Jessi's Secret Language by Ann M. Martin Page A

never shut up.
    Katie Beth caught me looking at her and said, “This is my sister, Adele.”
    â€œHi, Adele,” I said.
    Adele didn’t answer, but when Katie Beth nudged her, she smiled at me.
    I decided to take a big risk. I got up and moved to the bench next to Katie Beth and Adele. “I’m waiting for my father,” I told them. “He won’t be here until four-thirty.” I checked my watch. “Fifteen more minutes.”
    Katie Beth nodded. “We’re waiting for our mom. She’s talking to Madame Noelle. She’s upset because I need new toe shoes so often.”
    I nodded understandingly. “My parents don’t like it, either. But there’s really nothing you can do about it.”
    â€œThat’s what I tried to tell Mom, but …”
    Katie’s voice trailed off and I knew she meant, “Go try to figure out parents.”
    I smiled.
    Just then, Adele touched her sister on the arm. Katie Beth turned to look at her. To my great surprise, Adele signed bathroom . She was using American Sign Language!
    To my even greater surprise, Katie Beth looked at her sister as if she were a cockroach, and then turned back to me. She was blushing bright red.
    Adele nudged Katie Beth again and signed bathroom for the second time. She was getting that look on her face that Becca sometimes gets which means, “This is an extreme emergency. I need the bathroom now .”
    â€œHey, Katie,” I said, “Adele can use the bathroom down the hall. No one would mind.” I signed that to Adele, who gave me the most incredibly grateful look you can imagine, jumped to her feet, and ran down the hall. As she passedme, hair flying, I caught sight of the hearing aids in her ears.
    Katie Beth glanced at me, puzzled.
    â€œShe had to go to the bathroom,” I told her.
    â€œYou mean you understood her?”
    â€œYes,” I replied. “Didn’t you?” I was sure bathroom was one of the most popular signs in sign language. It was probably the first one ever made up.
    â€œNo,” Katie Beth answered in surprise. “I don’t know sign language.”
    â€œYou don’t ? But how do you live with Adele? How do you know wh —”
    â€œOh, I don’t live with her,” Katie Beth broke in. “Not really. She goes to a special school for the deaf. It’s in Massachusetts. She lives there most of the time. She only comes home for holidays, part of the summer, and a few weekends.”
    â€œBut when she’s home,” I pressed, “how do you talk with her?”
    â€œWell, I don’t exactly. I mean, my parents and I don’t. Sometimes if we shout really loudly, she can hear us a little. And she can read lips, sort of.”
    â€œDoes she talk?”
    Katie Beth shook her head. “Nope. She could but she won’t. She is so stubborn.”
    I wondered about that, considering the sounds I’d heard coming from Matt’s throat.
    Then another thought occurred to me Boy, was Matt ever lucky. How terrible it must be for Adele. She couldn’t even communicate with her own family, unless they wrote everything down all the time, and I didn’t think there was much chance of that.
    I still wasn’t sure that the Braddocks had done the right thing by teaching Matt only sign language, but I did see that they were a pretty incredible family. They’d kept him at home (Adele must have felt pushed off the face of the earth), and they’d all made the effort to learn and use sign language — fluently.
    â€œYou know,” I said to Katie Beth, “sign language is fun. And in a way, it’s like dancing.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œWell, it’s a way of expressing yourself using your body.”
    Katie Beth looked thoughtful. Then she asked, “How come you know how to sign?”
    I told her about Matt. “I could show you some signs,” I said as Adele returned