Day 5

This time, I decided to put some more pizzazz inside of the card by putting hot glue on the inside of it and sprinkling silver glitter.

I did the same with the front of the card as it had a big four on it. Kyle crinkled his nose at the front of the card before opening it to read what was inside. "You're ready to explore the world and make new friends as you enter pre-school for the first time."

He closed the card and flipped the card upside down on the table which he never did before. The big number on the front of the card always faced up.

Before Kyle spoke I asked him, "Why did you cringe at the front of the card. Was it the glitter?"

"No, it wasn't the glitter. Though you did put a lot of it." He looked uncomfortable for a moment. "It's how you wrote the number four."

"What?"

"Yeah, it's how you wrote it. Like on a computer. With the top part of the number closed up in a little triangle. All closed off."

"If I write my fours like those on a computer, then I'm writing them right!"

"I never said it wasn't right, Renata. I said it was closed off." Then, he pulled out something from the drawer near his bed. An empty notepad with a pen poised at the ready. "Come closer and see."

At first he wrote the number four like I did. "This is how the computer writes the number four. All closed off and that's expected from a computer because computers...at least for the moment...have no emotions to speak of."

Then, he wrote a number four with two points points up instead of closing into a little triangle up top. "Now this is an open number four. With it's hands up to the sky. This number four is free from societal constraints," he said as he tapped his pen on the notepad.

"Societal constraints? A number isn't a person, you know."

"Numbers can express more than a string of words could." He drew a big zero. "Take the number Zero...the symbol of nothing. How sad it looks with a big empty hole in the middle of it."

"Now you're just pulling my leg."

"Sort of, but I care about how you write the number four because it's my lucky number."

"You moved to a hospice center in April, the fourth month of the year."

He nodded and placed his pen and notepad away. "True, but it's also when I met you. Isn't it?"

I get up from my chair and look out the window for a moment, hoping Kyle didn't see me blush. "I'm glad you're more talkative today, Kyle. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Don't you get a day off from this place?"

"Normally, but I have a birthday card to make." I was about to leave when I said, "Oh and you are wrong about the number Zero being nothing."

"Really? Why is that?"

"Day zero was when I met you," I quickly replied as I slipped out of his room and onto the next one.