Claire Ingham had never spoken one word in her entire life.

Nobody knew why exactly... why the small girl with fair skin and dark hair had no voice. The doctors at the hospital had been stunned by the baby who didn't cry- who opened her eyes in the first few minutes of life... yet none of the educated men or women present could find an explanation for the girl's uniqueness. They said she would find her voice eventually. Claire wished those doctors had been right- for the wide eyed child never did.

The old midwife on hand was the first to notice that Claire was different. As she gazed into the bright intelligent eyes of her new patient she raised an eyebrow.

"Why... you look at me as if you hold the secrets of the universe behind those eyes! I have never seen an infant with quite that look in all my years. You must be a smart one."

Claire was indeed, a smart one. But unfortunately, not everyone could see that the girl without words had a lot to say. Not many people ever would.

Claire's mother had always been a frail woman. Childbirth must have been too much for her, because only an hour after the little girl was born, she slipped away without a word of goodbye or wisdom to send her daughter off with. The woman had stumbled into the hospital without a man by her side, and after some checking, it seemed that she was alone.

When no relatives stepped up to raise the child, the young nurse who had always wanted daughter agreed to adopt her. And so, little Claire became a Davidson on that night- and wouldn't know about her true family for many years.

The orphaned child grew up in solitude. She had siblings, yes... but Claire had always felt separate from them. She knew she wasn't like other children. While 9-year old Andrew played with his robots, his adoptive 5-year old sister was building robots of her own. When James had fallen asleep on his math book after school, Claire had wandered over and read through the problem, circling where he had made the mistake. While Daniel learned his letters in kindergarten, Claire spent her days in her room, reading books lying around the house. When Mr. Davidson had first seen the little girl scanning through A Wrinkle in Time, he had laughed heartily and taken the book from her.

"Lets not waste our time looking at words that we don't understand Claire," he had said, switching the novel out for a picture book. Claire only nodded slowly, not touching A Wrinkle in Time again.

By the time the dark haired girl started kindergarten, it was clear something was wrong with her. No matter how many doctors the Davidson's visited, no matter how many times she was poked and prodded, Claire would not say a word. She only watched. And listened. And waited. She watched as a fly constantly buzzed around the bald head of the second doctor. She wanted to tell him to swat it, but no words left her lips. She listened to the fourth doctor tell Mr. and Mrs. Davidson that Claire wasn't fit for normal school; that the "special education" classes might be a better fit for her. She waited day after day until the doctors finally proclaimed that the the little Davidson girl would never speak.

(To be continued)