When we've just finished breakfast, Lee gets a phone call. "Sorry," he says to me and picks up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Oh hi Alan."
"Yeah, I'm with Iris right now."
"No, I told Rosa about it, that's why I couldn't come to see her."
"You found out what? Alan, I don't understand what you mean."
"No! No! That's not true! I'm not hiding Rosa from them!" Lee calls out frustrated.
"You called Dunk? Why?"
"Yeah, it's true, I didn't tell him about her."
"No, I didn't tell Iris either."
What's he talking about? It's really weird to hear, because I can only hear what Lee's saying�
He's walking around in my room, looking really frustrated, and I see some of that same pain in his eyes.
"No, I can't explain you right now, but I will later, I promise."
"No, I really can't tell. But I've got some good reasons. Please trust me," Lee begs. I can hear that Alan, whoever he is, stops yelling.
"Okay, thanks a lot mate. Can I talk to Rosa now please?"
"Hi Rosa, my beautiful flower," Lee says in a very very sweet voice.
OMG! I don't want to hear more, I quickly and quietly leave the room to take a shower. I'm really confused now. He was talking to a guy that he knows pretty well, but I've never heard of him! And talking about a girl that I've never heard about either! And than actually talking to that girl, with a sugar sweet voice! I'm taking a really long shower, hoping that he'll be finished talking to that mystery girl when I come back�
When I come back about 20 minutes later, Lee's sitting at my computer.
"I hope you don't mind," he smiles at me.
I shake my head: "Not at all."
When I've finished dressing Lee turns towards me. "I guess you wanna know what that phone call was about."
"Of course I'm curious, but you don't have to tell me. It's none of my business. But if you wanna talk about it, I'm all ears," I grin. Lee nods and sits down next to me on the couch.
"Well, it's about Rosa," he starts.
"Aww, a girl," I grin naughty. My smile disappears immediately when I see the look on his face. "Oww, sorry Lee, go on."
"I met her a couple of weeks ago in the supermarket. She's not a normal girl, although she looks normal. She's 14 years old, and she has a really rare kind of autism. She can only say a couple of words, and she's not easy to approach. She's a really sweet girl though, she's got long blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a beautiful smile. And she's very loving if you get to know her a little better."
I listen to him astonished. "I'm sorry Lee, I didn't expect anything like this."
"That's okay, I'll tell you how I met her. The first time I saw her she was with her brother, and she was smiling bright at him. She looked really beautiful, although she's only 14. she also looked normal. But than she saw me looking at her, and I smiled at her. She looked really scared suddenly, and wouldn't let go off her brother's arm. He had to comfort her, I felt really weird, stupid, ashamed."
"But you couldn't do anything about it, right?" I ask.
"No, I couldn't. That's why her brother, Alan, came to me. We talked for a while, he's a really nice guy. And at the end Rosa wasn't that scared of me anymore. Than about a week later I saw Rosa again in the supermarket. She was alone, and frightened to death. People were giving her odd looks, and if someone tried to approach her, she walked away a little, as she didn't know them. 'Rosa' I called softly. 'It's me, Lee. I'm a friend of Alan.' Than she came running to me and grabbed my hand tightly. 'Alan?' she asked. 'Yes, we're gonna find Alan' I nodded at her and smiled. She nodded back: 'Alan!' I asked some people to search for Alan, Rosa stayed with me all the time until they found Alan. She ran to him and hugged him tight. Than she pointed at me and took Alan to me. Than she gave me a bright happy smile. So that's how she got to trust me. She doesn't trust many people, but now she didn't have a choice, as I was the only one she knew at that moment."
He takes a deep breath.
"Wow Lee! It must be scary to see a girl that frightened just because she lost her brother!" I call out.
"Yeah, it was kind of scary," he sighs.
"But that's not all, right?" I ask.
"No. a couple of days later we met again, in the supermarket. Rosa smiled happy when she saw me. I thought it was coincidence, but Alan told me that Rosa wanted to go to the supermarket every day, and than she was looking for me everywhere. Alan invited me to come to their house. I couldn't say no, because Rosas was pulling my hand to go with them. You know, Rosa can't speak, so Alan uses his hands a lot when he talks, and than Rosa understands a lot. At least she understood the words 'come' and 'home'. So I went with them. Alan told me that all the family they had left was their mother. But she has to work a lot, to pay for Rosa's special school. So Rosa didn't know many people, just her mum, Alan and her teacher, and now me. So I've been visiting them regularly and I learned to talk to Rosa a bit too. Nobody knows exactly why she can't talk, she has had loads of tests and therapies. Nothing helped though. She can still say only 'mum' 'Alan' 'no' 'yes' and 'Deedee', that's how she calls her teacher. And when I last visited them, she said my name! you should have seen her eyes shine, when I heard it! It was really beautiful," Lee smiles.
"I can imagine that! It's a big step when she goes from 5 words to 6!" I call out.
"Exactly! And since a couple of years she can also tell some things, by using her teddy bear to express herself."
"So she did make some progress in all those years?" I ask.
"Yes. And we believe that there is one kind of therapy that could possibly help her," Lee sighs.
"But?" I ask.
"But� she can't go to that therapy. There are long waiting lists, and they won't even put her on a waiting list. And it's only possible in the USA, Israel and the Netherlands. I've tried everything, but it's just no use. That's why I need your help, because you've got connections in the medical business," he says desperate.
"I don't have that many connections, but I'll do everything I can. First tell me what kind of therapy it is," I ask Lee.
"Dolphins therapy. Dolphins communicate by eye-contact, and by sounds. It is possible that the sounds wake up something in Rosa's brain that human voices can't, because they think there's some kind of blockade in her brains."
"I've heard about therapy with dolphins. But �f she ever gets that therapy, don't hope too much," I warn him.
"I know. But they won't even give her a chance! It's so unfair!" he cries out.
I see that blinding pain in his eyes again. Not only pain, I realize now, also despair.
"I know, I know, life can be so unfair. But I'm gonna do everything I can, I promise," I whisper in his ear, while hugging him tightly. I can see tears in his eyes.
"Is that what has been bothering you? The reason why you were in such a bad mood?" I ask softly.
He nods. "Especially when she got turned down again by a dolphins' therapist."
"Well, I'm glad that I finally know what was wrong with you all the time. And I'm gonna help you," I smile.
"Thank you s� much! I'm gonna tell Dunk about Rosa too," he smiles back.
"We were all worried about you. Why didn't you tell about her earlier?" I ask.
"I�" he start to blush heavily. "I was too touched by her story. I just couldn't tell you all, because I was afraid you wouldn't understand. I couldn't bear the thought of you making fun of her," he says ashamed. "But that was stupid of me. I see that now," he adds quickly.
I don't answer, because I don't know what to say. I think quietly for a while.
"Okay, here's what we're gonna do," I come to a decision. "I am gonna take care of therapy for Rosa. I'm not gonna tell you anything about it, because you'll be in a bad mood every time something fails. You are gonna visit Rosa, make her smile. Don't worry about her. I want you to be happy again. And the guys want that too, and you need to focus on your work again. Because the last couple of weeks�"
"I've been terrible at work," Lee nods.
"Erm� yes. And this weekend you're not gonna think of Rosa anymore. Well, not after you've told Dunk everything. You're gonna think of yourself, don't worry, be happy again."
"You're the best!" he calls out and gives me a big hug. We both start laughing.
"That's what I wanna see," I smile. "I've got 15 minutes left before college, I'm gonna send some emails to my teachers and professors right now," I say looking at the clock.
"You're gonna get Dunk from the airport right after college, right?" he asks me. I nod.
"I'm gonna go to the supermarket this afternoon, and make dinner. Let me know what time you'll be back here," he says.
"You're gonna cook? Great!" I call out.
"Why else did you think I was watching you in the kitchen last night? I had to know where I can find everything for cooking," he smiles.
That was the reason! I feel kind of relieved. I thought� No, I didn't think that�
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