Meeting Catherine

Hello! It is Anna. Today, something very special happened. We met a new friend, who is called Catherine. I was the first to meet her today, and she is very nice. When I first saw her, I realized that she was blind. She was feeling along the wall as she walked, and her eyes were a very unusual color. When I ran up to her, I think I gave her a fright, because she turned very quickly, but she did not say anything.

"Are you Catherine?" I asked, putting my hand on her arm.
She seemed very shy, and she stayed quiet for a little, and then said, "Yes. Who are you?" "My name is Anna."
"It's nice to meet you."
"And you too. Are you okay?"
"I'm blind, so I have to hold the wall to know where I am."
"Would you like me to help you?"
She stopped to think for a while, and then she said, "Yes, thank you."

I took her hand, and started walking slowly.
"I'll take you into the lounge," I said.
"Thank you."
I did not say anything for a minute while we walked, because I wasn't sure if I should ask the question that I wanted to ask, but finally I did: "Were you born blind, Catherine?"
"No; I could see perfectly until three months ago. Then I got this rare eye disease, and my sight slowly got worse and worse, until finally I was blind. That only happened seven weeks ago, and afterwards, my eyes changed color." She stopped, and then ended shakily, "People say it looks horrible."
I felt very, very sorry for her, because although her eyes were very unusual, it was not ugly or horrible.
"I do not think it is horrible at all. They are a very pretty color, and it is just not what people are expecting," I said.
She said "Thank you," looking very grateful.
"I do mean it." I stopped at the corner of the lounge door, and said, "You must turn to the left here," and we walked in.
"How old are you?" she asked.
"I am 17. How old are you?"
"I'm 17 too. When's your birthday?"
"The eleventh of April."
"Really? Mine is the seventeenth!"
"That is great!... Stop here. There is a rocking chair to your right."

She reached out into the air and felt around until her hand was on the arm of the chair. I was about to help her to it, when we heard a shout.
"Hello Anna!"
We turned around, and I saw Sarah standing there.

"Oh, Sarah!" I said. "This is Catherine."
Sarah smiled.
"Hello Catherine," she said. "I'm Sarah."
"Hello."
"She is blind from a disease," I said.
"It made my eyes change color. I'm sorry if they look bad."
"No, I think they look lovely!" said Sarah.
"Thank you."
"Let me help you to that chair," I said.

 "Are you comfortable there?" I asked.
"Yes, thank you."
"How old are you?" asked Sarah.
"17."
"That's the same as Anna! I'm 16."
"That's nice... What do you look like?"
"Oh, I'm sorry!" said Sarah. "I didn't think of telling you."
"That's okay."
"Well, I have curly brown hair a little past my shoulders, freckles, and blueish eyes that some people would call gray or purple, and my hair is partly pinned up on the sides right now. Anna has long blonde hair, which is in braids right now, and brown eyes, and she's from Sweden."
"So that's where her accent's from!"
"Yes," I laughed.
"You two sound very pretty."
"Thank you," we both said together.

We had a very lovely time with Catherine, and we cannot wait to have more fun with her. She is a very special person, and we love her very much.