Read Online The Legend of Safehaven by R. A. Comunale - Free Book Online

Faisal.”
    And then, to everyone’s surprise, Tonio blurted out, “And someday, I’m going to make you see again!”
    Nancy looked at Faisal, smaller than Tonio. A ragdoll, patchwork child, she thought.
    How can such things happen?
    She stepped forward, as Galen approached the top of the stairs. Edison stood right beside her. Already, his mind was in motion, realizing that this boy’s life was now sound and touch.
    Shouldn’t be too difficult to put sound emitters of different frequencies around the house to guide him .
    He thought of Freddie’s comment about baseball.
    Easy enough to put a sounder in one of those, too .
    Nancy knelt down, and once again Galen guided the boy’s hands to her face. Edison also squatted and stared at those artificial eyes—stuffed-toy fabrications no matter how cosmetically real they looked. He made another mental note to ask Galen about nerve implants and electronic eye feasibility.
    “Faisal, this is Tia Nancy.”
    “Hello, Faisal,” she said, her voice quivering. “We are pleased to have you in our home.”
    She was glad that the boy lowered his hands just as her tears began to flow.
    “And this is Tio Edison.”
    “I’m glad to meet you, Faisal,” he said, taking the boy’s right hand in his and shaking it.
    “Faisal, you can call me Tio Galen if you like. It will be time for lunch soon. Your guardians will stay with us for lunch, then we’ll get you settled down. We hope you will like living on the mountain.”
     
    “Come sit next to me, Faisal,” Tonio said, as he followed Galen’s lead in guiding the young boy by his left elbow into the dining room. He placed the boy’s hand on the back of the chair he was to sit on and helped him pull it away from the table. He waited until his new roommate had seated himself before sitting next to him.
    “In front of you are your knife, fork, and spoon, Fai. Feel their location.”
    Galen noted Tonio’s immediately familiar manner with the boy and felt pleased.
    As the meal progressed, Faisal began to relax. It was difficult not to. He smelled the rich scents of simple food, the smooth, cool taste of fresh milk, and finally the rich sweetness of Nancy’s brownies. What had become the habitual tightness in his neck eased, and his jaw muscles gave up their near-constant, clenching tension. Hesitantly, in the direction he had last heard Nancy’s voice, he turned and stammered, “Thank you.”
    Edison raised his hands and started to clap slowly, then faster as the others joined in.
     
    “Faisal, we’re going to come here every day, until you feel ready to come with us to your new home. We’ll be back tomorrow.”
    Diana and Lachlan each hugged the boy, who ran his fingers over their faces then raised his hand in a tentative effort at goodbye. Lachlan helped his wife, whose eyes had filled with tears, into the car. The adults and children gathered in front of the house and waved, as the cruiser rolled slowly down the driveway.
    He felt Freddie take his left elbow and heard him as they started to move.
    “Come on, Fai. I’m going to give you a guided tour of the house and the neat stuff we have here. Carm and Tonio are coming, too.”
    The three former orphans took their new charge on a word-and-touch tour of the house. They reached Tonio’s room last, where an extra bed and dresser had been placed.
    Tonio led Faisal to the bed. Sitting on the smooth, cotton sheets and soft quilt suddenly made him very tired.
    “May I rest now?”
    Carmelita and Freddie left him with Tonio.
     
    He was running, running with his little dog, Fez, back through the dusty streets of his hometown. It was early morning, and the sun had not yet begun to heat the sandy dirt of the roads and raise the shimmering light waves that cooked the earth like his father’s big ovens.
    He smelled the yeasty scents of the flat breads and the sweet honey cakes his father and mother would make daily for the townspeople, and he ran. He ran in circles of play,