JOSHUA

by Rochelle Mitchell

After a relaxing shower, Ruby dressed and looked for her glasses. She left them on the night stand every night, but this morning they were missing. She usually took her shower at night after Joshua went to bed. However, since he didn't get to sleep until 11 o'clock, she figured her shower could wait until morning.

Pushing the hair out of her eyes, Ruby looked through Joshua's stuff which wasn't easy without her glasses. His toys were spread all over the room, even though he had two over-filled toy boxes. She opened the old wooden toy box to search inside and dig through the chewed and half-broken toys. Some of the toys had been in there since she was a child. No luck, her glasses weren't in there. She also scanned his cardboard toy box without success.

Finally, she asked, "Joshua, where are my glasses?" Although he seemed completely non-verbal, maybe this time she could get him to understand.

"Joshua, where are my glasses?" she asked again, trying to be patient.

He went into his room and came out with her shoes. This was getting nowhere. He was nearly three, but he didn't say a word. He wouldn't even say "Mama". There were times Ruby thought he understood her, but other times she wasn't sure. Nevertheless, she thanked him and put on her shoes.

At breakfast time, Joshua climbed into his high chair while his mother took the cereal box off the counter. He had cereal almost every morning. After he had milk, a spoon and his favorite cereal, she returned to checking his room. She looked under the bed, in the closet, and behind the dressers, still no luck.

She searched under her bed and between the blankets. Occasionally, Ruby stuck her glasses under a pillow to keep her son from taking them. They weren't there, either. As she was searching the night stand for a second time, he joined her in the bedroom. They played a couple games of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

He laughed as his mother moved his hands to the different body parts in time with the song. After the song was over, she said, "Nose, nose," while touching his nose. If he would only learn to point to his body parts. It would be a start.

Showing him how to play with his toys, she pushed a red and blue truck across the kitchen floor. He took the truck and flipped it over to examine its spinning wheels. Even though he seem to be enthralled by the motion as he slapped the wheels with his hand, Ruby said,"No," placing the truck back on the floor. Then she proceeded to place his hand on the truck to help him play with it like a normal child.

His speech therapist wanted Ruby to show him how to play with his toys. He would take a block and examine all six sides. The therapist wanted Ruby to teach him how to build with blocks and push busses and trucks. She enjoyed playing with her son, but, sometimes, she felt as all she ever did was try to teach him. She also wanted to enjoy Joshua being Joshua.

Ruby didn't see any real progress with his speech therapy. He still didn't talk, even though he would make an occasional neologism or two buried in tons of meaningless babble. She said that he was making progress. Where? He sat longer during their sessions. Some progress. There he may have sat; here he ran up and down the apartment. This particular day, he hid his mother's glasses while she was in the bathroom. On another day, he dumped her plant onto the sofa while she was washing dishes.

There was still some dirt under the cushions. Even the best mother can't keep her eyes on her child every second.

After lunch, Ruby's boyfriend, Bryan, came over to watch television. They checked the kitchen for her glasses. Sitting down to watch the game, Ruby said, "On Monday, I will have to go to the eye doctor."

"Have you checked your handbag?"

"A couple times."

"Check again."

She dumped the contents of her purse onto the floor and threw the scrap paper into the trash can. Garbage really collects in her purse. "I hate traveling to my eye doctor. I'm not suppose to drive without my glasses, and I already have two tickets."

"Drive carefully."

"You drive me."

"I have work." Since Bryan wasn't going to drive her, she would have to make the trip herself.

No sooner did they turn on the Phillies game did Joshua start screaming. He stood in front of them, screaming as shrilly as possible, and started hitting his mother's legs. Trying to remain calm, she said, "Talk. Joshua, talk to Mommy."

The screaming continued, causing her to miss Randy Ready's triple play; the first triple play ever in Veteran's Stadium, and the first one for the Phillies since 1956. When Joshua's screaming stopped, Bryan lifted him into his arms. "How would you like some beer and pizza?'

"Pizza, yes," replied his mother. "Beer, no."

Bryan didn't get pizza. He had to leave for work, forcing Ruby to make dinner. Bryan never stayed too long. Ruby couldn't find a baby-sitter, and he considered Joshua the Child from Hell. Who else would scream during a triple play?

After Joshua went to sleep, she asked her neighbor, an elderly woman, for advice. She suggested, "Look behind your television."

"I will," said Ruby, although she had already looked there.

"Don't leave your glasses where the baby can get them," she told Ruby. "Put them in your dresser drawer. That way the baby won't see them."

After thanking her, Ruby looked behind the television. Then she went into the baby's room to recheck the cardboard box in the closet. Opening his bedroom door must have woken him because Joshua greeted his mother with a hug.

She set him up on his bed and grabbed a book from the floor. "Joshua, would you like Mommy to read the ABC's?"

When he leaped off the bed and headed to the closet, she thought his answer was no, but he reached way down into the cardboard box until his head and arms were completely in the box. She watched him carefully, hoping he didn't fall inside. Joshua slowly placed his feet back on the floor as he climbed out of the box.

Her glasses were in his hand. He handed them to her, so his mother could read him the story. Joshua did understand. He knew Ruby couldn't read his favorite alphabet book without her glasses.

After tucking Joshua under the covers, she read, "'A' was once an apple pie." He stayed in bed for the whole story. She kissed him good night and left the room. From now on, her glasses were staying in a dresser drawer. A few months later, she learned Joshua's disorder had a name, Autism.

-- -Rochelle Mitchell

rochelle@mitchellware.com

URL http://www. mitchellware.com/mitchell/home/rochelle