Barry B. Longyear - Silent Her

Silent Her

by Barry B Longyear

The light was lavender, the light was white, the light was red. When the light was white, they would come, their heads hidden in black mists.

The one with the hard mouth would be there. Sometimes alone, sometimes with another, but always the one with the hard mouth would come.

Hard Mouth brought the pain and the anger. Silent Her hated Hard Mouth. The light brought Hard Mouth. Silent hated the light.

The white light would creep in through the window, climb the wall with the spots of yellow and blue, and Silent would be afraid as Silent's eyes filled with tears, smearing the light.

Silent loved the dark and clung to it. The dark was safe. It was solitude, aloneness, quiet, an absence of pain. But only the dark that came when the light went away was safe. The darks that came when Silent hid in the cover, or closed the eyes, or held the hands over the eyes, these were not safe.

Silent believed that if the light could be stopped from moving, Hard Mouth would stay away. The edge of the light touched the window and Silent tensed with wishes to the light to go back. Silent shook fists, shed tears, and the light did not stop. The light advanced until it filled that corner of the place. Then Hard Mouth came.

One time the light did not begin as lavender and change to white. It began dim and gray. It was so dim and so gray that Silent could hardly see the colored spots on the wall. Surely it was too dim for Hard Mouth to come.

Silent laughed a silent laugh, pulled at the toes, for Silent had won. The light had stopped and Hard Mouth would stay away.

There was a sound. It was followed by Hard Mouth's head hidden in its black mist. Silent's universe shattered. Silent had failed; the wishes had failed. Only the light and its monster Hard Mouth had succeeded. Then followed pain. Then followed anger.

There was another black mist that would come. The other had kind lips. Kind Lips would always stand on that side and look down at Silent with soft, dark eyes. Kind Lips had dark hair, eyes of love, and a mouth that never looked angry.

Hard Mouth would stand at the other side when Kind Lips was there. Hard Mouth's hair was like the yellow light. The eyes were as blue as the tiny spots on the wall, narrow and angry. The lips were hard and pressed tightly together.

Kind Lips reached in a hand and stroked Silent's hair.

Hard Mouth reached in a hand and pinched Silent's arm.

Kind Lips pushed Hard Mouth away, and as the sounds of them struggling filled Silent's ears, the pain wouldn't go away.

Again the white light crawled up the wall. As it moved, Silent determined that Hard Mouth would never pinch Silent again. To do that Silent would have to stop Hard Mouth. To stop Hard Mouth Silent would have to hurt Hard Mouth. If Hard Mouth put a hand near Silent, instead of Hard Mouth pinching Silent, Silent would pinch Hard Mouth.

Silent held a hand up. The fingers were much smaller than Hard Mouth's fingers. Silent tried to pinch the arm that was always in pain, but the pinching didn't hurt.

Silent stuck a finger in the mouth, bit it hard, and Silent's eyes filled with tears. That hurt. Silent determined to bite Hard Mouth's fingers. That would stop Hard Mouth.

There was the sound. Silent listened carefully. It was Kind Lips and Hard Mouth, yet something different. There were other sounds.

A third figure appeared. It was horribly pink and naked. It had no black mist shading its features, and it had no hair on its head. Hard Mouth and Kind Lips both wore coverings of black. Shiny Head's coverings were pale yellow. Shiny Head stood at one foot next to Kind Lips.

Silent looked and there was another one standing there. The new one had no black mist, but the new one did have light brown hair. Instead of black or yellow, Hairy Head's coverings were pale green.

Kind Lips raised a hand and moved fingers at Shiny Head. Shiny Head frowned at the moving fingers and said to Hairy Head, "Minister Amin, I do not read Mogam." Amazing sounds.

"I thought everyone read it, save a few fanatics," replied Hairy Head. "Not that I'm implying you're a fanatic, of course."

"Of course," answered Shiny Head.

Hairy Head leaned over and lifted the cover from Silent. "My first wife signed that you should look at my second wife's daughter's right arm, Father Yadin. Look here."

Shiny Head moved in front of Hard Mouth, bent over, and reached toward Silent. His fingers were cold and moist as they picked up the arm and turned it. The arm hurt.

"This bruising is terrible!" Shiny Head stood up and turned toward Hard Mouth. "Woman, don't you understand? You are causing your daughter terrible pain. This could cause permanent damage. Do you understand?" Shiny Head turned toward Kind Lips. "Does she understand anything?"

Kind Lips nodded and looked up at Hairy Head. Kind Lips moved fingers at Hairy Head for a long time.

Hairy Head said, "She understands."

"Forgive me, Minister Amin, but I'm certain that she signed more."

"Yes. She did." Hairy Head seemed to struggle his words out from a great pain. "My second wife believes the child can speak. The reason she pinches her is to make her give voice. She's trying to force the child to cry out."

Shiny Head frowned as he looked first at Hard Mouth, then down at the child. After a moment he looked up at Hairy Head. "How long has this been going on? Some of these bruises are weeks old."

Hairy Head disappeared from view. His voice came from a distance. "Since the child was born." Hairy Head's face came back into view. He looked at Hard Mouth with angry eyes.

"In the birthing hostel, woman, the priests told you that your daughter cannot speak. Do you expect this scrap to change the world? I told you your daughter cannot speak. I was even there when the girl brought you your baby. I saw what she told you."

Hairy Head touched fingers to lips and then held the hand down as a fist. " 'Silent her,' the girl signed to you. Do you remember?"

Hard Mouth looked afraid, but Hard Mouth also looked angry. Hard Mouth began moving fingers at Hairy Head, but Hairy Head slapped down Hard Mouth's hand.

"No!" shouted Hairy Head. "You did not hear her cry! You could not have heard her cry! What you heard was her twin brother, your son, Rahman. That's all you heard."

Again Hard Mouth lifted a hand and again Hairy Head slapped it down. "No! If you thought you heard two babies cry, the priests explained it was a trick the drugs played on your ears." Hairy Head let out a sigh. "You must stop this. Please stop this."

"Allow me, minister," said Shiny Head.

Hard Mouth's eyes filled with tears. Hard Mouth pulled away and went out of view. Shiny Head nodded at Hairy Head. "It is a severe problem, but it's more common than one might think."

"What is it?"

"The women pray for an end to the CurseI suppose all of them do. However, some of them believe so strongly in the end of the Curse, they enter a world of fantasy and imagine all sorts of things. I once had a patient whose eldest daughter imagined that she could speak. She was over twenty years old and would stand there moving her lips"

"Father Yadin," interrupted Hairy Head, "Please, get to the point."

Shiny Head rubbed its chin and frowned. "Usually this sort of thing only goes on for a few minutes or hours. A few days at most, although I do know of a case that went on for over nine years."

Hairy Head glanced down at Silent. "My daughter is nine weeks old."

"Your second wife needs help, minister. It's a kind of help I'm really not qualified to give. With your permission, I will make arrangements at a suitable facility."

"Suitable facility?"

"Yes."

"A madhouse?"

Shiny Head frowned. "The madhouse is an ancient figment from the father planet. I was speaking of a specialized hospital where"