proc tts_fastForward  {{step 1}} {
    global tts
    if {[queue_empty?]} {
        puts -nonewline  $tts(write) {[:sa c] No speech to fast forward. }
        set tts(not_stopped) 1
    } else {
        queue_advance ($step)
        speech_task
    }
    return ""
}

proc tts_fastRewind  {{step 1}} {
    global tts
    if {$tts(q_head) == 0} {
        puts -nonewline  $tts(write) {[:sa c] No speech to fast rewind. }
        set tts(not_stopped) 1
    } else {
        queue_retreat ($step)
        speech_task
    }
    return ""
}

proc tts_repeat  {} {
    global tts
    queue_rewind
    if {[queue_empty?]} {
        puts -nonewline  $tts(write) {[:sa c] No speech to repeat.}
        set tts(not_stopped) 1
    } else {
        speech_task
    }
    return ""
}


proc  read_pending_p  {file_handle} {
    set status   [lsearch [select [list  $file_handle]  {} {} 0] $file_handle]
    expr $status >= 0
}