Rachel sat on her blanket, wide blue eyes staring solemnly at the large blue furball that hovered over her. Blue Furball's voice droned on and on about some mystical thing called A Perry Oh Tick Table. Little Blue Furball, her adored cousin Siku, sat beside Rachel, nodding. Maybe you had to be almost seven to understand these things.

Rachel fixed her attention on other things, like the large red ball that was sitting about five feet from her. She knew from experience that if she crawled over to it, Blue Furball would notice and plop her right back on the blanket before she even got there. Mama and Da were off playing their games behind the glass in the Watching Room with the other big people, so she was stuck with beloved Siku and Blue Furball, who always reminded Rachel of a giant hairy ball.

In her eleven months of living, Rachel had also learned that even if she wanted something really really badly, like that bright red ball, she couldn't use her inside voice to call to Mama or Da. She couldn't use words like Mama did, but she could speak in pictures and feelings with her inside voice.

Maybe the words would come later. She had to learn to speak outside, like Blue Furball was doing. The big people were all very happy that she used the outside voice to cry now. For some reason, they didn't like being woken up by the inside voice.

What she really wanted though, was to learn how to make the big red ball come to her. Mama and Bet-See could make things move by talking to them with the inside voice. Rachel figured that was something that would come later. Maybe Siku could teach her.

Siku taught her wonderful things, like what names the Big People had. Blue Furball was "Hank". Hank was always nice to her, maybe because he was a Da too. But Siku didn't have a Mama. Mama was wonderful. She always knew what Rachel needed, even though Mama was bad because she made Rachel take a bath when she was dirty. Nate never made Rachel take a bath. Nate was as wonderful as Siku.

Blue Furball had stopped talking and suddenly hoisted Rachel to his shoulders. The little girl shrieked with laughter, using the inside voice to show how happy she felt. Siku and Blue Furball laughed with the small redhead.

"Do you think Auntie Jean and Uncle Scott are done in the Danger Room yet, Daddy?" Siku slipped her small blue hand into Blue Furball's larger one.

"Why don't we go see, Sunshine?" He peered up at Rachel. "Do you think we should go to see if your mother and father have finished their afternoon exercises in our illustrious challenge of technology known as the Danger Room?"

Rachel stared at him, trying to figure out what he was trying to say. All the big people said that Blue Furball had a habit of saying things in ways no one could understand. Mama could listen to others' inside voices to see what they really meant, but Rachel couldn't do that yet. She could only hear inside if someone spoke to her with the inside voice.

Siku saw Rachel's perplexed look and said, "Daddy wants to know if you want to go see your Mama and Daddy."

Rachel smiled and clapped her hands, again saying happy thoughts with her inside voice. Pursing her lips, she tried to make sounds like Blue Furball and Siku made when they were thanking someone. "Buh...Buh..."

Siku's blue eyes widened. "Daddy, she's trying to talk!"

"Indeed, Sunshine. Little Rachel is at the normal age when infants try to verbalize their wants just as the adults around them do."

Rachel shaped her lips again, this time forming a circle. "Sssssss.

Sssssss."

She accidentally sprayed the top of Blue Furball's head with spit. "Seekoo."

"Daddy! She said my name! Rachel said my name!" Siku pranced around her father, singing "Rachel said my na-ame, Rachel said my na-ame!"

Rachel clapped her hands and said it again. "Sikoo." So this was how that outside voice worked.

She screwed up her face and tried again. "Ma?" She thought that was the right word for it. "Ma Ma?"

Looking down at Blue Furball's face, she saw his eyes light up. Then she heard his inside voice calling out to Mama, Jean, I think someone has something to say to you...

And Mama's voice answering, We'll be right there, Hank.

Moments later, the door opened.

"Mama!" Rachel crowed, holding out her arms. "Mama mama mama mama!"

Mama's green eyes widened at the sound of Rachel's voice. A strange look passed over her face before the sunshine came back into her eyes. Blue Furball dumped Rachel into Mama's arms, and Mama swung her around just like Uncleremy would.

"Scott, did you hear her?"

"Mama!"

And there was Da, his eyes unreadable behind the red glass he always wore over them. Somehow, Rachel knew that his brown eyes were smiling. His inside voice said happy thoughts to her, but happy thoughts with tears in them. Why was Da crying?

She reached out for Da with one arm, the other hooked around Mama's neck.

"Da? Da?"

And she was in Da's arms suddenly, hearing him cry softly. Why was he thinking of Nate-as-a-baby?

She patted his cheek softly and pressed her lips against his tears. "Da."

Now if she could just figure out how to talk to the ball...

THE END...Return to Fan Fiction