An Awkward Autisman Adventure
by Frank L. Ludwig
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‘What is it?’ her mother asked, sat beside her and, when she realised Minnie didn’t want to hug, gently stroked her hair.
‘Miss Greer made fun of me again,’ the girl sobbed. ‘She said that my Elsa doll belongs in the crèche and not in the classroom, and everybody laughed at me.’
‘Don’t you think she has a point?’ her mother asked her. ‘You’re a big girl now, and having a doll sit on your school desk makes you look like you’re still a toddler.’
‘But she helps me focus! I need her to concentrate.’
Ted got up and went to his room.
‘What’s the matter with Gramps?’ Minnie asked.
‘He’s getting older now, I guess he needs a bit more rest than we do.’
In his room Ted unzipped his fleece and proclaimed, ‘This is a job for Autisman!’
He knew Rose Greer from the time they were children, but he never told the others because the fact wasn’t relevant. And whenever he had passed his grandchildren’s school after it closed, he saw her sitting in the coffee shop on the other side of the street where she’d have dinner. She, however, never recognised him; after all, he had been out of town for over 30 years.
When Peter returned from school, Ted put on his coat, told the others he was going for a walk and went to the coffee shop where he ordered a muffin and a coffee.
A while later Rose entered, and he looked over once or twice, pretending to be unsure about her identity. Eventually he walked up to her table and asked, ‘Rose? Rose Greer?’
‘Yes,’ she answered with a questioning look. ‘And who are you?’
‘Ted. Ted Stevens.’
She still didn’t remember.
‘In school I used to sit in front of you.’
‘Oh, the weirdo.’
She didn’t offer him to sit at her table, so he sat down without being asked.
‘Me? I wasn’t the one with the Prairie Dawn obsession,’ he laughed. ‘Do you remember?’
She didn’t reply, so he carried on. ‘When we all had long grown out of Sesame Street, you still hung on to it and kept using that Prairie schoolbag and wearing those Prairie T-shirts, and after each new episode you kept quoting her while everybody else had moved on to Charlie’s Angels.’
‘Well, you used to go on about the Addams Family,’ she countered.
‘That series may not have been popular with the others, but at least it was age-appropriate. I wasn’t watching children’s series in secondary school.’
Ted noticed her eyes were gaining water as she recalled how the other children had teased her. He realised he had got his point across and decided to change the subject.
‘I think I remember you wanted to become an environmental scientist. How did that go?’
‘I’m a teacher in primary school now,’ she smiled. ‘I guess things aren’t always working out the way one expects. How about you?’
He told her how he had worked for a large company abroad for over 30 years and was laid off in his fifties, like most of his colleagues, and that he hadn’t been able to find any work since.
When Minnie returned from school the following day, Ted asked her, ‘How was school today?’
‘All right,’ she answered.
‘Did anybody say anything about Elsa?’
‘One boy made a joke about her, but Miss Greer told him that we all grow out of things in our own time.’
‘Mission accomplished,’ Ted thought to himself and put the kettle on.
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