Ty tells me all birds talk and no birds talk. He says they have separate valves on their bronchiae, so they can warble two simultaneous but different wavering tones, and those two tones fool our brains into hearing words. It’s called “sine wave speech.” Kind of like the way we can hear muted conversations in the rush of white water. But more isolated and refined.

All birds can do it. Mynahs and parrots are naturals, but mynahs are cousins to common starlings: any bird can do it if he tries. And I guess, around Ty, birds try.

He says he can understand them. I assume his blindness makes him pay more attention to what comes in his ears. But I don’t know: sometimes I think maybe he reads their minds. No. He says he hears them.

They tell him the future. Advise him about love and war and winds and storms and even coming earthquakes. And sometimes, he says, they foretell the effect of a spiritual adventure; that’s why they’re known to flock around certain holy folks – there they gather information, and process it to predict.

Ty has amazing stories. His own life has been three. He says he started life male, switched to female in his late teens, and flipped back to manhood seven years after that. I’m not at all clear on what he means by that. I don’t think surgery was involved but Ty just won’t provide details. If I ask he changes the subject, usually to something about birds.

That’s how I learned that all bird embryos start out male. Ty didn’t answer my surgery question but informed me that all other animals start babies as females, and something has to happen to the little bud to make it male. It’s the opposite with birds. The default is boy.

Or another time, when I poked into the sex change stuff, Ty explained how a bird can dive at a speed faster than your basic falling object. He got me that time. I forgot my question because I’m into physics and skydiving. I may major in physics. It all depends on how the quantum class goes next semester. No matter what, I’ll keep jumping. Lately my life seems to be time spent between jumps. It makes my mother nervous, even though she knows I’m safer jumping that driving to the drop zone.

Anyway, to hear Ty tell it, he’s been three versions of himself. He’s the only person who’s ever had sex as both a man and a woman. He says it’s way better for women.

I was surprised to hear that. It runs counter to common understanding. Also seems to make less evolutionary sense. But I’m not sure Ty believes in evolution. He talks about gods a lot.

He even has three stories about his blindness.

The thing you learn when you integrate with the disabled is that it’s not cool to ask them about their actual handicap. Neither the extent nor the origin. So when a disabled person volunteers such information, you tend to pay attention.

The first time he told me, he said he was handicapped by the gods because he knew too much. He could foretell, so they wouldn’t let him see. He said he was stricken by disease and when he recovered he was blind. Untreated measles? I got the impression then that he was a kid when he lost his sight.

Another time he told a long story about witnessing a goddess bathing. I think he was drunk, and I only heard the tale once, but it was a rather vivid and elaborate account. I don’t doubt Ty saw someone naked. Maybe there were painful consequences. He must have been at least a teen.

The best version, the one I’ve heard most often, is the story about sexual gratification. Because of his background, Ty is in the unique position to state whether the pleasure potential is greater for women or for men. According to him, when he tendered his conclusion for women, the women were not pleased. They had been maintaining that men had more fun. Their displeasure resulted in his loss of sight. He calls the disputants gods. I wonder if, really, they were doctors.

(to be concluded tomorrow)