‘OK. Kneel down.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Trust me!’ Ethan shook his head but he still knelt
down. I smelled what I was looking for. Te scent was overwhelming. I took Ethan’s hand and put it out to touch the thing I could smell. ‘Just use your index finger and thumb to touch this,’ I said. ‘Rub it gently between your fingers but don’t touch anything else except this bit.’ When Ethan’s fingers were on the object, I let go of his hand. ‘What is it?’ he asked. ‘What d’you think it is?’ ‘I don’t know …’ Ethan said slowly. ‘It feels like a bit of velvet but there wouldn’t be velvet around the tennis courts.’ I reached out and touched the object, my fingers next to Ethan’s. ‘A deep yellow velvet.’ ‘How can you tell what colour it is?’ ‘Yellow has got quite a high voice. Tis yellow’s voice is slightly lower, which means the shade is
deeper, but it’s definitely yellow.’ ‘Do you know what it is I’m touching?’ ‘Yes, I do.’ And all at once I didn’t want to do this anymore. I felt wistful and sad. ‘Take off your tie now. Have a look at what you’re touching.’ Ethan removed his tie at once and gasped. ‘It’s … a flower …’ he said shocked. ‘Beautiful, isn’t it?’ ‘A deep yellow flower,’ Ethan whispered. ‘Tere’s more to seeing than just looking, Ethan,’ I told him. ‘Your eyes work. Never forget what a gift that is. I can feel colours and I’m grateful. But to see …’ ‘A flower.’ Ethan’s voice was awestruck. I didn’t have his full attention. I wondered if he’d even heard
me.
‘Ethan, touching that flower and seeing it with your fingers – that’s what seeing with my other senses is a tiny bit like. I see things in ways that you can’t or won’t because you don’t have to. I’m grateful for that as well, because I can still appreciate the things around me. Maybe even more than a lot of sighted people do.’ I sensed Ethan looking at me then. Really looking – for the first time. I wondered how he saw me
now. I smiled at him. ‘I … look, I have to tell you something,’ Ethan began uneasily.
