When I was in school growing up I always sat next to the quiet kid, Andy. It just happened that his last name was Winfrey and my last name was Zemba so we always sat next to each other. This worked out pretty well because Ma always said I could talk to a brick wall, and Andy was the human equivalent of talking to a brick wall.
Andy wasn’t your typical quiet kid, in fact, he never talked at all. Ever. I’m pretty sure that he could talk, but he just chose not to. If you tried to talk to him he would just stare blankly at you until you went away. If the teachers called on him to read, as every teacher tried, he would just ignore their request and go about doing his own thing. Eventually, everyone just accepted that he didn’t talk. That was just Andy.
At first, people thought there was something wrong with Andy. They suspected that maybe he was deaf and mute. That would explain why he couldn’t talk. But he could hear you just fine, and he never even tried to communicate using sign language or even writing down what he wanted, when he clearly could write. It was a decision Andy had made not to talk.
Andy was smart. He was easily the smartest kid in our grade, probably the entire school. Most people are surprised when they find this out because if you have ever been in the same class as Andy you know he never paid any lick of attention to anything the teacher was trying to teach. Because of this the other kids, and even adults, nicknamed him Rain Man. You know, after the movie. I always thought that was pretty mean even if it was somewhat fitting.
In elementary school, he would sit at his desk and draw pictures or read all day long ignoring everyone but I don’t think he ever missed a question on any test. The teacher could call him up to the board to answer any question and it was always correct. Some teachers even made a game of trying to stump him but he won every time.
It didn’t change in middle school. He would sit and listen to a portable CD player every day during class and pass every class with straight A’s. Sometimes I wondered why he even showed up at school to begin with since he was so much smarter than everyone else.
I don’t know if I would call Andy my friend growing up, but I think Andy saw me as his friend, not the same type of friend you and I may be, but the sort of friend Andy would have. I mean we sat by each other because of our last names and I would talk to him about the X-Men since he wore some of their shirts from time to time. Andy would sit at our lunch table and listen to me and my friends talk about girls or the new superheroes movie. He would sometimes smile and nod and sometimes we would trade CDs for a few days. It always made me laugh that a guy who never made a sound was into heavy metal. I guess in a weird way, Andy and I were friends.
Andy also had a secret ability. I am pretty sure I am the only one who ever caught him and I never told anybody. Andy had the power to move things with his mind. He was usually cautious enough to keep his talent hidden but sometimes he got careless or bored.
I’ll never forget the first time I caught him. I was in 4th grade sitting next to him in the back of the class. As usual, he was not paying attention and doing his own thing. In the corner of my eye I saw his pencil spinning in a circle on his desk. I moved my eyes over without actually looking and I could see him twirling his finger about 3 inches above his pencil and the pencil following his fingers motion. Then he stopped his finger and started twirling it the other way and the pencil followed.
Another time, he was reading a book during class and I would see the pages turn without him actually having to turn it. At first, I thought maybe it was the wind but it happened enough times I could tell it was Andy.
He eventually noticed that I had caught him. He looked surprised at first, but then gave me a little smile and held his finger to his mouth as to say ‘Don’t tell my secret’ and I never did.
Once I knew he had this ability, I was able to notice it from time to time. Andy went out of his way to make sure he hid this talent and rarely used it around people. But if someone upset him, he would lose control. Even on those occasions when he was upset, he was still very good with disguising it to look like a random accident. It always made me wonder just exactly what Andy was really capable of if he lost control.
For instance, in 5th grade, we were out playing football at recess. Even though Andy didn’t talk he loved to play sports and loved recess. You would never expect him, of all people, to be so competitive.The other team kept cheating by continuing to play after they were downed by Andy. But since Andy didn’t talk or argue, they got away with it. It happened over and over and Andy was mad. When we got the ball back, Andy who was playing QB (He would clap to have the ball hiked. He could communicate when he wanted to), and threw what should have been an easy interception right to the boy who had been cheating. Somehow the boys hands didn’t close and the ball drilled him in the face, breaking his nose. As the kid sat on the ground crying in a pool of his own blood, Andy looked over to me and gave me a wink.
Another time, we had a substitute teacher for a few weeks while ours was out on maternity leave in middle school. This teacher hated our class and especially hated Andy. She didn’t like he was allowed to just sit in the back and listen to music while she was teaching. She had never seen any student so disrespectful and allowed to get away with it. She took his CD player away. The next day after lunch, the teacher returned with her fresh afternoon coffee. As she went to take a drink, she accidentally misjudged and poured the entire cup of steaming hot coffee all over her chest and stomach. She screamed in pain and had to get taken to the hospital and treated for 2nd degree burns. She never returned to class again. Andy had his CD player back the next day and everything was back to normal.
This brings us to high school. As you might expect Andy had a reputation. Everyone knows about Andy. I think the whole town probably knew about Andy. When you are different in high school you attract attention. A lot of times that attention is unwanted attention. Even though Andy never said or did anything to anybody, he still became a target.
Some of the upperclassmen decided to make a game to see who could make Andy talk first. The person who could make him say even one word would get $100. They tried everything they could think of. They tried being his friend, telling him jokes, girls even offered to date him and even sleep with him if he would just say ‘YES’, but he never said a word.
As time went on, their tactics changed. Instead of taking a friendly approach they decided they would take the opposite approach and pick on him relentlessly to make him crack. Having a locker next to him I witnessed a lot of the abuse he went through. And it was abuse. They tried everything from calling him names, pushing him into lockers, trying to embarrass him, and just bullying him in every way they could think of.You get the picture.
Still, Andy never broke. He never said a word. He would get visibly upset, face red, deep breathing but he never said a word. It got so bad at times that I tried to step in for him and talk for him but that just made them start to bully us both.
One Friday, things went too far. Three of the worst offenders pushed him into his locker again. Andy finally had enough and pushed them back. A fight started. It was 3-1. Three juniors football players vs the freshman Andy. Andy wasn’t even big for his age and he never stood a chance. There wasn’t much Andy could do except try to shield himself from being repeatedly kicked in the head while he was down. It didn’t last long before it got broken up but Andy was hurt. He nose looked broken and his face was a crimson mask. To his credit, even when the police came and asked for a statement to arrest those kids, he didn’t talk.
The three juniors were arrested for assault and suspended for a week. The cameras had caught everything they needed to press charges and there were enough witnesses even without Andy giving a statement.
When we came back from school the following Monday, they made everyone report to their homeroom before school started. This was not normal, but occasionally it would happen. So I took my seat in the back next to Andy. Then they made the morning announcements.
On Saturday night, three students had tragically died in separate house fires over the weekend. Counselors would be available all week for anybody who needed to see them.
It was the same three boys who had attacked Andy that died in the house fires.
I told over to Andy and said “I guess they won’t be bothering you anymore”
He glanced back at me still smiling and in a voice in my head that wasn’t my own I heard him say “I know”.
There was an investigation and all 3 fires were caused by an electrical fire that had started in the boys room. All 3 of the boys were found burned alive trying to escape out their bedroom door which were found to have not been locked but still had to be broken open by the firefighters on scene. It was just an eerie coincidence that the fires all happened on the same night, at the same time, and killed three boys who were in the same grade.
Two weeks later, Andy’s parents pulled him from school and the teacher said his family was moving due to a new job. I’ve tried to find him on social media but I am not surprised the boy who never talked doesn’t have a Facebook account. In the entire time I knew him those were the only words I ever heard him speak.
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