9781422288146

C HAPTER 1

14

Her mother looked up. “He’s been in the corner holding that rattle, turning it around and around, then hitting it against his front teeth, then turning it around and around, then hitting his teeth. Again and again and again. It’s been so awful. I tried to pick him up two different times—but if I even reached for him he began that ter- rible screaming, so I backed off. It’s breaking my heart to let him just sit there.” She started to cry again, and Livie cried too. Tucker’s second birthday was not as happy as his first. There were balloons, a cake, and presents. Grandma and Grandpa were there, and so were Livie’s aunt, uncle, and cousins. But Tucker wasn’t really there. He didn’t look at anyone. He wouldn’t blow out the candles or open presents. He just sat in his corner with one of his toys. “I’m so glad I didn’t invite any children,” Mom said with a catch in her voice. “I couldn’t stand to have their parents see him this way. I don’t understand what’s happening.” “What did the doctor say this week when you took Tucker for his two-year checkup?” Grandma asked. “I told him some of the things we had been noticing, you know, how he likes to be alone so much, his fascination with that rattle, and how often he cries, as if just by touching him we were hurting him. The doctor didn’t seem to think there was a problem.” Mom wiped her eyes with a tissue. “It wasn’t until I told him that Tucker just wouldn’t talk at all anymore that the doctor became concerned. All those other things . . . but it was the talking that made a differ- ence.” Livie’s mom walked to the corner where Tucker sat. “The doctor also said it could just be a phase Tucker’s going through, but just to be sure, the doctor wants me to take Tucker to see an audiol- ogist to have a hearing test.” “The doctor says it could be nothing,” Livie’s father put in, “but he thinks we need to be sure. And this is just a place to start. Be- sides, I’m sure his hearing is fine, Mandy. It’s probably just like the doctor said—Tucker’s going through a phase. You know, one of those two-year-old things.”