“An experimental treatment?That’s odd. Usually those aren’t open to commercial health plans.”
“It’s—they—it is something developed at the Cambridge center.” Lou said, his voice even more jerky and mechanical. “They own it now. My boss says his boss wants us to take it. He does not agree, but he cannot stop them.”
Tom felt a sudden desire to slam his fist into someone’s head. Lou was scared; someone was bullying him. He’s not my child, Tom reminded himself. He had no rights in this situation, but as Lou’s friend, he did have responsibilities.
“Do you know how it’s supposed to work?” he asked.
“Not yet.” Lou shook his head. “It just came out on the Web this past week; the local autism society had a meeting about it, but they didn’t know… They think it’s still years from human use. Mr. Aldrin
—my supervisor—said it could be tested now, and Mr. Crenshaw wants us to take it.”
“They can’t make you use experimental stuff, Lou; it’s against the law to force you—”
“But they could take my job—”
“Are they threatening to fire you if you don’t? They can’t do that.” He didn’t think they could. They couldn’t at the university, but the private sector was different. That different? “You need a lawyer,” he said. He tried to think of lawyers he knew. Gail might be the right lawyer for this, Tom thought. Gail had done human rights work for a long time and, more than that, had made it pay. He would think about who might help, rather than his own increasing desire to smash someone’s head in.
“No… yes… I do not know. I am worried. Mr. Aldrin said we should get help, a lawyer—”
“That’s exactly right,” Tom said. He wondered if giving Lou something else to think about would be a help or not. “Look, you know I mentioned tournaments to you—”
“I am not good enough,” Lou said quickly.
“Actually, you are. And I’m wondering if maybe fighting in a tournament would help you with this other problem—” Tom scrambled through his own thoughts, trying to clarify why he thought it might be a good idea. “If you end up needing to go to court against your employer, that’s kind of like a fencing match. The confidence you get from fencing could help.”
Lou just looked at him, almost expressionless. “I do not understand why it would help.”
“Well… maybe it wouldn’t. I just thought having some other experience, with more people than us, might.”
“When is a tournament?”
“The next one locally is a couple of weeks away,” Tom said. “Saturday. You could ride with us; Lucia and I would be around to back you up, make sure you met the nice people.”
“There are not-nice people?”
“Well, yes. There are not-nice people everywhere, and a few always manage to get into the fencing groups. But most of them are nice. You might enjoy it.” He shouldn’t push, even though he felt more and more that Lou needed more exposure to the normal world, if you could call a bunch of historical re-creation enthusiasts normal. They were normal in their everyday lives; they just liked to wear fancy costumes and pretend to kill each other with swords.
“I do not have a costume,” Lou said, looking down at his old leather jacket with the cut-off sleeves.
“We can find you something,” Tom said. Lou would probably fit into one of his costumes well enough.
He had more than he needed, more than most seventeeth -century men had owned. “Lucia could help us out.”
“I am not sure,” Lou said.
“Well, let me know next week if you want to try it. We’ll need to get your entry money in. If not, there’s another one later on.”
“I will think about it,” Lou said.
“Good. And about this other—I may know a lawyer who could help you. I’ll check with her. And what about the Center—have you talked to them?”
“No. Mr. Aldrin phoned me, but no one has said anything official and I think I should not say anything until they do.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to find out what legal rights you have ahead of time,” Tom said. “I don’t know for sure—I know the laws have changed back and forth, but nothing I do involves research with human subjects, so I’m not up on the current legal situation. You need an expert.”
“It would cost a lot,” Lou said.
“Maybe,” Tom said. “That is something else to find out. Surely the Center can get you that information.”