Cherry Chocolate Chip 25: What Happened
Title: What Happened
Main Story: In the Heart
Flavors, Toppings, Extras: Cherry chocolate chip 25 (hysteria), cherry (um... you'll see), malt (this).
Word Count: 900
Rating: PG
Summary: A transcript of Summer's final interview with a therapist before being diagnosed with Asperger's.
Notes: Summer is between five and six here.
Can you tell me what happened, Summer?
I was holding Mommy's hand. I was holding it very carefully. I promise that I was. I must have opened my hand or maybe Mommy opened her hand, I do not know. All I know is that I stopped to look at the painting.
What painting was this?
The painting was Starry Night, by Vincent Van Gogh, and it is one of my very favorite paintings. Mommy took me to the Museum of Modern Art so I could see it for real. I saw lots of pictures of it. I have a picture of it in my bedroom. But I never saw it for real, so when I saw it in the Museum I stopped to look at it. It is very beautiful. I like all the blues in it. I like blue. It is a quiet color.
I looked at it for a very long time. I traced the swirls with my eyes, because you cannot touch in a museum, and looked at the stars, all glowing balls of light. That is surprisingly accurate. It is surprising because Van Gogh is a post-impressionist, which means that he paints things that do not look very realistic. But stars are really big balls of constantly combusting gas, so painting them as glowing balls of light is very good. I do not know how long I looked at the painting. I look at it a lot, in my bedroom, but it is not as nice because it is not real, it is flat like a print instead of bumpy like the real painting. It is painted in oils, you see, that is why it is bumpy.
That's very nice, Summer. What happened when you stopped looking at the painting?
I did not stop looking at the painting until a man touched my shoulder, which is okay because a shoulder is not a private part, but I do not like being touched, so I jumped and squirmed away. He said little girl are you lost where is your mother, only Mommy said not to talk to strangers and Lars said strangers want to take you away sometimes, so I did not answer. I looked around for Mommy so she could see that I was being good and not talking to strangers, only she was not there. I looked all around the room and I could not see her at all. So I ran away from the man and into the next room to find Mommy, only she was not there either, and all the paintings in there were angry angry red, so I ran away from them, too, because they scared me.
But Mommy was not in the next room either and there were lots and lots of people in there and they were all talking very loud and I wanted my mommy very much because she always makes the noise go away and she makes it all be okay, but she was not there and I put my hands over my ears and screamed because too many people were talking and I did not know where my mommy was, then the man was there again and he was touching my arms and holding my shoulders and he said shh shh it's all right now where is your mother, but I screamed louder and pulled away from him because I do not like to be touched and strangers who touch you want to take you away and never bring you back and if I let him touch me then I would never see my mommy again or my daddy or my brother or my sister or Lars or anybody and I screamed very loudly then because I did not want to be taken away, and I screamed and I screamed until it hurt and suddenly there was a man in a uniform there, and Mommy said I can trust men in uniforms, so I grabbed on to his leg and I cried and he said stop crying little girl it will be all right but I did not believe him until Mommy came and picked me up and held me and then it was all right, but I was crying very hard then so Mommy took me outside and got a taxicab and we went home. I do not like the museum.
I see. What happened when you got home?
Mommy took me in my room and we turned off all the lights and hid under the covers. She hugged me and told me stories until I felt better, and then we had tea and a snack. Not in my room. We went out into the kitchen for that and sat at the kitchen table. And then my sister came home and did her homework, and then my daddy came home and we made dinner, and then...
That's lovely, Summer. Let's talk about something else. Do you want to go back to the museum?
I want to go and look at Starry Night again. It is such a beautiful painting. It looks like stained glass where Van Gogh painted deep blues. The stars look like paint but the city underneath looks like stained glass. I like it very much.
I asked about the museum, Summer, not Starry Night.
Is it not the same thing?
I see. Summer, why don't you go play by yourself for a little while? I need to speak to your parents.
All right.
Main Story: In the Heart
Flavors, Toppings, Extras: Cherry chocolate chip 25 (hysteria), cherry (um... you'll see), malt (this).
Word Count: 900
Rating: PG
Summary: A transcript of Summer's final interview with a therapist before being diagnosed with Asperger's.
Notes: Summer is between five and six here.
Can you tell me what happened, Summer?
I was holding Mommy's hand. I was holding it very carefully. I promise that I was. I must have opened my hand or maybe Mommy opened her hand, I do not know. All I know is that I stopped to look at the painting.
What painting was this?
The painting was Starry Night, by Vincent Van Gogh, and it is one of my very favorite paintings. Mommy took me to the Museum of Modern Art so I could see it for real. I saw lots of pictures of it. I have a picture of it in my bedroom. But I never saw it for real, so when I saw it in the Museum I stopped to look at it. It is very beautiful. I like all the blues in it. I like blue. It is a quiet color.
I looked at it for a very long time. I traced the swirls with my eyes, because you cannot touch in a museum, and looked at the stars, all glowing balls of light. That is surprisingly accurate. It is surprising because Van Gogh is a post-impressionist, which means that he paints things that do not look very realistic. But stars are really big balls of constantly combusting gas, so painting them as glowing balls of light is very good. I do not know how long I looked at the painting. I look at it a lot, in my bedroom, but it is not as nice because it is not real, it is flat like a print instead of bumpy like the real painting. It is painted in oils, you see, that is why it is bumpy.
That's very nice, Summer. What happened when you stopped looking at the painting?
I did not stop looking at the painting until a man touched my shoulder, which is okay because a shoulder is not a private part, but I do not like being touched, so I jumped and squirmed away. He said little girl are you lost where is your mother, only Mommy said not to talk to strangers and Lars said strangers want to take you away sometimes, so I did not answer. I looked around for Mommy so she could see that I was being good and not talking to strangers, only she was not there. I looked all around the room and I could not see her at all. So I ran away from the man and into the next room to find Mommy, only she was not there either, and all the paintings in there were angry angry red, so I ran away from them, too, because they scared me.
But Mommy was not in the next room either and there were lots and lots of people in there and they were all talking very loud and I wanted my mommy very much because she always makes the noise go away and she makes it all be okay, but she was not there and I put my hands over my ears and screamed because too many people were talking and I did not know where my mommy was, then the man was there again and he was touching my arms and holding my shoulders and he said shh shh it's all right now where is your mother, but I screamed louder and pulled away from him because I do not like to be touched and strangers who touch you want to take you away and never bring you back and if I let him touch me then I would never see my mommy again or my daddy or my brother or my sister or Lars or anybody and I screamed very loudly then because I did not want to be taken away, and I screamed and I screamed until it hurt and suddenly there was a man in a uniform there, and Mommy said I can trust men in uniforms, so I grabbed on to his leg and I cried and he said stop crying little girl it will be all right but I did not believe him until Mommy came and picked me up and held me and then it was all right, but I was crying very hard then so Mommy took me outside and got a taxicab and we went home. I do not like the museum.
I see. What happened when you got home?
Mommy took me in my room and we turned off all the lights and hid under the covers. She hugged me and told me stories until I felt better, and then we had tea and a snack. Not in my room. We went out into the kitchen for that and sat at the kitchen table. And then my sister came home and did her homework, and then my daddy came home and we made dinner, and then...
That's lovely, Summer. Let's talk about something else. Do you want to go back to the museum?
I want to go and look at Starry Night again. It is such a beautiful painting. It looks like stained glass where Van Gogh painted deep blues. The stars look like paint but the city underneath looks like stained glass. I like it very much.
I asked about the museum, Summer, not Starry Night.
Is it not the same thing?
I see. Summer, why don't you go play by yourself for a little while? I need to speak to your parents.
All right.