What the deaf-mute heard

Ten-year-old Sammy Ayers woke up one morning on a bus that had reached the end of its run after an overnight trip. The night before, his mother had been beside him. Now, she was gone and he was abandoned, a lost child in a small Georgia town of the 1940s. As the curious patrons of the Barrington Bus Depot bombarded him with questions, he just kept his mouth shut. He pretended not to hear. It was on that morning, in 1940, that Sammy Ayers became deaf and mute. Alone and lost in this strange new world, Sammy found safety behind a wall of silence, a barrier that sound could not penetrate from either side - at least that's what everyone thought. Truth was, Sammy could hear as clear as a bell and probably talk even better. But he wasn't going to let anyone know that. At least, not until he knew everything about the citizens of Barrington. With the kind help of Jenkins, the fatherly old stationmaster, Sammy created a place for himself in Barrington. Assured by his silence, no one bothered to censor themselves around Sammy and people revealed everything - from their proudest moments to their darkest secrets. That knowledge included the week in 1966 when a young preacher-in-training, hoping to save the souls of the town, put Barrington on the map and made it the focus of the world's attention, if only for a moment. And, in that moment, thanks to Sammy, one of the town's darkest secrets came to light with tragic consequences. There is one more thing to be learned about Barrington, though. Ignored and ridiculed, trapped yet empowered by his silence, Sammy spends nearly fifty years guarding one last secret - his own.