Fingers That See

By Elaine C. Smith

Freda was glad to be home. It was good to be with her family again. She had been away to a special school for a while so she could learn how to read braille and take care of herself without bumping into things. She had also learned that the only way she was different from other people was that she could not see.

Still, Freda found it difficult to adjust to another school. She had books printed in braille so she could learn along with the other students. But she wanted to join in some of the other activities, particularly the art contest the teacher had announced at school today.

Freda couldn’t paint a picture. She didn’t even know what blue looked like, though people had tried to tell her. The sky could be blue, red, orange, or yellow, for all she knew.

After arriving home from school Freda went into her room, sat in her rocking chair, and tried to think of something she could make for the contest. Her cat Fluffy jumped onto her lap and cuddled down to have his ears rubbed. As Freda rocked and petted Fluffy, she began to feel sad because she couldn’t see to paint a picture.

Then an idea started running through Freda’s mind. Suddenly she stopped rocking and began to laugh.

Fluffy, who had been purring contentedly, sat up in alarm and nudged Freda with his paws to remind her to pet him some more. “Not now, Fluffy,” Freda said putting him on the floor and hurrying into the kitchen.

“Mother, could you buy me some clay so I can make a statue for the art show?” she asked excitedly.

“That’s great idea, dear. I’ll buy the clay tomorrow,” her mother promised.

The next afternoon Freda’s mother gave her a box and told her, “You add water to the clay until it’s the right consistency to mold, then you can model whatever you want. When you’re finished, we’ll put it in the oven so it will harden like stone.”

Freda covered the table with newspapers and started to work. When she had the basic shape completed, she called Fluffy, who hopped into her lap. She petted the cat, molded the clay, and then she petted him some more.

Fluffy loved it and purred happily. He didn’t remember when he had been petted so much.

Day after day, Freda went to her room after school and worked on her statute. At last she was satisfied. Freda picked Fluffy up, hugged him, and said, “Thank you for being such a good model.” Then she carried her statute into the kitchen and placed it on a cookie sheet so her mother could put it into the oven to bake.

“It’s beautiful,” her mother told her when she took the statue out of the oven.

“I can hardly wait till it’s cool so I can see it, too,” Freda commented.

Then they both laughed—to Freda, “seeing” meant touching.

The next morning she ran her fingers all over the statue before carefully wrapping her entry in tissue paper to carry to school.

The judges for the art show studied the entries and then placed ribbons on the winners. In each grade there was a red ribbon for first place, a blue one for second place, and a white one for third place. A red, white, and blue ribbon would be awarded for the best entry in the whole school.

Finally, it was time for Freda’s class to go to the auditorium to see the display. Freda was happy that she had been able to enter the contest.

Everyone agreed with the judges’ choice of Freda’s clay cat as the top award.

“That cat looks almost real,” one boy said, admiring Freda’s statue. “You want to reach out and pet him.”

Freda smiled. She was glad Fluffy looked to others the same way he looked to her fingertips.

Illustrated by Pat Hoggan