“It looks like basketball to me,” Maga said.
“The Nuggets?”
“There’s a black cat on the court.”
“WHAT?”
“And now another one. And another one.”
“Okay…”
“You must think I’m crazy.”
“Not in the least. I’m wondering why I’m not watching that station. It sounds fun.”
She immediately lapsed into reading all the commercials to me.
“Oh, Abby, dear. I wish you were here to explain it all to me.”
My brain expanded. My heart contracted. I can’t believe I never thought of it in those terms before. I thought she was reading the commercials to me because she could see better than she could hear. I thought she was reading them to keep herself grounded. I didn’t know she was reading them as a means to get me to help her understand the world around her.
I promised myself I’d pay as close attention to those words as her original ones.
Abigail Mumford 