Over the following days, she began to notice things about him that other people might have overlooked.
He always positioned himself so that he could see whoever was speaking.
He watched people’s lips with intense concentration.
When he was tired, he rubbed the area behind his right ear.
And sometimes, in the middle of an ordinary task, he would suddenly stop and press his palm against the side of his head.
The expression that crossed his face was not irritation.
It was pain.
One afternoon, while folding clean sheets, Rosalie found a rusty stain on his pillowcase.
She assumed he had cut himself shaving, but when she examined the fabric more closely, she noticed that the stain was concentrated near the right side.
That evening, she wrote a question in the notebook.
Does your ear hurt?
Gideon looked at the words.
Then he closed the notebook.
Rosalie waited.
After several minutes, he opened it again and wrote:
