In His Own Words

originally shared during Autism Awareness Month

Ma found a small pile of folded-up papers hidden in the corner.  The living room is small, but comfortable.  The chocolate brown couch is low and soft.  There’s a metallic gold throw tossed on the end of the couch that has a chaise lounge.  Ian is the oldest and he likes to call the chaise lounge “his spot.”  The patio window’s blinds are usually slanted just enough to let a little bit of light in.  More warmth sneaks in than light actually.  Across from Ian’s spot is our mini-library.  The books on the shelf that is eye-level start with the ones with red covers, then orange, then yellow, green, blue, and violet.  The top shelf has all of the books with the black covers and the third shelf has all of the books with the white covers.  Mixed in are a few copper knick-knacks and a burnished-copper carousel music box that plays “Here Comes the Clowns.”  A squat and comfy caramel-colored chair sits at an angle and in front of the lower half of the bookcase.  Behind that chair, on an unclaimed section of pale beige carpet, is one of Ryan’s favorite hiding places. 

            The papers are folded, but bulky since Ryan is still learning how to line up the edges before running his finger along the fold to give the page a hard crease.  A few of the pages are just balled up loosely.  As long as it’s compact, he’ll add it to his collection of papers.

            I show him the folded-up pages in my hands and a couple of them fall to the floor because there are so many.  I shake my head and tell him, “Not yours.”

            He frowns a little.  Want… not yours.

            “Some of these are important.  Ok?”

            Be back.  He glances at the folded-up pages one more time before leaving the room.

 

            A new book!  It feels smooth.  Bright reds.  Dark blues, light blues.  Big letters.  Small numbers.  Next page.  Next page, (sniff)… Nice smell.  Next page.  Next page.  Toys!  One’s a tablet.  Tablets have games.  Ian has games.  And a phone.  Phones play videos.  I want Toy Story videos.  Daddy has a tablet at his house.  Ian plays with it.  Mommy’s laptop is for school.  It has videos too, though.  The password is all dots.  Count them.  One.  Two.  Three.  Four.

 

            Ryan gathers up his collection of papers and sits in Ian’s spot.  Ian glances with a raised eyebrow, but decides to wait Ryan out to reclaim his spot.  Ryan picks up a new Avon brochure from a stack, goes right to the middle of the brochure, and tears a page clean out of it.

            “No, Ryan!  Not yours,” Ian tells him right away.

            Want… not yours.

Peeking her head out of the kitchen and into the living room, Ma gasps.  “On no, Ryan!  That’s mommy’s new books and she needs to give those away.  No tearing pages.  Ok?  Not yours.”

            Be back.  Ryan smoothed out the creases and glanced at it before tucking his treasure away on the side of the chaise lounge.

 

            One of the times he pulled it out to look at it, Ma saw what was on the page.  It was a picture of a tablet that was made specifically for young children and it was preset with educational games, songs, and videos.  Ryan’s autism affects how he sees the world and how he processes instructions.  He doesn’t have his own tablet and only plays with others’ tablets, laptops, or phones with supervision.  Ryan was content, though, with carrying around this torn page that had just a picture of a tablet he wanted.  Everyone around him was so intent on correcting him that we nearly missed out on seeing his world and understanding his words.

Reviews

[Everett DeValle]

Sharp story telling, Zsanesce...very modern...innovative yet in a classical sense, as well...I felt flash fiction...an awesome write to stir awareness of autism. :)

[SilentDream]

Oh, I'm finding flash fiction is my comfort zone ;-)
This was an assignment for a creative writing course I was taking last year. Originally it was a few sentences in a Facebook post. It got so much feedback, I had to fill in the details!

Thanks for reading. Always! {{hugs}}

[Everett DeValle]

So cool, Zsanesce...I learned about flash fiction about 2 years ago lol. :)