Turn 181 of 233

Take Kimo to his 13 month appointment. He is back on track with the 2.5 multiplier physically. His bursts have furhter decreases. He has started talking in very simple sentences now

The clinic waiting room is empty at six in the morning because Dr. Parekh is the thing that arranges the empty and the empty is the thing that lets Lena be Lena — 730 pounds, naked, tattooed from ankle to neck, rainbow hair, yellow teeth, callused feet on linoleum. Kimo is on her hip, 150 pounds now, his legs dangling past her knee, chocolate still on his chest from yesterday because yesterday is the thing that is close and the close is the thing that did not get washed. The waiting room smells like antiseptic and the antiseptic is the thing that is the opposite of the site and the opposite is the thing Lena's nose rejects. Kimo does not reject it. Kimo has never smelled antiseptic before and the new is the thing his nostrils flare at and the flaring is the thing that is curiosity.

Dr. Parekh is in the exam room and the exam room is the room with the scale and the tape and the table and the table is the thing Kimo stands on. He is 50 inches tall and the 50 is the number that is the multiplier and the multiplier is 2.5 times twelve months plus one and the math is the thing that is back on the line. Last visit he was 135 pounds at 49 inches and the 135 was below the 150 the multiplier predicted and the below was the thing that was the question. The question is answered. He is 150 pounds and 50 inches and the 150 and the 50 are the numbers that say the curve is the curve and the curve did not break.

"Back on the line," Dr. Parekh says. She says it the way she says numbers — placing it, letting it exist.

"150 pounds, 50 inches. The 2.5 multiplier holds. Last visit he was slightly under. Now he's exactly where the curve puts him. So either the deceleration was normal variance, or it was a pause and the pause is over. We'll know more at the next visit."

Lena nods and the nod is the nod she gives every visit. She watches Kimo on the table and the watching is the thing she does and Kimo is looking at the pen on the counter and the looking is the thing that says he wants the pen. Dr. Parekh gives him the pen. He takes it and puts it on the clipboard and makes a line and the line is the thing he does now the way he breathes — without deciding, the hand doing what the hand does. He looks at the line and does not ask what that because the what that is the thing he already knows. The line is the thing he made and the made is the thing that is his.

"Language," Dr. Parekh says. The word is the word that opens the part Lena has been waiting for.

"He's at 141 words as of his birthday. Since then — three weeks — he's added thirty-one. He's at 172. But the word count isn't the thing anymore. The bursts have compressed further. The gaps went from two days to one. The last burst was a one-day gap, nineteen words. The staircase isn't a staircase. It's a wall going straight up."

Dr. Parekh's pen stops. The stopping is the thing Lena has seen four times now and the four is the number that says the container has been exceeded again.

"But here's the thing," Lena says. She pulls her phone and scrolls to the notes Janet has been keeping — the notes that are the thing two women maintain from different ends of the state, the spreadsheet and the dates and the words.

"He's not just labeling anymore. He's not just asking questions. He's linking. 'Good wall.' 'Good Mama.' 'Where go truck.' Those were the start. But now — "

She reads from the screen.

"'Mama run fast.' 'Kimo big too.' 'Wall done now.' 'Nail go in.' 'Daddy car red.' He's building sentences. Two words, three words. Subject, verb, object. 'Mama run fast' is three words and the three words are a complete thought. 'Kimo big too' is a comparison — he's saying he's big like someone. 'Wall done now' is a temporal marker — the wall is finished and the finishing is in the present. 'Nail go in' is cause and direction. He's not listing words. He's constructing meaning."

Dr. Parekh writes and the writing is fast. Kimo is drawing on the clipboard — not lines anymore but shapes, circles inside circles, the shapes that are not letters and not words but are the things that come before letters and the before is the thing that is the motor chasing the idea. He looks up at Dr. Parekh and the looking is the thing that is the face.

"Mama big," Kimo says. "Mama run. Kimo run too."

Four phrases in a string and the string is the thing that is the sentence and the sentence is the thing that is the meaning. Mama is big. Mama runs. Kimo runs too. The too is the thing that connects — he does what she does and the does is the thing that is the same and the same is the thing he is saying. Dr. Parekh looks at him and the looking is the looking of a doctor who has been charting a boy who does not fit any chart and the chart is the thing that is the boy.

"Sentence formation at thirteen months," Dr. Parekh says.

"Two-to-three word utterances with grammatical structure — subject, verb, object, comparison, temporal markers. That's not eighteen months. That's not twenty-four months. That's thirty-month territory, minimum. The physical growth is the line — predictable, stable, the multiplier holds. The language is the thing I can't chart because the chart doesn't go where he is."

She puts the pen down. The putting down is the thing that says the writing is done and the done is the thing that is the note and the note is the thing that goes in the file.

"Three months," she says. "Next appointment in three months. Unless something changes. Anything changes. You call me."

Lena lifts Kimo off the table and the lifting is 150 pounds on 730 and the 730 makes 150 a thing she holds the way she holds a stud. He is heavier and the heavier is the thing that keeps coming and the coming is the thing she carries. She walks out of the clinic and the walking is bare feet on linoleum and the linoleum is the thing that is the floor and the floor is the thing that is not the pad but the pad is the thing she is walking toward.