Comforting Love - 2. Chapter 2

2

Arriving the following morning, I began a day which was to be dynamic and unforgettable. I was greeted by a beautiful, middle-aged lady. I guessed her to be Mrs. Grimaldi, Luke’s mother, which was confirmed with formal introductions. I was uneasy because she kept thanking me for tutoring her son while we walked towards Luke’s room. I was nervous, but excited too.

Mrs. Grimaldi, preferred to be called Lily as she was separated from her husband. She offered no explanations about that, and it wasn’t any of my business, so I didn’t ask, but it caught in my mind, for some reason.

As we arrived at Luke’s door she stopped suddenly, turned to me, and took a deep breath. “Before we enter, I want you to understand this could be hard. Luke hates change, so he doesn’t easily allow new people in his life. So, please be prepared for his behavior to be difficult when you might want to leave. Alright?”

I simply nodded. I had taken some time the day before, to find out more about autistic children, so I was aware of this fact. It felt personal to me now to help the boy named Luke. I’d also learnt that patience is key in helping an autistic child.

“Any questions?,” Lily asked.

“Just one … Does Luke understand English?”

The question had been bugging me since the Italian incident the day before. I couldn’t bring myself to raise the question with Lucinda. But I had to know. After all, communication and explanation would be difficult enough if he couldn’t speak English. Add in autism and it would be next to impossible, for me.

Lily looked at me, perplexed for a moment. Her questioning stare made me redden in embarrassment. I shouldn’t have asked, and now I felt like a fool. Then she clicked and broke into a laugh as she understood my meaning.

She patted my shoulders and me inside the room as her laughter subsided. The room still amazed me, just like Luke’s handsome face as he sat cross-legged on the bed watching a TV across the room. His hands played with the remote numbly while he was glued to the screen watching a Simpsons episode.

I took a second to watch too, a mindless chuckle escaping when some crazy Homer humor rib-tickled me. Lily looked at me over her shoulder and smiled. She called Luke’s name so lovingly I suddenly felt the miss of my own mother in my life. She died when I was three, so a mother’s love is pretty unknown to me, but I do miss her.

I shook the personal problems from my head and focused on Luke and Lily. She was sitting beside him, now, gently rubbing his back gently, while he remained fixated on the screen.

“Honey? Look, who’s here!” she said. I observed them both carefully. When Luke didn’t respond, Lily took the remote from his hands and turned off the TV. Luke retrieved the stolen remote, and turned it on again. “Luke!” Lily said, firmly, but gently. “Don’t you see you have company? As she finished, the firmness morphed back to simple love. I developing a respect for this woman.

“Ciao. Mi chiamo Luciano. Piacere di conoscerla. Come si chiama?” Luke said. It was uttered almost robotically, and he made no effort to look in my direction. I recognised his greeting as identical to his only words to me at our first meeting. What I had read in my research was that repetition and restricted response was characteristic of autism.

Lily smiled in the small pause that arose, then provided a translation. “Hello. My name is Luciano. Pleased to meet you. What’s your name?”

I smiled back to reassure her, though it was lost on Luke who was still immersed in his television world. “Oh! Hey Luciano … um … Luke. My name’s Noah.”

Lily fondly ran her hand through her son’s hair and looked at me. “Back in Malta – where we lived with my ex-husband –his father taught him to greet people that way. It’s his preferred greeting, which he repeats exactly every time he meets someone new.”

She turned back to him and began to affectionately explain why I was there, telling him I was going to take his lessons from then on. But Luke sprang one of his surprises.

“No need.”

Lily gave me an assuring look to say ‘she’d handle it’. She explained that schooling was important for life, and for him to be able to do things for himself. “You want to become successful like your grandmother, don’t you?” I watched them intently, listening.

“I want to become … like grandmother,” he said, in a voice free of intonation, and unwaveringly continued his screen gaze.

“So you’ll let Noah tutor you?”

“No.” Luke was in inflexible mode.

“Luke …” Lily started but I raised a hand to break in. She sighed and got up to leave, saying she’d bring something for of us to eat, but assured me before leaving she’d be just outside if I needed her. I watched her go after she patted my back encouragingly, for luck.

I believed I needed it! Cautiously, I sat beside Luke aware of the tension in his downcast eyes, uncomfortably monitoring my presence. Trying to get eye-contact, I lowered my head.

“Hey Luke! You remember me?”

“Yes. …. Noah.” he said, and I smiled at him. Although it appeared he wasn’t paying attention when I had introduced myself, Luke was actually high functioning, and he had recognised and stored my name.

I whispered back. “Yeah”.

But that wasn’t the problem. I had to get myself inside Luke’s world. I had witnessed how hard it was even for his mother, who he had known his whole life. What need did he have for another transient teacher? He seemed perfectly content with what he had – mother, grandmother, and a huge house to himself. What more could he want? The question sparked an idea which I hoped just might work.

“Do you know why I am here, Luke?” I asked.

“To take my lessons.”

“Well, kind of. I am really here to help, Luke; to help with your lessons. That’s what friends do for each other. So will you let me help you? Will you be my friend?” I waited for a reaction.

Luke’s eyes suddenly rose, though they didn’t meet mine. But, I could see them and their distinct sparkle was unmissable.

“Friends,” he parroted, as if amazed by the sound of the word, but his voice was faltering. The tension grew and I dreaded the rejection I feared was coming.

I felt pathetic. Luke was really getting to me. In just two stilted meetings I was starting to feel a draw and an obligation, as if the meaning of my life hung upon what I suddenly craved. Luke’s acceptance.

Then I saw Luke’s lips moving. An action which seemed to slow the world down and make time creep at a snail’s pace. I didn’t realize till then.

It wasn’t until his mouth began to move that I realized I was staring at his full lips, and he let a simple answer escape from it.

Yes!

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