Demon

Laura

Driving home from work, I wonder if they’ve had lunch yet. Probably not, it isn’t that late. If they haven’t, I think I’ll make us all some sandwiches.

I’m almost past them when I see them walking along the sidewalk together. I’m totally surprised, and manage to quickly stop and pull over to the curb.

What on Earth?

They hurry over to the car, and Mike opens the front door and leans his head into the passenger side. “Mind picking up a couple of hitchhikers?” he asks me, with a big grin on his face. I look behind him and see Timothy wearing a matching grin.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I got home, but it sure wasn’t this!

“Sure, get in!”

I wait for them to get buckled before I pull away from the curb. They both seem energetic and happy, so I know nothing is wrong, but I still am baffled about what they are doing out here.

“Sooo…..” I start to ask.

“Timothy wanted to go to the park,” Mike tells me. “We’ve been there all morning.”

Really?

“Really?”

Timothy is the one who wanted to go? I can’t believe that’s true, but sure enough he pipes up with, “Yeah! I asked Dad to teach me how to climb the jungle gym, and I’m totally able to do it now!”

“Well, that’s awesome, sweetie!” I smile sideways at Mike. I’m not sure I remember him ever having an outing like this with Timothy before.

I’m very touched by this. I love them both so much, but it has always been like I have one on either side of me, having to love them separately, but never together. Today they are together, for the first time. Emotion wells up in me and I have to brush my tears away with the back of my hand, or I won’t be able to see the road while I finish driving home.

Mike is looking at me, and I think he’s surprised by how much this clearly means to me. The realization is dawning in his face, but he doesn’t say anything. I think he’s trying to process it himself.

When we open the door to the house, the phone is ringing. I run straight over there to grab it. “Hello?”

“Hi, it’s Ron.” Oh!

“Ron! How are you? Are you all home?” Timothy looks at me eagerly when he hears me ask the question. I know how much he’s been missing Natalie.

“Not yet, our plane just landed, and we still have to go through baggage claim after we get off.” Timothy comes closer to me so he can lean in and hear what Ron is saying. “Listen, the kids are wondering if we can swing by to say hi on the way home? Natalie is apparently dying to catch up with Timothy.”

“Yes!” Timothy blurts out.

I hear Ron laughing. “So it’s okay if we stop by in a while?”

“Of course, it would be lovely to see you all! Have you had lunch yet?”

“Not yet, we haven’t thought that far ahead.”

“Well, just head straight here,” I tell him. “I’m about to make some sandwiches, so we can all eat together.”

“Perfect,” he replies. “I figure it’ll take about an hour to do everything and get over there.”

“Okay, see you soon.” I hang up and the expression on Timothy’s face is priceless. He looks like this visit is the one thing he has been hoping for, like it holds the key to life itself.

I laugh and give him a hug. “There you go, kid, you get to see your friend. Why don’t you go wash up while I’m making lunch.”

He runs up the stairs, and Mike comes over to take his place in the hugging zone. He lifts my purse off my shoulder, sets it down, and wraps his arms around me. So gently. I’m startled by a new wave of emotion that engulfs me.

He leans back to look down at me when he feels me give a little sob. He looks dismayed to see me fighting back tears. “What’s wrong?” he says, alarmed.

“Nothing. Everything is perfect. I’m just really happy about you and Timothy having a nice time together.”

He enfolds me in his arms again, wrapping one hand around my head and holding me to his shoulder. I take in a deep breath to calm myself, and we stand together in silence for a couple of minutes. Mmmmm. This feels so nice.

I lift my head and look up at him. I don’t know what has brought on all of this tenderness, but it’s wonderful. It’s been a really long time since we were this way with each other. He leans down and kisses me softly, before we finally move apart, reluctantly, but I have things to do.

“So tell me about the park,” I tell him, moving into the kitchen to wash my hands and start getting lunch put together. “What on earth brought that on?”

“I don’t know. It’s been a strange morning. Timothy woke me up to make him breakfast, then out of the blue he asked to take a walk to the park. I was feeling a little off, so I thought being outside for a while sounded good. When we got over there, he asked me to help him climb the jungle gym. I guess he’s never understood how to do it before, and it’s been bothering him this whole time since his friends fell off of one and got hurt.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. We ended up really enjoying ourselves. He had such a hard time with it at first. He’s not very coordinated, you know.” I chuckle and nod. I know. He goes on, “But he was determined, and he tried over and over again until he finally felt comfortable going up and down on his own. It made us both feel really good to tackle it together.”

He is quiet for a moment. “I’d kind of given up on being able to do stuff together with him. He and I are very … different. This was sort of the first time that I really felt like I was doing a decent job as a father.”

I’m listening with amazement, as I get out a whole bunch of bread and sandwich meat and stuff. “I’m really glad, honey.”

For the first time since Timothy’s autism diagnosis a year ago, I am starting to feel hope that maybe Michael and he can manage to have a good relationship. They’d always had problems relating to each other, and the whole special ed thing had kind of made Mike give up on even trying. It’s like he had no idea how to approach Timothy after that. But now, maybe things can change. Timothy has grown a lot, I think that helps. And Michael has struggles of his own. Maybe they can help each other.

Brenda

Natalie goes tearing down the walk the second we get out of the car, and Gabe follows on her heels. Ron and I look at each other and laugh, and follow along behind at a more dignified pace, holding hands.

By the time we walk up to Laura’s house, the kids have vanished upstairs with Timothy. Of course.

Laura meets us at the door, her hands clasped together in delight. “Here they are!” she says.

Michael, much to my surprise, starts humming the wedding march as we enter the house. “Dum, dum-duh-duh!” he sings. Ha! He’s not usually such a comedian.

Ron grins while we enter. “Thanks for having this old married couple over,” he jokes.

“Congratulations,” Laura says, beaming. “I want to hear everything!”

I see that she has the meal ready on the table, but the kids are upstairs and nobody seems to be in a hurry to eat, so we sit down for a nice chat before lunch.

I look over to Ron, and nod to indicate that he should start telling the tale. I want to hear it from his perspective. He holds my hand and begins. “Well, Brenda’s mom started the festivities by kicking me out of her house!” I laugh, eager to hear how he tells it all.