Through the door I saw a beautiful young woman in her twenties with long brown hair tied into a side braid. She wore blue jeans, pink sneakers and a pink Hello Kitty hoodie. She sat on the bed looking down, transfixed by a musical video she was watching on You Tube. She hummed and rocked a bit, curling her fingers in excitement and did not seem to notice that we entered the room. I then got close enough to hear the song: The Wheels on the Bus.
I could see that there was an animation to go along with the song, various cartoon characters and a big yellow bus. She waved a long green Starbucks straw over the screen and looked like she was conducting an orchestra. She laughed when the video ended and pressed play again immediately. It was amazing to think that this was a woman in her twenties, because she seemed so childlike.
Her mother reached out and grabbed the iPad from her daughter, who was still laughing to herself, in an attempt to get the girl’s attention. When she finally looked up, the most beautiful blue eyes stared back at me…through me.
I knew those eyes.
“Callie, this is Allison…can you say hi?”
I froze. Calista…Callie: Cedric’s sister.
Bettina Callahan closed the door to Callie’s room, allowing her daughter to remain in her own world for a bit while she led me to the kitchen.
Oh my God!
I sat down and could feel my heart pounding rapidly, still reeling from the realization that I was in Cedric’s family home. It pained me so much to think about him and now I wouldn’t be able to escape it.
I felt almost as if I were an imposter, even though I had every right to be here. This was my job now and I wasn’t going to let Cedric or Karyn Keller or anyone screw it up. It wasn’t Callie’s fault I had a delusional crush on her brother.
“Allison…can I make you some tea while we go over Callie’s routine? I already have some water boiled.”
Again, this place was like heaven.
I did not get the impression that Bettina had any clue that I was the same person her son inquired about for the job information and figured Cedric never used my name.
“Yes, I’d love some,” I smiled. Tea sounded good and maybe it would calm my nerves. For some reason, I was not as freaked out as I might have figured I’d be in this situation. Cedric’s mother actually seemed like a really nice lady with a very reassuring tone.
As she prepared the tea, I looked around curiously. The kitchen, as did the rest of the house, seemed to have a cozy country feel, with lots of reds and greens with floral curtains and plaid seat pillows. It was homey but small, so I assumed it was just Callie and her mother who lived here.
“May I use your bathroom?” I decided I really had to go and figured since she was preparing the tea, this would be my window.
“Sure, dear, it’s back down the hall, last door on the left. Before you go, would you like black or green tea?”
“Green will be perfect. Thanks so much,” I said as I got up and walked down the hallway.
Before I opened the bathroom door, I noticed some family pictures on the living room wall diagonally across from the bathroom. I scurried over to the framed picture collage hoping she wouldn’t notice since I heard her clanking things back in the kitchen.
There he was.
If this wasn’t confirmation that I was in Cedric’s mother’s house, I don’t know what was.
The picture I focused in on appeared to be a photo of a younger Cedric on what looked like his high school graduation day. The same beautiful eyes were framed by even longer, shaggier hair. Cedric was flanked by his mother, father and whom I assumed was his brother. He had the biggest most beautiful smile and looked so happy. I immediately felt sad, remembering that during our car ride he mentioned that his father had passed away a few years earlier. Cedric was tall like his father and had his blue eyes. But his facial features and smile resembled his mother overall.
I didn’t want to take too much time staring at the picture, in case Bettina wondered what the hell I was so interested in her family for, so I entered the bathroom.
I splashed a small amount of water on my face to help calm me down from the surprise of this situation and quickly peed. I washed my hands and walked back out and down the hall.
Bettina had placed my tea in front of my seat in a beautiful ornate yellow ceramic mug and had her legs crossed sitting in the chair relaxed across from me and began to speak.
“Ok, Allison, so basically you met my daughter. You can see that she likes to be in her own world most of the time. What I hope when someone comes to work with Callie, is that they help to structure her time to make the most of it. I don’t want her just sitting there rocking back and forth, looking at online videos, like she does when she is alone. It’s really hard to break her out of her shell. I want you to try and play with her… try to get her to speak…I know it’s not easy getting her attention…the autism assures that. But you can read to her or try to get her to sound out the words, things like that. A group of her favorite books are in a large basket in her room. She can read many sight words but she just can’t always comprehend complex themes. So, she may not answer you if you ask what generally happened in the book, but might answer a simple question like ‘what are the characters doing in the picture?’
I nodded silently, as she continued.
“I’ll also have you sit with her and make sure she eats appropriately and puts away and washes her dishes. She also does some light chores likes recycling and swiffering the floors. She works at the library sorting books, accompanied by her other staffer on Mondays and Wednesdays, but you don’t need to worry about that since you are here Tuesdays and Thursdays. What questions do you have at this point?” Bettina looked at my quizzically.
I had so many questions.
“How much detail can she relay about what she wants?” I asked.