“Come
on, Owen, just let it play!” Walt moans. But Owen goes back just 20
seconds or so, to the song’s next-to-last stanza, with Ursula shouting:
on, Owen, just let it play!” Walt moans. But Owen goes back just 20
seconds or so, to the song’s next-to-last stanza, with Ursula shouting:
Go ahead — make your choice!
I’m a very busy woman, and I haven’t got all day.
It won’t cost much, just your voice!
He
does it again. Stop. Rewind. Play. And one more time. On the fourth
pass, Cornelia whispers, “It’s not ‘juice.’ ” I barely hear her. “What?”
“It’s not ‘juice.’ It’s ‘just’ . . . ‘just your voice’!”
does it again. Stop. Rewind. Play. And one more time. On the fourth
pass, Cornelia whispers, “It’s not ‘juice.’ ” I barely hear her. “What?”
“It’s not ‘juice.’ It’s ‘just’ . . . ‘just your voice’!”
I grab Owen by the shoulders. “Just your voice! Is that what you’re saying?!”
He looks right at me, our first real eye contact in a year. “Juicervose! Juicervose! Juicervose!”
Walt
starts to shout, “Owen’s talking again!” A mermaid lost her voice in a
moment of transformation. So did this silent boy. “Juicervose!
Juicervose! Juicervose!” Owen keeps saying it, watching us shout and
cheer. And then we’re up, all of us, bouncing on the bed. Owen, too,
singing it over and over — “Juicervose!” — as Cornelia, tears beginning
to fall, whispers softly, “Thank God, he’s in there.”
starts to shout, “Owen’s talking again!” A mermaid lost her voice in a
moment of transformation. So did this silent boy. “Juicervose!
Juicervose! Juicervose!” Owen keeps saying it, watching us shout and
cheer. And then we’re up, all of us, bouncing on the bed. Owen, too,
singing it over and over — “Juicervose!” — as Cornelia, tears beginning
to fall, whispers softly, “Thank God, he’s in there.”