guards to go and get my parents. “If anyone knows that he born blind or not, it’ll be them. Agreed?” We agreed. And I felt like a worm. I knew how scared mum and dad would be when the guards turned up at the door. I knew how much they wanted to avoid any sort of trouble. All of a sudden, being able to see wasn’t quite as wonderful as it had seemed. While we waited, they ignored me. Totally. But the crowd built, and I saw Moira and the rest of the crew from the Pharmacy. She gave me the thumbs up! I can’t tell you what that meant, knowing that she’d decided to believe me. Mum and dad weren’t exactly dragged in, but neither of them looked like they were happy to be there. They stood, heads bowed, in front of the priests and lawyers and teachers, not saying a word. “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” the older man asked. He was respectful but mum and dad wouldn’t look at him. Mum stole a glance at me, and I just shook my head quickly. Dad answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that he sees now, nor do we know the man who opened his eyes. Ask him; he’s an adult. He can speak for himself.” It was about the longest speech I’d ever heard dad give. And, because I knew my dad, and I knew that he believed in me, I also knew that he wasn’t ducking for cover but letting me take the lead. Some of the nastier ones started to yell at dad to tell the truth but the crowd wasn’t having it. There was a bit of a rumble and a few shouts in support of my parents. One idiot got right in dad’s face, and it was then that dad looked up for the first time. I’d never seen my dad look like that. I was metres away and I was scared. The other guy froze, then backed away. I love my parents. 80
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