4) Time and Friends

Days go by as days go by. They are not fast or slow. Time does not mean much to me. I am up before the day and know where the sun will be when I need to meet the bus to work. I think this is not normal, because I see clocks everywhere. When I started at the library I would look at the clock several times a day, curious more than bored. Every time I looked it read twenty minutes before the next hour. I do not look anymore, but when I get the urge to, I know how much of the hour is gone. The day is over when the lights flicker. Someone use to come for me after that, but I did not like that, so I now start back to the workroom as soon as I get that signal.

I do not really know what friends are, but I guess I might have some here. Some people speak to me before I even see them, when they could just pretend I am not there. They ask me how I am or how it is going, and I never know what to say, because I do not know the answers. At The Center I was told these are "niceties," things people say to show they are nice. I will not understand that. Can not people just be nice? When I do answer, I hope to not see amusement in their eyes. No doubt my voice is strange to them. It is strange to me yet. May has rarely heard my voice above a mumble. I never speak to her first. Friends must be more than just nice, I think, but I do not know what that means.