Graeme

Football was his life. The demise of the Leopards was something he didn’t want to face, so he did the only thing he could think of. He had hesitated before he sent the text message to Tony, but he could see no other option. He had been hiding in the closet so he could continue to play football. Staying in the closet wasn’t helping the club, but maybe coming out would. He knew he was going to cause problems and that some people might react badly, but he was hoping that Tony would be able to use

Thank you!

Another great chapter, though I'm sad that the story has come to a close. It's a good place to end it, though, and I can't in honesty ask for it to continue. Keith's terror at the subway felt so real, and then when he went back by himself to deliver the cake...brilliant! Using the umbrella to protect the cake, and then facing up to the mugger; Keith showed that he's capable of overcoming problems if you give him the chance. He may not always succeed the first time, but if he's given the chance to think about it, he can do it. That's the problem sometimes -- they're not given a chance to prepare for something. The unexpected can be a challenge for autistic kids and you never know how they'll react. Overall, thank you. It's a great story and extremely well told. The best explanation I've heard for autism is that their brain is wired differently. Not wrongly, just differently. You've shown that throughout this story and I'm very impressed. It's not easy to put yourself into another way of thinking, but you've succeeded. Well done!

A short chapter, but still touching. I know that Keith told Samuel that he's a little jealous of Beth, but reading that section again, I don't see it. I believe he's saying it because he thinks he's supposed to be jealous, but jealousy is something he still doesn't really understand.

One of the things that I love with this story is how Keith is so true-to-life. He knows about the social convention about jealousy, but you can't help reading his plans for him, Samuel and Beth to live together without realising he doesn't know what jealousy is. The story of him with the pups is also excellent. Animals are often used with autistic kids because they're easier for them to understand and can be a stable port of call when they're on the edge of distress. They can also help with learning social skills, because animals will react to behaviour more consistently than humans.

Keith grew up a lot this chapter. Breaking a rule, deliberately and with fore-thought, was a big step for him. His confusion as to when he's supposed to be jealous was also well done. He knows it's a social rule that he's supposed to be jealous in some situations, but he's not sure when. My little treasure from this chapter was Keith's photographing his brother to help him remember, and his collection of keepsakes. He knew what he needed and he had no thoughts for how weird it would appear to someone else.

While the chapter title is very appropriate, I think "Four!" would've been better. I could feel Keith's excitement when he realised he could read another expression. For him, that was a big deal. My little gem from this chapter was when Keith suggested using the brandy for lube...

Another fantastic chapter. I was so proud of Keith when he decided to catch the bus by himself. Everything didn't go to plan, but I felt for him every step of the way. I loved his matter-of-fact comments to the policeman when he explained his actions -- they all made perfect sense to Keith.

"It's rude to point at people" and "You're blocking the stars." Two wonderful little gems that are so realistic. It's the little touches like those that bring the story to life for me. I can see both of those being said by someone with autism in the context in which they're presented. Thank you

Keith's two cards to his mother are beautiful. I especially loved how the first one started as being 73 pages.... Samuel's confession that he's not as brave as Keith was touching. It's part of having a better understanding of consequences than Keith has. He knows he'll need money long term -- Keith doesn't really understand that yet. Finally, I know it was a sad part of the story, but I couldn't help smile at Keith's outrage that the surgery didn't take exactly 12 hours to complete. Exactness is one of the hallmarks of autism -- they like things to be precise.

I'm annoyed that I only had a "like" button to click and not a "love" button. This is one of my favourite chapters in the story. The opening scene, with it's regimented regime and matter-of-fact discussion of what skills are needed in case of a zombie apocalypse; teaching Samuel why he stares at faces, and how Keith's parents got mad because he wanted to scan their favourite clothes; how he generally edits his journal entry twelve times before saving; trying to explain in mathematical terms why he can't be more normal; his list of things to achieve that summer, especially the crossed out number 12; his interpretation of Samuel's behaviour based on his clothing; and finally to the angry email because the cookery book instructions weren't clear enough. Just wonderful. Absolutely wonderful

Keith's re-interpretation of rule 645:21:3 is wonderful. Originally he didn't know if it applied to acts and/or desires, so he assumed it was both. He learnt during the chapter that it only applied to acts. Samuel is a wonderful character. Very tolerant and, to the limits of his abilities, very understanding. I can see him from Keith's perspective, as well as from the perspective of a neurotypical (ie. someone wihout an autism spectrum disorder). He's not perfect, but he's very loving and very human. Well done!

Just wanted to say that I really felt Keith's autism in this chapter. His actions and thoughts are so realistic. I also loved how Samuel knew how to get to Keith even when Keith was having a meltdown. Distraction is a common technique in that situation, and Samuel's maths problems were an excellent example. Samuel's hunt for what was upsetting Keith was also quite real. I remember being told that when dealing with autistic kids, adults often have to be detectives to work out what is wrong because the kid themselves can't always explain it. In this case Keith could -- he was just refusing to do so. However, Samuel didn't know that, so he went searching, and eventually found his answer.

I have to disagree with knotme. People with autism can be extremely affectionate because they don't know the social rules for constraining that affection. Unless he's had a lot of social education, the idea of an autistic boy showing affection to his big brother, especially a big brother that he's been close to and hasn't seen for a long time, is perfectly natural to me. On the writing style, I like the mixture of italics and traditional dialogue, because it helps highlight that the way Keith thinks and views the world is different to most people (the neurotypicals). He's the narrator and he's writing this his way, which isn't the tradtional way. If someone had told him when he was younger that the rules for writing were X and Y, it would've been different, but it's clear to me that his parents and brother have tried to keep to a minimum the rules they've imposed. Oh, and I loved the quest and conclusion. A very novel and interesting way to do home schooling

This is a great story for teaching people about autism, as well as being a great story in its own right. Keith's reactions to other people are very realistic: he's comfortable and outgoing with his brother, but he can't understand strangers and easily misinterprets their intentions.

A very realistic autistic point of view, from what I know. What interests them isn't always what we would expect. In Keith's case it was light, colours and movement -- people weren't interesting until his brother got his attention.

There's a saying: If you know one kid with autism, you know one kid with autism. What it means is that they're all different. Keith reminds me a lot of the narrator from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. There's a lot of similarities, but also a lot of differences. He's also very different from various people I know on the autism spectrum, but, as I said, they're all different One thing that comes over very solidly in this prologue is the autistic understanding of rules, as well as the very typical approach of going through life using a set of rules to follow, because social interactions don't make sense and you need the rules to know what to do. Well done!

Thank you I believe you're right. Each person must work out for themselves what's important. It's okay for them to take guidance from others, but ultimately they are the ones who make the decision on what to do -- it shouldn't be imposed on them by others.

Thank you I don't know what else to say....

Thank you! A number of my early short stories (such as this one) dealt with how others coped with someone coming out. Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's not -- just like coming out itself can sometimes be easy and sometimes it's not. The father in this story was trying his best, but he wasn't ready....

Thank you! I had a version of this story entered into a writing competition here in Melbourne back in 2005, but it didn't make the short list. It was one of the first short stories I ever wrote, along with The Gift and Dear God.

As I sat in my study, I glanced down at the clock on my desk. Only thirty minutes to the time I’d been dreading. I should’ve expected that this time would come and planned a response, but somehow I’d managed to ignore for a year the possible consequences of my youngest son’s announcement. Had I just been naïve, or had I been purposely avoiding the issue? It took me months to understand what Will had meant when he told me that he’s gay. I had hidden from the topic of sexual orientation for a lo

A father thought he'd come to terms with having a gay son. He learns otherwise.

Thank you! That radio dialogue was based on real players talking about the upcoming games. As indicated in the story, many of the major radio stations in Melbourne have AFL players come in to give their views on the upcoming games and I based that scene on those broadcasts.

Thank you! I have, from time to time, considered a sequel, but coming up with an interesting plot with a satisfactory conclusion has always been the problem.