This story won Second Prize for Short Story in the SWAU 2021 Creative Writing Contest.
Take My Hand By Keith Barrow
“Come on Pooh! You need to keep up.” “Oh brother, I can only walk so fast.” Daniel spread his feet apart and walked like he was four times his size. “Oh, you silly bear.” He changed his voice again to try and sound like Christopher Robin. Suddenly, he stopped and looked at his window. What was that? He thought. It sounded like a gunshot. His heart beat faster. He walked over to the window to see what the noise was. “Oh, it was just a bird.” To most people, the bird that hit against the house wouldn’t sound anything like a gunshot. For the fifteen-year-old with autism inside of that blue room, those two sounds have little difference. Not seeing anything else outside he dove back into his imagination. “Dinner’s ready, everyone come to the dining room.” Mrs. Moore announced a few minutes later. Daniel grabbed Winnie the Pooh and headed downstairs. When Daniel entered the dining room, Mr. Moore was strapping Jonathan into his high chair and Mrs. Moore had just put the bread on the table and sat down. Daniel took a seat next to his dad just as Kristen and Andrew walked in. When everyone was settled, Mr. Moore blessed the food. “Okay, let’s bow our heads. Dear Jesus, thank you for the food we are about to eat. Please bless the hands that prepared it. In your name, we pray, Amen.” Everyone began to serve their plates, but Daniel sat still in his seat. “Hey, where’s my food?” Daniel crossed his arms. “Oh, I forgot to heat up your mac and cheese. Hold on I’ll put it in the microwave.” Mrs. Moore got up and disappeared into the kitchen. “Are you all ready to go to Disneyland tomorrow?” Mr. Moore asked his children as he gave Jonathan some food. “I was ready last week!” Andrew said with a mouth full of lasagna. “Ewww, that’s disgusting, close your mouth!” Kristen turned her head in disgust. “Andrew, come on! You know better than that.” Mr. Moore shook his head in disapproval. Daniel spoke up eagerly. “I’m ready! I want to see Mickey Mouse!” Mrs. Moore walked back into the dining room with Daniel’s mac and cheese. “Yeah, I know you are, Danny. That’s all you’ve been talking about these days.” Mrs. Moore set the mac and cheese in front of Daniel and sat down. “This is the last trip you’ll have before starting school.” Daniel’s smile faded. He squeezed Pooh tighter. School was something that Daniel had tried to forget about. He thought of the time last week when he threw a book right at his mother when she mentioned it. He didn’t mean to hurt her, he just didn’t want to talk about school. He hated any kind of change and this was definitely a big change. “I don’t want to!” he finally blurted out. Everyone looked at him confused. “What don’t you want Danny?” Mr. Moore said with caution. “School.” “You don’t want to go to school?” “Yes...” Daniel stared at the bowl sitting in front of him that was full of Kraft mac and cheese. Mr. Moore gave his wife a worried look. She shook her head and they both continued to eat their dinner. Early the next morning the Moore family packed up the car and headed to Disneyland. It was a four-and-a-half-hour drive from Henderson Nevada. Gazing out the window, Daniel pressed the skip button on his mp3 player to play the next song. “Dad, can you turn the AC on? It’s getting really hot.” Andrew pleaded. Mr. Moore pulled the windows up in the SUV and turned the AC on. “Hey, you’re so, ughhh, I hate you!” Daniel clenched his fists and shook them vigorously. What’s wrong with them? Don’t they know the AC makes me go to the bathroom? Daniel thought to himself. He never went to public restrooms because they were filthy and normally there were spiders in the stalls. “What’s wrong with you?” Kristen shouted back at her older brother. “Kristen, I don’t need your help.” Mr. Moore looked at Kristen in the rearview mirror, then focused his eyes on Daniel. “Hey Daniel, you are not going to yell in this car.” Mr. Moore stated in a firm voice. “I DON’T CARE! Just shut up and open the window!” Daniel’s voice grew louder. Mrs. Moore tapped her husband just as he was getting ready to respond to Daniel. She turned around and asked in a patient voice, “Daniel, why do you want the windows open?” “Because I don’t like the air condition.” Mrs. Moore looked back at her husband and then turned back to look at Daniel. “Okay, why don’t you like the AC?” Daniel slowly started to loosen his tight fists. “Because…” he mumbled. “Because what?” “Because I’ll have to go to the bathroom soon.” Mr. Moore looked at Mrs. Moore in the seat next to him and nodded his head as if a light bulb just went off in his head. “That’s all you had to tell us, Daniel. Use your words, don’t just yell at us.” Daniel turned back to look out the window. 7 “Did you hear me, Daniel?”
