Every place I have ever lived had one of those kids that is “The Weird Kid”. When I was a kid and lived in Lake Forest, the weird kid was named Wade and Wade could talk to water.
You do not have to believe me but I believe that it’s true. I witnessed things around Wade that only someone who could speak to water would be able to do. The things he knew and the things he understood were amazing. Weird, but amazing. He could tell you almost anything about a place. Maybe he just new a lot about history, but Wade claimed that when he wanted to know something, he just asked the water.
My father was a pretty cool guy. I told him about Wade once, “This crazy kid says he can talk to water?” “Really?” my father asked, “That sounds pretty awesome.” He then did something that I did not understand when I was a kid but understood when I got older, he said “Have you asked this kid about it?” My answer was of course, “No dad he’s weird”. Then he chuckled and said something that stuck with me, just because someone might be weird from an outside perspective but perfectly reasonable from the inside.
That really got me thinking that maybe Wade was cool and his interest in water might be fun. I started to be friendly with him. This was not an easy thing, kids being kids. I was made fun of too, but if my dad said this kid was cool it did not matter what these other kids thought. It turns out that Wade lived really close to me and we started walking to school together. This was the time when I was able to ask him questions so I could figure out if he was telling the truth.
I once asked Wade, what about deserts? “What about them?” Wade said in reply. “Well Wade, if you can talk to water and you know all about places , what do you know about deserts, where there is no water?”. “Oh. Well….there is water in the desert, at least in some parts. My parents have never taken me to a desert but I have spoken to water that has been there, water has been everywhere you know?” I was not sure what to make of this explanation so I pressed him further on it. “What does the water say about the desert?”
Wade looked at me for a long time. I could see the wheels of his mind turning behind his eyes, his blue eyes. A blue as deep as the ocean. His hand came up to his face and scratched a small space just next to his nose. He closed his eyes and though said nothing appeared to be having some kind of conversation. “ A desert is a necessary place, a blank place. The need for dry places in the world is just as great as the need for wet places. The ocean has no dry places, but the deserts do have wet places. Over time...long and great pieces of time, a place may become a desert and then the desert may leave. “
Wade then looked at me in the eyes. “Do not be a desert.”
I had never heard anything like that before and I did not know how to respond. Wade just stood there like he always did and waited. He always waited, as a kid that was something strange. I was terrible at waiting and have never known anyone who was good at it, Wade was. Maybe it was because he seemed to know and understand what was going on and with no surprises it's easy to wait, something that I did not realize till I was an much older adult.
Another time, Wade was walking to school and I happened to be walking with him. He strolled like someone walking through a park or down a promenade. I never knew any kid who strolled on the way to school, but he did. “Hey Wade” I said as we turned the corner onto Ridge Route, “Yeah?” Wade said in return. “How did you learn to talk to water?” I asked while I kicked a pinecone that was on the sidewalk. Wade seemed to think about this a long time. “I don’t know” he said casually. “It’s...just something I can do.”
“Could you teach me how to talk to the water?” I asked. Wade again seemed to think about this for a long time. He casually swung his arm through the bushes on the side of the sidewalk then picked up a small piece of trash and put it in his backpack, he was always picking up trash. After we started walking again Wade said “I could try, but it tells me that only certain people really understand when the water speaks and most people will never be able to hear them. Even though who say they try, they don’t really try, they just say they do.”
We had reached school and since we had been having our little chat we were running late. Just before we got into class I asked him “What is the first thing I need to do?”. Wade thought about it for a second and then he replied “Sit down someplace quiet, and listen.”
Well that did not sound like a good idea to me, but he was the expert. “OK, what about after that?” I said. He replied “That is the first and second and third step. Only once you have really learned to listen can you move on to talking.” At this point he went off to his classroom.
I spent the rest of the day being very confused. After we got out of class and walked home, I asked him again. “Can you teach me to talk to the water?” He stopped on the sidewalk and looked at me in that way that only he could, “OK, ask me again tomorrow.” “Great” I said and then we started talking about school and the trains that run by school.
The next day he was not there to meet me. He was not at school. He did not show up the day after that or the day after that. I knew a few kids in his class and asked them. Apparently Wade was no longer in school. No one knew what had happened to him. When I got home I told my father and he said to me “That happens sometimes, people come and go. I am proud that you were his friend.” “Thanks” I said.
Sometimes when it’s still outside, I sit down and listen. I have yet to hear the language of the water, but sometimes I think I understand it.
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