THE GIFT Read Online Free PDF Page B

blind daughter, she had always been nearby until she was sure Amanda was safely in place wherever she was going. It was the light scent of her body lotion that gave her away, but Amanda let her do what she felt like she must.
    “The door is open, Amanda,” her mother cautioned her from inside.
    “I know, Mom. I can see it,” Amanda responded with a little laugh.
    “Oh, geez. I’m sorry honey. It’s just a habit,” her mother said, embarrassed.
    “I know, Mom. I honestly always knew when the door was left open for me because I could hear you opening it and not closing it, but I knew you liked to tell me, so I let you,” Amanda confided.
    “I see. So, now we will be revealing just how much you have tolerated from your over protective parents for the past five years?” her mother laughed.
    “No, the past twenty three,” Amanda teased.
    “Yeah, this is going to be fun. Well, since you are so independent now, I guess I will go make us some lunch while you get reacquainted with your room. Your father should be here in just a bit with your stuff from the pharmacy,” her mother told her on her way to the kitchen.
    Amanda barely heard her as she was already walking slowly up the stairs, admiring the woodwork of the banister her father had purchased from a shop that did custom carving. There were markings embedded in the pattern that told her what step she was on as she walked up and down the stairs to her room even though she had long since learned to count as she went. Though he had told her about it and shown her how to read the markings after he had it installed, she had never realized how beautiful the scroll pattern he had selected actually was. One would never realize it served a greater purpose than any usual banister.
    Walking into her room, she caught her reflection in the large mirror that formed the back of an antique dresser that had belonged to her grandmother. She was afraid to turn toward it for a moment, taking a deep breath before bringing herself to confront her reflection in the mirror. Pulling a nearby chair over, she sat down to face herself for the first time in years.
    She steeled herself and pulled away the sunglasses to expose the entirety of her face. Even with the lights off in her room and only the sun shining in through the blinds, she winced at the sudden influx of light. After a few moments, she was able to focus at the stranger in her mirror.
    There they were. The tiny scars that she had grown accustomed to touching over the years were visible, but not nearly as bad as she had thought. Time had faded them to thin little pink lines that a good concealer would remedy. She breathed a sigh of relief. Though she knew it was somewhat shallow, the prospect of overcoming blindness only to find that she was some sort of monstrosity had bothered her much more than it should. It was one of those things that you couldn’t really admit to anyone because you knew they would think you ungrateful, but that you still felt inside.
    “There’s my beautiful girl,” her father sang happily as he walked into her open doorway with bags from the pharmacy and laid them in front of her on the dresser. He looked over her shoulder at her reflection in the mirror and smiled. Amanda was struck by how much he had aged since she saw him last and felt sad that she had most definitely been responsible for some of that.
    “Thanks, Dad. It feels weird. Who knew that something as simple as sight could seem so strange?” she told him.
    “It’s been a long, hard road, but you are going to be okay, kiddo,” he told her.
    “I know. The banister is beautiful, by the way. I had no idea that it was so much more than just functional,” she told him.
    “Yes, they did an incredible job with my rough sketches. Now, let’s get some of these drops in your eyes. Can you manage or do you need my help?” he asked.
    “I can manage. Thank you for everything,” she told him, feeling near tears. She wasn’t sure why she felt so