The Last Time She SpokeThere was a version of Valdis that used to speak.She remembered her exactly.Seven years old. Gap between her front teeth. A laugh that came too easily and too loudly for the spaces she was placed in. A mind that moved faster than the world around her and a mouth that couldn't stop trying to keep up.She had questions then. Endless ones. The kind that made adults shift uncomfortably in their seats and change the subject with practiced smiles. She didn't understand why. She thought questions were how you learned. She thought that was the whole point.She