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We Are All Star StuffAlex is integrated with the “normal kids” for math, physical education, lunch, and recess. Alex’s teacher says that when any student is absent he is the first to notice and ask of his or her whereabouts, and say: “Welcome back. We missed you. Are you feeling better?” Good Can Be Evil and Evil Can Be GoodHaving an autistic child means a life of constant challenges and constant joy. There is seldom any middle ground for the parents of an autistic child. There are frequently merely soaring highs and plummeting lows. “Normal” is no longer a word the parents of an autistic child use. Pool PartyMark has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is a high-functioning form of autism. The symptoms include insistence on sameness and poor motor coordination. Without a written schedule, Mark would have an emotional meltdown every time his teacher moved on to another subject. The Gold MedalIn high school Chase went out for the track team. They were glad because a boy like him could feel cut off from everyone else. Chase was born with autism and retardation, and sometimes it seemed like he understood that he had disabilities and sometimes it seemed that he didn’t. Playing at LifeA child stops near him, out of breath, and Alex starts in. “What kind of gaming system do you have?” The boy glances over at him, shrugs. Xbox? No. Playstation 2? No. Gameboy? “Yes. Yes, I have a Gameboy.” They’ve found a connection. For a few brief moments – he has a friend. The Wedding DressShe never wanted a wedding dress. Not in any traditional sense. But here it is, peeking out from behind the backs of her soon-to-be mother- and sister-in-law like a child who can’t wait to be found in a game of hide and seek. Lacy. Off the shoulder. White. Wedding dress. Love Wrote this LetterThat weekend she got to know her husband’s boys. Bright-eyed and sweet to the core, sometimes their shoulders looked heavy, like a burden too big to carry had been heaved upon them. She wondered if it was her. On Christmas Eve, she found out it wasn’t. Stupid WomenOn a cold winter day, Lena left her husband. They had been married for nearly 20 years. She didn’t take much, just one suitcase full of as many clothes as she could jam into it. She did it while he was at work. She told no one. ClosureShe arrived at the Gare d’Austerlitz for what was going to be her last visit to Paris. Her mission: to find Ali Barghouti. It was one of those days when Paris seems to shine, to live more intensely. One could almost believe that death did not exist. The Man Nazreen MarriedOnly six months ago she was clutching a photograph of the man her parents had chosen for her. A photo that showed plump cheeks, dark greasy hair, pale skin, and long eyes framed by square glasses. Now, here she was, coy and struggling to tell the tale of losing her virginity.  |
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