they rested at her sides. We were standing next to one another, a few feet from the car, giving Mattie the space he needed to avoid feeling threatened.
“You need to pull him out of the car,” she demanded angrily as she stepped toward the open door.
“You need to step back,” I said as I wedged myself between her and Mattie.
“He needs to know that he doesn’t have a choice about participating in therapy.”
“But he does have a choice,” I protested.
“No he doesn’t. He’s a child.”
“He’s a child with a choice,” I corrected.
She lunged past me and began trying to peel his fingers from the door handle. Mattie became agitated and started rocking and turning his head from side to side.
“Take your hands off him…now,” I demanded.
“All you’re doing is setting low expectations for him.”
“Lady, you’ve already met my low expectations quota for the day. Remove your hands from his fingers if you’d like to keep them.”
“I can’t hold off this lesson any longer. The other parents have their children ready.”
“Don’t let us keep you.”
“I’m calling Sheriff Martin.”
“Do you need the number?”
“You’re only hurting him by allowing this. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“The only thing I know for sure is that you won’t be hurting him today. As far as knowing what I’m doing; I can assure you that I have no idea, but love covers a multitude of sins.”
She stormed off and disappeared into the indoor arena. Mattie was still rocking as I knelt down and stroked his cheek.
“How would you feel about bird therapy today, Little Man? Would you like to go to the beach and feed the birds with me?”
After a silent stand off, Mattie let go of the door handle and sat back, grabbing a hold of his seat belt strap. I closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side wondering if I needed to call Gabe myself, before the mean and nasty therapist beat me to the punch. Regardless, I had no intention of forcing Mattie to participate in horse therapy or any other kind of therapy- not on my watch. Even if Gabe asked, I wouldn’t pull him out of the car and drag him across the lot, kicking and screaming. There was something inhumane in that option.
Mattie eagerly got out of the car at the beach. I sat at the water’s edge allowing the waves to crash against my feet. I was starting to gain weight and the loose dresses I wore weren’t going to hide my belly for much longer. After thirty minutes of chasing the birds, we decided to tackle some ice cream. I was starving- a common, daily complaint for me.
The ice cream parlor was crowded. There wasn’t an available parking space in the lot. We parked at the business next door and walked over. As I opened the parlor door to allow Mattie to enter, he ran past all the people waiting in line to view the various flavors offered for the day. He pushed himself between two women and started banging on the display case. The woman’s face soured and she started to scold him. I interceded quickly but Mattie wouldn’t budge from his spot. She looked back at me as I walked up behind him.
“Your kid could use some manners.”
“He’s a child. What’s your excuse?”
“You’re just as rude as he is.”
Another day, at another time, I would have pounced on this woman with every catty word in my repertoire, but not in front of Mattie. A lady, standing further down the line, but still in front of the case, motioned for us to move in front of her. Mattie still wouldn’t move. As it became time for the line to move forward, I waved people ahead of us until the nice lady was behind us.
“I’m sorry. Thank you for being so nice. Mattie has autism. He doesn’t quite get the concept of waiting yet. It’s something we need to work on.”
“No problem. Don’t worry about it.”
People didn’t usually surprise me. Maybe I’m not as much of an optimist as I should be. I expected the cranky customer to rear her ugly head and try to steal our joy, but the nice lady full of compassion made me take pause. God seemed to send me those small glimmers of hope for encouragement.
Finally, it was our turn to order. Gabe had instructed me to stick to buying Mattie vanilla cones, but what is vanilla? How would he ever learn about the world eating only vanilla? I