Louder Than Words by Laurie Plissner Read Free Book Online Page A

had probably started working as a librarian when books were printed on animal skins, was both the custodian and receptacle of vast amounts of information in this small town, where everybody knew everybody. If you had any juicy secrets, Shoreland was probably not the best place to live.
    “Yes, she told me about the accident. You’ve been through so much. I’m sorry about your family … and your voice,” he said softly.
    She’s a little too chatty, the old bag
.
    In truth, I was glad Mrs. Olsen had spilled my guts for me. Retelling my tale to strangers was too painful, and therefore I avoided new people. But she had done my dirty work for me, and now this remarkable boy was leaning over me, his forehead wrinkled with concern about my well-being, having tactfully disposed of my bra and wrapped my coat tenderly around my quivering shoulders. She had done me a huge favor.
    I just want to pretend it never happened, and from now on, I won’t be so naive. Girls shouldn’t walk alone through dark parks. It’s not rocket science
. Although I knew it wasn’t my fault, I was still desperately embarrassed by my perennial helplessness.
    “You should be able to walk wherever you want whenever you want, especially in a little town like this. Maybe I should teach you some self-defense moves.” Ben put away his nunchucks, picked up my backpack, and helped me to my feet. “Do you think you’re steady enough to walk home?”
    I nodded again. I desperately wanted to talk, even though for the first time in a long time, it wasn’t necessary.
    So, can you read everybody’s mind, or just some people’s?
    This was an extraordinary development. If there was such a thing as mind readers, what other supernatural fantasies could turn out to be real? Ghosts? Vampires? Time travel?
    “Pretty much everybody’s, although some more easily than others. I’m kind of like a radio, and the people around me are different stations, and some people have stronger signals than others. For some reason, your signal is really intense. I could hear you before I even saw you for the first time.”
    Were you born like that?
    “I think so. When I was really little, I thought everybody heard what I was hearing. But when I was three, I heard my mother thinking about where she’d hidden the Oreos that she didn’t want me to eat. I waited until she left the kitchen and then I ate the whole package.”
    That’s handy
.
    “That’s when I first realized I was different.”
    I wish I knew what everybody was thinking
.
    “It’s not that great. People are mean, and most of the time, it’s better not to know.”
    Really? But information is power, isn’t it?
    “Not always. When I was fourteen, I went to a girl’s birthday party, a girl I kind of liked, and I thought she liked me. But I could hear her thinking that my nose looked like an eagle’s beak and that my legs were hairy toothpicks.”
    That’s terrible
. He looked pretty good to me. I didn’t mind his nose. It made him special, like the crack in the Liberty Bell.
    “It was. I begged my parents for a nose job, but they said no, and I was afraid to talk to girls for almost a year. But I got over it, and the upside is I don’t have to waste my time chasing after girls who aren’t interested.”
    That’s one way to look at it
. Could he tell that
I
was interested?
Can your parents read minds?
    “Nope, just me. But my mother is definitely an unusual person. There’s something mystical about her. You’ll see when you meet her,” he said, as if taking me home to his mother were the logical next step.
    I didn’t know what to say. Everything this very strange stranger had just told me was impossible, and yet I believed him without reservation. Despite his outlandish mind powers and his crazy martial arts skills, he felt familiar to me. On some level I didn’t understand, I already knew him.
    It must be really noisy, hearing everyone talking in your head all the time
.
    “It can be, but I’ve