“Peter should do this, Henry,” Ruth said.
“Why is that?”
“For one, if he wins, think what that will say for Walnut Ridge.” She smiled. “I bet this will be the first time a mute has ever competed in a spelling bee.”
“The whole town will laugh at us. Hell. Not just the town, the county, maybe even the state.”
“Calm down, Henry.” She put her hand on his. “Even if he doesn’t win—”
“Oh, he’ll win,” Christie interrupted. “You can count on that.”
“You will win the sympathy of the town. We’ll probably make the evening news in Mountain City.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he huffed.
“He’s handicapped, Henry. That’s all. He can’t talk. If he couldn’t walk you wouldn’t be standing here arguing with me would you?”
“That’s different.”
“No, it isn’t. There are countless numbers of children both physically and mentally challenged. There are the Special Olympics that allow them the opportunity to compete. I think we owe it to Peter to prove himself to Walnut Ridge.”
“The boy’s dumb,” he said loudly.
“Shhh.” Ruth put a finger to her lips.
Christie stamped her foot. “He’s not—”
“I mean he can’t talk.”
“I did some checking earlier this week,” Ruth went on. “Two of the school board members here tonight and the County Commissioner know sign language. They’ve agreed to be judges.”
“You mean you talked to them without consulting with me first?”
She smiled. “I already knew what you would say, Henry.”
“Damn straight. If it was anybody else I’d have had them fired for this.” He turned back
to the stage. The arts competition was almost over. There were only two students remaining.
“Okay. Let the boy make a fool of himself. It’s probably not the first time.”
“He won’t,” Christie said. “You’ll see. I’ll go tell Peter.”
“You mean he doesn’t know?”
“Of course not.” Christie said. “This was my idea.”
“Lord help us.” Henry shook his head.
After the arts competition ended the mayor walked out and made the announcement. “There’s been a slight change in tonight’s agenda. Miss Christine Ford has removed herself from competition.”
There were murmurs throughout the auditorium.
Third row back from the front, Joshua turned to Martha, “What’s going on?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know, dear. Christie didn’t say anything about this.”
“Replacing her—” The Mayor put his hand over the microphone and said to himself, “Lord, give me strength.” He took his hand away from the mic and said, “Replacing her will be Mr. Peter Reynolds.”
Peter looked at his uncle. George smiled and nodded. He knew. He had kneown all along. He heard Billy Hagerty snickering someplace behind him. There was no mistaking that sound. He heard Billy say, “This is going to be a laugh. That dummy can’t spell spit.” He heard other comments too. There were words like idiot, dumb, town dummy, and more. He had heard them all before.
“You can do it, Peter.” George put his hand on Peter’s and grinned. “Go on up there and show them what you know.”
