Reading with Andrew

Artemis Fowl wears the print of Andrew’s hands.
His damp fingers scroll down the page
as he reads in a slurry of sounds
I can almost understand.
When I take the volume to read the page opposite
I pull the story together from the fragments
of what came before (makes me wonder
could you read only the even pages of a book
and still get it?)

I remind myself I am here for him.
My greedy story-hungry beast can feed later,
binge on Midsomer Murders, House, Inspector Lewis
or maybe a Lee Child page-turner
before bed.
 
This high fantasy young adult novel
will come to me in a stutter of hits
and misses.  My mind will make it whole
because that’s what readers do.  Ask Andrew.