About the Author: I´m Raul Nicholas Prebisch, and I am currently 14 years old. I live in the province of Tucumán (capital), Argentina and I am from the Sacred Heart School. I wrote the story “A knot in the language” for the short story and poetry literary contest of the Carlos Guido Spano institute that my language and literature teacher recommended to me. I really like writing and I plan to continue doing so.

– Manuel it’s 6:40 am, get up now, his mother said. But really it was 6:35 am. We all know how mothers behave and exaggerate everything.

– N-n-nothing happens if I do do not go to to school, he answered.

– Yes many things will happen if you miss school. I will really scold you if you don’t get up now. Have you heard me? At home there are people sleeping now so please speak loudly, said his mother angrily.

It was the first day at school and even worse at a new school. For some people this could be something common, great ,meeting old and new friends. But for a stutterer: NEVER. Just imagine Manuel arriving at an unknown place, full of strange people. Poor Manuel didn’t even know his new classmates.

He dreamed about embraces, noise of a crowded place and a dog. Yes, a dog that could distract the porter.

All these could be unnoticeable by anybody, but Manuel found this situation extremely dangerous, hell on earth.

At that precise moment his mother called him again.

– Get up now

Manuel got up, tired after a hard night. In fact he couldn’t even sleep.

After his daily routine (getting dressed, having breakfast and preparing his school bag), he got into the car to go to school with his mother.

He was so tired that he fell asleep and had a horrible nightmare again. He dreamt that he was meeting his new classmates and they started to bother him as always. They started telling him not to stop while speaking and that he really could… They also completed Manuel´s sentences. He was desperate and he also dreamt about his teachers… Oh teachers looking at him and trying to comfort him as if he was really nervous.

But he was really afraid. What made him really afraid? He didn’t even know… He had two situations: his name Manuel Pancracio Torres that he hated, and a word, that terrible word: present

Saying “I’m here“ or just “present“, the most terrible words for a stutterer and for Manuel!

Speaking these simple words would be something  easy, really easy. But saying a word that starts with “pr“ followed by “e“ and just goes on with “se“ and  finishes with “nt“ is really difficult, at least for Manuel, in an unknown place with unknown people.

Suddenly he heard a strong sound that woke him up.

It was a car in front of them, driven by an unattentive man looking at his phone, without paying attention to the traffic light. Manuel loved this situation and really hoped for it to go on so that arriving at school could delay a bit more. Unfortunately he knew this would not be a comfortable situation for his mother who couldn’t stand something like this.

His dream finished when he arrived at his new school “Robles Viaña school“.

– Bye bye Manu, I wish you a nice day. Oh here you have money to buy what you need. Please do not forget what your speech therapist has taught you, Manuel´s mother said.

– Bye, thank you, Manuel answered, feeling really worried.

When Manuel got out of the car he was terrified. He started walking slowly, step by step. He felt his legs trembling and his tongue trapped in his mouth. Such a task for Manuel, to remember tips to avoid his natural essence. “Go slowly“, “count to two before speaking“, useful advice his speech therapist, Cecilia, had been giving him.

Now at school he thought of possible answers to his new classmates, to expected bullying, to jokes and to their laughing.

As he arrived a bit late he looked for a class assistant who could guide him to his new classroom. This man was called Sebastian. They had already met before in an interview to be accepted at school. But even though Sebastian wasn ́t unknown to him , things were still very difficult. Speaking wasn’t easy. Sebastian led Manuel to the room and assigned him a seat while the rest of the students were fighting for one.

Sebastian started calling the class names and when it was Manuel´s turn, he said “Manuel Torres” without Pancracio. Besides, Manuel didn’t need to answer as all the students only raised their hands. But Manuel knew it  could only be the first and last time he wouldn’t suffer.

Manuel met the classmate sitting next to him. Iit was a very tidy boy with a neat uniform, his hair carefully combed and with big rounded glasses. A typical nerd, an intelligent type that  assists the teacher whenever there is a task, or at least this was what Manuel believed.

– Hi I’m Augusto Mayoral, who are you? – said the boy

– H-hi-i-, Manuel answered nervously.

– And ……? -Augusto asked 

– And what? -Manuel asked 

– What’s your name?- Augusto asked again, staring at him.

– Ohh Ma-a-nuel T-t-o-orres, Manuel answered very quickly, just wanting the earth to swallow him for his facial expressions.

Augusto asked Manuel many questions. “Which school do you come from?” “Why have you moved to a new school?” “How old are you?” “How far away do you live?” “Which is your favorite subject?” “Have you got a dog?” “Do you like chocolate or biscuits?” “Do you like football or rugby?“ And many more questions. The most important one was about the reasons he came to this new school.

Manuel didn´t know how to explain to him, as the real answer was bullying, cruel bullying to someone only for being a stutterer.

After all these questions, a well dressed woman with a red suit, high-heeled blue shoes and caramel perfume, came into the room. It was the language teacher, Alejandra Buitrago. Everybody loved her as she was tender and kind, especially when everybody passed her subject.

The teacher started the class, always looking back as if someone was following her .Manuel´s new classmate told him there was a rumor at school about her husband. This man wanted to kill her and this was the reason for her feeling bad . Manuel didn’t believe this as he thought how much could someone believe what people say.

The teacher asked all the students to introduce themselves. Something terrible for Manuel. He stood up trembling, afraid of what would happen. He looked at all the classmates watching him; those who play football, those who don ‘t, those who might bother him, those who were respectful, even those who do their task at the last moment. Everybody, yes everybody was looking at him. Manuel sighed and started speaking using those tips Cecilia, his speech therapist, had taught him.

– H-Hi, I´m Manuel To-o-orres, he said, with slow starts, but still believing his mind was stuck.

– Which school do you come from? the teacher asked.

– Fuentes Institute,  Manuel answered.

– Ok I’ll introduce myself. I´m Alejandra and I teach language, said the teacher.

Suddenly and without noticing it, the 80 minute class finished as the bell sounded. But it wasn´t Manuel´s real end of the day. A new challenge was waiting for him: The break.

His mother had given him money to buy something to eat during the break because he hadn’t had a good breakfast.

– What are you doing now? his new classmate asked.

– I wa-want to b-buy so-so-methin,  Manuel answered. 

– If you like reading we can go to the library later, his new classmate suggested.

– Ok, as soon as I buy something to eat, we can go there. But I really prefer movies, Manuel answered.

Manuel went out of the classroom and walked through a corridor with a lot of students´ photos on the wall. Some were big, others small, some very exotic, others very simple, some were even made of plastic. This corridor led him to a big patio where all the children spent their break. At the end of this corridor there was a big door made of wood with the school shield stuck in the middle. There were also two little windows on each side. Everything was in a  metal frame.

Manuel went through this ancient door just believing it would fall over him, and there was the patio. It was a huge place with big trees, a football field and tables where students could play chess and have lunch. There was a kiosk where everybody pushed each other and where many tried to steal money. Manuel wanted to buy a drink and started thinking of every word he was going to say and how he was going to say them. He thought about the difficult task that speaking was to him, and some other things…

– H-hi! Ho-ow m-mu-ch is this drink? Asked Manuel in a calm way.

– A hundred pesos, Laura the seller answered, without adding a single word.

Manuel was very disappointed with Laura´s reaction because when Manuel asked the question she seemed to be a bit indifferent. She went on putting away some packets of biscuits, ignoring him to the point he felt discriminated against. At that unfortunate moment Alejandra, the teacher, appeared and sat next to him.

– What happened Manuel? Why do you seem so miserable? the teacher asked.

– The point is that I believe Laura has discriminated against me for being a stutterer, Manuel answered.

– I’m really sorry, would you like me to report her to the headmistress?  the teacher said.

– I don’t know, Manuel answered, feeling a bit angry.

– You will always meet people like her. The fact is that they are not informed about speech problems, so they don´t care about others´ feelings as in this case, the teacher added.

– Do you know there’s a rumor about you and your husband? Manuel asked .

– Wife, the teacher repeated. Yes, I knew, she answered.

– Why do they say these things? Manuel asked.

– Some homophobic students knew I am lesbian so they started spreading rumours of a supposed husband that wanted to kill me. They also said that I was becoming mad, the teacher answered with a sad voice.

– What happened with these students? Manuel asked.

– Nothing at all. I reported them but they were not seriously punished so they went on with the same rumor, the teacher answered angrily.

– But I wasn’t going to quit for a group of blinded students. Was I? the teacher said with a nice smile.

– No, I don’t think so, Manuel answered with a similar smile.

-Next time you shouldn’t worry about what they say and if they can´t stand the situation, it is their problem not yours, the teacher said.

– Yes!!!! Manuel answered.

Time passed so quickly for Manuel that he didn’t notice it and he had to go back home. There his mother was anxiously waiting for him. He got into the car and his mother asked him about the day. When he was going to tell her all the negative details, he understood it hadn’t been so bad as he had always thought in his previous school. When introducing himself there was no problem, he had made a new friend (a bit conceited), and the most important thing, he spoke with his teacher fluently.

The following day Manuel got up, followed his morning routine at home, got into the car driven by his mum, and when he arrived at school, the knot in his tongue untied and he said PRESENT.