Harvey Hippo's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

The next morning Harvey came back to the clinic with the stone in his pocket and the promise folded twice. Valerie was at her desk. She slid the folder aside when she saw him. The cruel voice was quiet, but Harvey knew it was only sleeping. He needed to learn when it woke up. If he could spot the moment before it shouted, he could reach for the stone first. "I don't know what sets it off," he told Valerie. "Sometimes it's loud when you talk. Sometimes it's loud when I'm alone. I can't guess it." Valerie tapped her pen once. "Then watch it. Sit somewhere quiet. Write down every time it speaks and what happened right before." She tore a page from her folder and handed him a pencil. "An hour. Try the new shelter out back. Concrete pad. Roof. No one will bother you." Harvey walked to the wooden shelter behind the clinic and sat on the concrete. He set the page on his knee. The four familiar voices bickered about lunch. He wrote: 10:04, quiet. 10:11, quiet. A crow landed on the roof beam. The cruel voice said, throw a rock at it. Harvey wrote: 10:14, crow, loud. He rubbed the stone. Two minutes later a truck rumbled past on the road. The cruel voice told him to run into the road. Harvey wrote: 10:16, truck, loud. Valerie stepped out the back door with a mug. The voice told him to knock the mug from her hand. He wrote: 10:22, Valerie close, loud. His hoof shook on the pencil, but he kept writing. By the end of the hour he had eleven entries. He read the list twice. Every loud moment came right after something moved suddenly near him. A crow. A truck. A person stepping into view. The voice did not hate people. It hated surprise. He brought the page to Valerie. She read it standing up. "Sudden movement," she said. "Every time." Harvey nodded. "I can watch for that. I can hold the stone before it starts." Valerie folded the page into her folder. "Good. That's one trigger named." She looked past him at the back door, where the shelter stood in plain view from the road. Her mouth tightened. "The permit office moved my inspection to Monday. They'll see the shelter before I have papers for it." She tapped the folder. "Keep the list going. I have my own loud voice to handle now." Harvey put the stone back in his pocket. For the first time, he knew what to listen for. The cruel voice was still there, but it had a shape now, and shapes could be watched.