“I don’t know! Her last teacher’s report said she doesn’t even know the alphabet, but Mrs. Pierce is supposed to give me a full report when the testing is over. That’s not for another week at least.”

Another week of testing? Nova groaned. She wished she could talk so she could ask to be All Done.

“I have an idea!” exclaimed Francine. “Honey, grab me a Sharpie and construction paper. I need to find the scissors.”

“Top drawer on the left with the can opener!” Billy hurried out to find the marker and paper.

Nova sat in the kitchen chair and rocked and hummed. She wanted her notebook back. And she wanted to watch TV. But once Francine had all the materials, she began to write and cut until she had created a long line of letters, the entire alphabet in order. Under it, she created two smaller strips, one with the letters A E I O U and one with D L M R S T.

“Vowels and some commonly used consonants,” Francine explained to Billy. “My kindergarteners tend to recognize these ones first.”

Kindergarten babies, thought Nova.

On the rest of the paper, which Francine cut to the size of index cards, she wrote several short words. Cat. Hat. Dog. Boy. Moon. Me. Nova. Top. Red. No. Yes. Bridget.

Nova’s heart fluttered at that last one.

Now Francine was testing Nova, same as Mrs. Pierce.

“Touch A. Touch E. Touch R. Touch S. Touch L.”

Nova tried to pay attention and do her best work as Francine added more and more consonants into the mix. She knew her letters when there were only five or ten to choose from, but as usual once she had the whole alphabet she mixed up B and D and P. She remembered O but didn’t remember Q, and if she tried to go too fast, M looked like N and N looked like M, even though she knew M was for Moon and N was for Nova.

“Let’s try these words next,” said Francine.

“I’ll get the camcorder!” exclaimed Billy. He left the kitchen and returned a moment later with a huge black video recorder propped up on his shoulder, red light on.

“Nova, give me CAT.”

Nova looked carefully at the cards. CAT was easy. CAT began with C. CAT ended with AT. CAT was one of the first words Bridget had taught her to read. She handed Francine CAT.

“Great job!”

Nova blinked back tears. This felt just like school, like school testing, but at home, and what good could it do? Nova knew how testing ended.

Cannot read. Does not speak. Severely mentally retarded.