Comforting Love - 4. Chapter 4

4

I had been looking forward to meeting Luke’s therapist. After this meeting I would begin my real job of tutoring Luke. Lily said this conversation would be very important because she had been working with him for the last three years and knew him better than almost anybody besides his mother and grandmother. I was eager to meet her to understand him better. Tutoring any kid isn’t easy, but Luke’s autism would mean a different set of issues, some better, some not so much.

The first thing I noticed about Mrs. Gloria Hopkinson was her kind, ever present smile. I guessed she’d have been mid-thirties, with some dark grey flecks amongst her fine, dark-blonde hair. Her voice was as sweet as her smile. She just seemed to be an amazing, lovely lady! Lily and Lucinda were kind enough to leave us to discuss Luke’s needs and how best to set about his tutoring. For instance, he had been taught quite successfully with printable worksheets. And, with their long history, Gloria had some interesting facts, some of which left me stunned.

Her face showed intense admiration as she told me, “I discovered one of Luke’s special interests was words and vocabulary. He has a passionate spark for English literature, especially.”

I had seen the truth of this first hand since the day I had met him, Luke had been avidly reading – that day it was one related vocabulary development. When I had been browsing his crammed shelves in his room, I found books with titles like “Thousand Most Important Words”, “Words for students of English” and such like. And there was no shortage of popular reading material contained in another section.

After several interest packed hours Gloria had to leave. I was growing red with embarrassment as she continually remarked how kind I was to be helping Luke, and she was sure I would be successful. I have no clue why she was so confident, that because I sure wasn’t. In fact, I was more than nervous.

Before she left she made a point of seeing Luke. I watched as Luke gave her a tight hug. She clearly had the same awesome bond with him as Lily and Lucinda. How I hoped for that closeness!

Although Gloria left late I was way too edgy to go back to dorms. I had learnt so much about Luke I felt the need to experiment with him a bit. So, I sat in his room a while, watching him read Nancy Mitford‘s ‘Love in a Cold Climate’.

“That’s a comic novel, right?”

Luke’s head rose, and he all but whispered, “Yes. Comic … novel. Love … in a … cold cli-climate.”

“Hmm… seems like you’ve almost reached the end.” I remarked, and paused for a moment. “So Luke, do you know what love means?” As soon as I said the words I got a tingly feeling inside, and had made myself a bit uncomfortable. I tried to convince myself it was just a question relating to the book he was reading. No other intentions. However, Luke remained silent and peeked at the clock.

“Dinner.”

“Huh?” He’d caught me off-guard. Did he say love means … dinner?

“Six … Six PM … Dinner time.” Luke said, crawling out of the bed.

I intercepted him. “Just a minute Luke. Dinner can wait. I want you to answer me first.” I tried to break into his eyeline.

“Remember? I am going to help you with your lessons?” But he wasn’t playing, and simply kept repeating it was dinner time. He moved past me and went downstairs.

Impossible

It was going to be impossible to tutor him like this. I was beginning to think I couldn't help him at all. I didn’t have the professional skills. But …

Need. I had a need to help Luke.

Gloria’s advice came back to me. “Be as practical as you can, and most of all, be tolerant of how he does things. It may take a long time, but losing your cool, and letting your spirits fall, won’t do any good.” I could see the wisdom of her words, so I determined to go at Luke’s pace.

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