Friday, June 17, 2005
The first part of a short story I'm working on. Obviously not quite finished, but I'm looking for feedback so help me out. Thanks
[What's your experience with children who are developmentally delayed?]
You mean like retards?
Sure I known some. There were the two Meehan boys who live on Main St. Damnedest thing, both o'them had autism. One o'them had it mild, made it through high school and lives on his own now, the other couldn't really fend for himself. I played some hockey with their father when he was younger, before the boys. Hard on the parents I tell ya, they devoted every waking hour to those kids
Had another autism kid when I was a Scouts leader. He'd be able to tell you what the pitch count to Tony Perez was in the '75 World Series without batting an eye. Could barely talk to any of the other kids in Cubs without throwing a fit, but could remember what pitch Perez took deep in a game he never saw. Took him up to the Cub camp one weekend for a jamboree. He dropped his toothbrush down in the outhouse and refused to use any toothbrush but that one. Screamed for an unbearably long time sos I was pretty close to going down and getting the damned thing myself. Couldn't have him not brushing his teeth for the rest of the weekend y'know? Another leader convinced him that another toothbrush was the exact same one somehow and he give up on the one trapped at the bottom of the shitter.
[I mean more along the lines of knowing them in a working environment...]
There were some disabled kids down at the school I worked at in the mid 80's. I ain't known none of them very well, but I known them. I'd be making jokes with them, talking to them, things like that.
Ever see that show the one with the MacKenzie Brothers? They used to call people 'hosers'.
[SCTV?]
Yeah that's the one. One of'em, John, used to get a big kick out of those two brothers, Bob and Doug. He'd call me 'Hoser' every time he saw me. My kids just thought that was the funniest thing, they were right into it. We'd be drivin down to my mother's place and the kids'd squeal when they saw him, 'There's the man who calls you a hoser!'
[So you saw him outside work at the school a lot?]
We'd always see him walkin and listenin to his head phones. They'd either be in his ears or around his neck, but always on. He'd have a grocery bag full of cassette tapes draped over his arm. He was physically a man y'know? Tall, tall guy. I don't what happenin to him or what he had, but it didn't really affect him physically, just up top. He'd walk on the balls of his feet and it would give him this spring to his step. He'd been smiling and bobbing up and down on account of the way he walked. And he just looked so happy about things, like nothing in the world was wrong.
[After you stopped working there, did you see still see him around?]
I got a new job, I was lucky, I had seniority so I didn't get laid off outright. I was still in the system so I just applied for another opening. Some of those kids in those classes couldn't find a damn place to take them, some of them ended up in their parents' care, a lot of them were left to their own devices. John, he found new places to hang out.
He split his time between the rink and the malls depending on whether or not he had bus fare. You know he helped out at some places, but I don't remember him ever getting paid. The centre for adult training made sure he had some money in his pocket and his parents and sister made sure he was looked after, but it wasn't like he had all kinds of money to be headin out to the mall whenever the mood struck him to.
The rink was a far better place for him than the mall. There were some older guys working there what knew him from the school and what not. They'd look after him, give him a bit of a hard time sometimes, but you could tell it was because they liked him,not because they were pri...uh...jerks. It don't matter none, he always gave as good as he got. They'd make jokes with him, give him odd jobs to do, that sort of stuff. He wasn't a nuisance or nothin', the rink wasn't a hive of activity these days. He never got in noone's way, no way was he a nuisance.
[And at the mall was it a different scenario?]
No one could really look after him at the mall, too busy, too many arseholes that couldn't look after their own damn selves.
John was trusting b'ye and he wouldn't hurt nobody. I mean he could get agitated up and worked up, but it wasn’t the same as trying to hurt someone. Sometimes he just couldn't make sense of what was going, he'd get frustrated and act on it.
He was getting on in years and he was starting to get grey around the temples, but sometimes, sometimes he'd reason like a kid. It wasn't a big deal, just some people couldn't figure him. Here's a full grown man actin' like a kid and I think that just made things worse. I've seen it turn into a regular shit show.
[A shit show...? How do you mean?]
Well he got banned from the Zellers downtown. He had extra batteries in his grocery bag in case the ones in his walkman had run out, he didn't want to have to do without. He was in Zellers one time, the last time, and he changed them batteries in the store. Security got suspicious because they see this guy just taking batteries right out of their package right in the open. Jaysus, you'd think they'd have something better to do, arseholes.
They start in on him, demandin' to see receipt and they're making quite a scene at the entrance to the store. One of them must have grabbed John's arm as they tried to escort him to the manager's office and that spooked him. People are worried about him acting out, but look which arseholes are screaming bloody murder. Didn't they know that John could walk under his own power? Anyways he pushes one of 'em away and runs off. They eventually figured he didn't steal none of them friggin' batteries, but they banned him from the store just the same on account of the pushing.
[What happened to him after this incident?]
John didn't go to the downtown mall much after that so he'd ride the bus or walk to the other mall. Transit system here is terrible at the best of times, so he was walking a lot more than he figured to be. The mall's set aways from everything, they had hoped that the rest of the city would grow out to reach it, but it's been close to 15 years and it still hasn't happened. That's the way it goes.
[What is John doing now? Do you still see him around?]
No.
Y'know at first sight it didn't seem like no circus or at least not much of one. Maybe it did to him. A lot of people will correct you if you call it a circus. They'll get all bent out of shape sayin' 'There's no elephants and no clowns, that's not a circus.' I disagree. The morning they found John's body floating in the lake 100 metres away from it, circus was the perfect word for it.
[What's your experience with children who are developmentally delayed?]
You mean like retards?
Sure I known some. There were the two Meehan boys who live on Main St. Damnedest thing, both o'them had autism. One o'them had it mild, made it through high school and lives on his own now, the other couldn't really fend for himself. I played some hockey with their father when he was younger, before the boys. Hard on the parents I tell ya, they devoted every waking hour to those kids
Had another autism kid when I was a Scouts leader. He'd be able to tell you what the pitch count to Tony Perez was in the '75 World Series without batting an eye. Could barely talk to any of the other kids in Cubs without throwing a fit, but could remember what pitch Perez took deep in a game he never saw. Took him up to the Cub camp one weekend for a jamboree. He dropped his toothbrush down in the outhouse and refused to use any toothbrush but that one. Screamed for an unbearably long time sos I was pretty close to going down and getting the damned thing myself. Couldn't have him not brushing his teeth for the rest of the weekend y'know? Another leader convinced him that another toothbrush was the exact same one somehow and he give up on the one trapped at the bottom of the shitter.
[I mean more along the lines of knowing them in a working environment...]
There were some disabled kids down at the school I worked at in the mid 80's. I ain't known none of them very well, but I known them. I'd be making jokes with them, talking to them, things like that.
Ever see that show the one with the MacKenzie Brothers? They used to call people 'hosers'.
[SCTV?]
Yeah that's the one. One of'em, John, used to get a big kick out of those two brothers, Bob and Doug. He'd call me 'Hoser' every time he saw me. My kids just thought that was the funniest thing, they were right into it. We'd be drivin down to my mother's place and the kids'd squeal when they saw him, 'There's the man who calls you a hoser!'
[So you saw him outside work at the school a lot?]
We'd always see him walkin and listenin to his head phones. They'd either be in his ears or around his neck, but always on. He'd have a grocery bag full of cassette tapes draped over his arm. He was physically a man y'know? Tall, tall guy. I don't what happenin to him or what he had, but it didn't really affect him physically, just up top. He'd walk on the balls of his feet and it would give him this spring to his step. He'd been smiling and bobbing up and down on account of the way he walked. And he just looked so happy about things, like nothing in the world was wrong.
[After you stopped working there, did you see still see him around?]
I got a new job, I was lucky, I had seniority so I didn't get laid off outright. I was still in the system so I just applied for another opening. Some of those kids in those classes couldn't find a damn place to take them, some of them ended up in their parents' care, a lot of them were left to their own devices. John, he found new places to hang out.
He split his time between the rink and the malls depending on whether or not he had bus fare. You know he helped out at some places, but I don't remember him ever getting paid. The centre for adult training made sure he had some money in his pocket and his parents and sister made sure he was looked after, but it wasn't like he had all kinds of money to be headin out to the mall whenever the mood struck him to.
The rink was a far better place for him than the mall. There were some older guys working there what knew him from the school and what not. They'd look after him, give him a bit of a hard time sometimes, but you could tell it was because they liked him,not because they were pri...uh...jerks. It don't matter none, he always gave as good as he got. They'd make jokes with him, give him odd jobs to do, that sort of stuff. He wasn't a nuisance or nothin', the rink wasn't a hive of activity these days. He never got in noone's way, no way was he a nuisance.
[And at the mall was it a different scenario?]
No one could really look after him at the mall, too busy, too many arseholes that couldn't look after their own damn selves.
John was trusting b'ye and he wouldn't hurt nobody. I mean he could get agitated up and worked up, but it wasn’t the same as trying to hurt someone. Sometimes he just couldn't make sense of what was going, he'd get frustrated and act on it.
He was getting on in years and he was starting to get grey around the temples, but sometimes, sometimes he'd reason like a kid. It wasn't a big deal, just some people couldn't figure him. Here's a full grown man actin' like a kid and I think that just made things worse. I've seen it turn into a regular shit show.
[A shit show...? How do you mean?]
Well he got banned from the Zellers downtown. He had extra batteries in his grocery bag in case the ones in his walkman had run out, he didn't want to have to do without. He was in Zellers one time, the last time, and he changed them batteries in the store. Security got suspicious because they see this guy just taking batteries right out of their package right in the open. Jaysus, you'd think they'd have something better to do, arseholes.
They start in on him, demandin' to see receipt and they're making quite a scene at the entrance to the store. One of them must have grabbed John's arm as they tried to escort him to the manager's office and that spooked him. People are worried about him acting out, but look which arseholes are screaming bloody murder. Didn't they know that John could walk under his own power? Anyways he pushes one of 'em away and runs off. They eventually figured he didn't steal none of them friggin' batteries, but they banned him from the store just the same on account of the pushing.
[What happened to him after this incident?]
John didn't go to the downtown mall much after that so he'd ride the bus or walk to the other mall. Transit system here is terrible at the best of times, so he was walking a lot more than he figured to be. The mall's set aways from everything, they had hoped that the rest of the city would grow out to reach it, but it's been close to 15 years and it still hasn't happened. That's the way it goes.
[What is John doing now? Do you still see him around?]
No.
Y'know at first sight it didn't seem like no circus or at least not much of one. Maybe it did to him. A lot of people will correct you if you call it a circus. They'll get all bent out of shape sayin' 'There's no elephants and no clowns, that's not a circus.' I disagree. The morning they found John's body floating in the lake 100 metres away from it, circus was the perfect word for it.
