She pinpointed again ‘R-T-E’ but this time the pauses between each letter were longer and still he could not sew them together.  The driver got out of the car, banged the door.  He went inside to the Home to get help.  A person said ‘How would I know?  She will tell you herself’.  His voice started wriggling ‘How, ho –ow?’  He could not say the word in one go. 

A warm looking lady came out to help – ‘where are you going’ she asked gently.  The woman pointed again ‘R-T-E’.  She asked ‘who are you meeting there?’  Her finger spread across her cardboard mount ‘G-R-O-U-P’.  The lady’s hair fell into the woman’s lap as she bent down to see what she was saying.  She kept opening draws of questions to try to give the driver a clear picture of where the woman was going.  ‘What kind of group is meeting you?’ the lady asked angrily as she stood there waiting for the woman to snake across her cardboard mouth.  ‘W-R-I-T-I-N-G  G-R-O-U-P’.  The mouth fell between her knees as she was stressfully pointing to each letter.  The lady left saying ‘I have no time to sit on the clock’.  The woman silently replied to herself ‘A century has not gone in 20 minutes’. The taxi sped on to RTE.

The taxi rode around RTE for ages, going back and forth to the Radio & Television Departments.  Each time the driver went into the Enquiries Office, the answer was the same.  Machines drilled many ears.  Nobody knew anything about my trip.  The woman was left in the car looking at the meter rising.  The clicks paralysed her mind hoping the man would not swirl the taxi around and speed back to the Home.  He kept chipping his lips on the taxi speaker ‘four one’ pause……. ‘four one’ …..  A creaky voice repeated ‘Do you know where this girl is going?’  ‘I don’t think she knows herself’ he replies.  The woman shook the head off herself saying silently ‘I do, I do’.

‘The man said the girl had a board full of letters’.  The speaker interrupts ‘She has a what?’  Pause….. ‘Did you say a bowl full of lettuces’.  Turnips fell down the woman’s jumper, she giggled with laughter.  The man shouted into the microphone ‘A BOARD WITH LETTERS’.  A phonecall to the Home was made.  The driver sat inside the taxi for a couple of minutes, waiting for an answer. 

Spots of hoped filled the woman’s eyes.  She saw a person from the Course going into the Enquiries office, hoping that the driver would go in and ask her.  The woman started to point to the girl as she strolled in off the street ‘A-S-K G-I-R-L  I-N  R-E-D’.  The reply was ‘be a good child, we will find out in a second’.  She even took the driver’s finger to skip around her cardboard with her but still the message did not get through.

Bleep, bleep ‘Four One’.  ‘Yes, Four One’.  The girl is able to tell you herself.  She is mute but can understand.  Follow her finger.  The driver’s jaw locked into his mouth.  He whispered to the woman ‘Sorry I can’t read’.  The woman shook his hand telling him that she understands.