PRISONER EXPRESS

The world was a big old farmhouse, a big red barn and a few acres of hay and wheat when we (my twin brother and I) were four years old. By the time we were seven it had grown to a radius of about five miles, if we skipped lunch. We explored hill and dale, town and country. We ran faster than the neighbor's bull and played tag with the young fox. Our world was full of magic and adventure. We were the deaf dwarf twins and every bit as magical. We would not be held and we could not be tamed. We drove our older brothers and sisters crazy, as they tried to keep up with us or hunt us down. And they loved it.

One winter they came up with a plan to teach us to read. They labeled everything: C-U-P, F-O-R-K, even D-O-G and C-O-W. It was both fun and funny, but we had no concept of words. I see pictures in my head not a bunch of symbols that stand for something. When I made sign Daniel knew what I meant and I knew what he meant. Words are for hearing people.

There was a reason they chose winter. They started by taking all of our clothes and anything we could use for clothes. We weren't shy. Nudity alone was not going to keep us in one place. It was not even a big deal. We were nude more than not, but we were the deaf dwarf twins and not human anyway. However, it was winter and cold.

Winter was our favorite wonderland, especially those cold dark gray days, with snow hanging heavy on the limbs of the blue spruce on the edge of the woods. To the human eye, the world was cold and still- dead. We knew the magic was even more alive. Rabbits and foxes have to eat. So we stayed up one night sewing towels into some kind of clothing and fell asleep just before dawn. They must have placed a sleeping curse on us.

So we - the deaf dwarf twinsâ€"stood naked in the heart and castle of the kingdom. Slowly - resistantly - we learned the symbols that make words for the hearing world. Somewhere, somehow along the way our feelings changed and we came to know this new magic. For the symbols make words, words make sentences, sentences make stories, stories make books and our world grew.

This new magic opened passages and dimensional gateways that bridged time and space to other kingdoms and worlds, even the past and the future. The deaf dwarf twins were forever changed. I have been to the moon and I have explored Treasure Island. I pulled Excalibur from the stone and have helped build cave cities on Saturn. And my favorite trip of all is the next one I take.