutes and all, but –”
“Hey Gertrude,” Russell cut her off, turning around and giving her a smirk. “Hasn’t been too long, has it? Just maybe a month.”
“That’s not the point.” The woman was of a petite build but stood at an average height, her short bob of blonde hair accenting her sharp blue eyes that stared at him with annoyance. “I’m more curious about this girl that you randomly found.”
“I didn’t find her, she was just there, okay?” Russell looked over Gertrude’s shoulder, seeing Tati finally moving from her original spot and staring at photographs and random bits of decorations. “Hey, Tati –”
“- So Brent wasn’t kidding! You really named her after –”
“Shut up, the both of you!” Russell grumbled, slightly flustered but managing to keep calm when Tati turned around to respond to his call.
“Yeah?”
“C’mere, okay?”
She complied, and the emotion switch in Gertrude’s head flicked positions. “Oh my, she is just adorable…And you’re serious? She was just there, at your shop?”
“Mmmhmm.” He then noticed Tati staring at him, utterly confused. “This is my – my friend, Tati. The one who is going to teach you.”
The child’s eyes widened. “Really?!” She suddenly became fascinated in Gertrude. “You’re going to teach me stuff?!”
Gertrude quirked an eyebrow before smiling and nodding. “Well, yeah – I just need to know more about you.” She made a motion to kneel, but Brent caught her and shook his head.
“You shouldn’t – use the couch, dear, it’s alright…”
“You’re right…”
Russell watched the two settle on the couch, observing them with a tugging feeling of envy. He shook it off and led Tati to sit on the lounge chair next to Gertrude, he himself choosing to stand next to her.
“Alright then…what’s your name?”
Tati just stared at Gertrude, much too distracted by the large protruding stomach of the woman. “What’s…what’s with your belly?” she instead asked rather than answering, to which Gertrude rolled her eyes but smiled.
“I’m pregnant. There’s a baby in there.”
The child’s eyes widened further. “Woah! There’s – there’s really a baby in there?! But how – does it – get –”
There was a moment’s silence before Brent whispered out, “Magic.”
“Oooh!” Gertrude elbowed him but the child didn’t notice as she was far too fixated on it to care. “Is it…is it alive in there?”
“Oh, it is, it’s really alive. You can feel it – well, her, it’s a girl – you can feel her move. I can especially. But if you want…you can listen and see if she does anything for you.”
Tati’s eyes just became wider. “I can?! Really?”
“Yeah, but first – you need to tell me your name.”
The child blinked before grinning. “My name’s Tatiana Rhys! But Russell calls me Tati.”
Gertrude and Brent simultaneously shot Russell questioning looks, to which he ignored.
“Can I…can I listen now?”
Back to paying attention to the child and Gertrude nodded. Tati carefully crawled out of the chair and scooted on the floor before cautiously setting her ear against the woman’s stomach. She appeared to be holding her breath before suddenly letting out a squeak.
“I – I heard something!”
Brent grinned and chuckled while Gertrude looked over at Russell, raising an eyebrow but still smiling. “That’s the baby.”
Tati looked up at her, face drawn in pure delight. “That’s – that’s so cool!”
“Indeed it is. Now Tati…I want to ask you some more questions. Is that alright?”
“Yeah yeah yeah!” she chirped, climbing back onto the chair, swinging her legs eagerly. “You can ask me anything!”
“How old are you, Tati?”
“Uh…”
“Uh? You don’t know?”
“N-no…”
Gertrude again looked at Russell, who shrugged. “Ten. She’s ten.”
“You’re sure on this?”
“No.”
“Wonderful. Okay – Tati, where are you from?”
“I dunno.”
“Hmm…Do you know why you were at Russell’s shop when he found you?”
“No. I opened my eyes and that’s…that’s it. I was there. And that’s all I know.”
Another raise of the eyebrow. “Tati…how far back can you remember things?”
The girl looked up at Russell, who was counting on his own fingers. “It’s been…fifteen days since she showed up. So…yeah.”
“Fifteen? That’s really it? That’s as far back as you can remember?”
Tati nodded vigorously. “Yeah.”
“…You’re not lying, are you?”
She stared back, confused, her eyes strikingly innocent. “…Why would I do that?”
“Beats me, really.” She paused, squinting her eyes in thought, before shaking her head and continuing her questions. “Tati, do you know what two plus two is?”
“Two numbers?”
“Mmm, so you don’t know math…Uh, Tati, can you read what this says?” Gertrude picked up a newspaper from the armrest of the couch, pointing at the title.
“No…”
“Can’t read? I’m guessing you don’t know how to write then…Hmm…Tati, what color is your hair?”
“Black.”
“How about mine?”
“Blonde.”
Gertrude raised her eyebrows. “Alright…how about Brent’s and Russell’s?”
“Russell’s is black, I think. And Brent’s is really really really dark brown. Or uh – brunette.”
“…Russell, what are you teaching this kid?”
He shrugged. “Whatever she wants to know. Hey, she knows words – what’s wrong with that?”
The woman rubbed her nosebridge. “Russell…she has an impressive vocabulary but can’t read or do math or write? And – let’s not forget this – all she knows is from the past fifteen days?”
“H-hey…” Tati piped, very much aware about the subject of the conversation. “I – I’m sorry, I don’t know much but – but it’s not Russell’s fault!” She was on the edge of her seat, hands balled into fists, her expression concerned yet determined. “And I really don’t remember! I’m not…I’m not lying!”
Gertrude was taken aback by what the girl said, looking to her husband for some sort of clue. He tilted his head before closing his eyes and shaking his head.
“It’s unusual circumstances, though they’re not completely out there –”
“Oh, give it up,” his wife spat before turning to Tati, her expression kind and yet serious. “There’s something you need to understand, Tati. And you really need to understand this – you’re different. You’re…something I’ve never experienced before.”
Tati looked up at her, sad and confused. “I…am I…is it wrong?”
Russell stepped in, setting his hand on her shoulder, snapping her attention to him. “You’re not wrong, kid. You’re…not wrong at all.”
“But –”
“Hey now, I said you were different, I didn’t say you were wrong,” Gertrude defended. “They’re not synonyms.”
Russell was about to say something, but was cut off by Tati’s vigorous nodding. “I understand. I forgive you.” She paused before shooting forward, forgetting about her position and falling off the chair. But in her excitement, she popped right back up from the ground, hands eagerly scraping on the couch cushions. “So are you – are you going to teach me?!”
“I have never met a kid with as much enthusiasm as you to go to school…”
