My mother and Jan had taken a taxi to a small mart. When they arrived, the mart was still a few minutes from its appointed opening time. Jan, however, was thrilled at the sight of the mart and tried to get in. He and my mother were stopped by the mart folks. They said they would open at the time they were supposed to open, not a minute earlier and not a minute later.
‘Can’t you make an exception just this once?’ my mother asked them, as Jan began to cry. ‘He’s a special needs child. What difference will three or four minutes make?’
They said it was their policy, and that was that. My mother asked to speak with their supervisor or whoever was in charge. It turned out she was already talking to them.
Three-year-old Jan then went into a full-fledged tantrum. My mother managed to carry him, a screaming bundle of flailing arms and legs, some distance away from the entrance, whereupon he threw himself on the ground and cried and shrieked and rolled around till he was thoroughly red in the face. Then he cried some more till he turned a little blue.
The mart people went about their business as if nothing noteworthy was happening. It was none of their business and Policy stood on their side.
Some folks passing by stopped to help my mother. A few of them marched up to the mart people and demanded that my brother and mother be let in. However, they too lost to Policy. By the time the mart did finally open, not a minute earlier nor a minute later than it was supposed to, my brother had cried himself sick and my mother had to bring him home.
Sometimes, it is not a matter of whether a person can or cannot help. It is a matter of whether they choose to. The mini-mart staff chose not to. My mother was not the only person who left the place disgusted; so were the other people who had stopped to help her. That mart lost more than a few customers that morning.
On the bright side, this is proof that not all our countrymen and women are cold, standoffish and unhelpful as are often portrayed. My family will always remember that there are indeed lovely people around who would help a mother in need.
The 11th Step
As he grew older, Jan took a greater interest in various things, such as writing. My mother would spend hours with him, teaching him to write and draw and colour.
He used to be able to write nice legible letters, the proof of which could be seen on table surfaces, the backs of chairs and the walls at home, where he had scrawled his name. I was torn between scolding him and wanting to have a good laugh at having the perpetrator sign his name at the scene of the crime.
Law enforcement would take an interesting turn if culprits everywhere acquired such a habit. Another entertaining image was the thought of putting a black cloth mask over his face and handing him a toy rapier.
Soon my brother was introduced to the wonderful world of computers and, along with it, computer keyboards. Jan gave up his pens and crayons; he probably ceased to see the point.
He stopped writing by hand and has since typed everything he wanted to write. He has not been bothered to pick up a pen or pencil for years, and it is a bit of a pity as he has probably forgotten most of his penmanship.
At the keyboard, he types out little compositions such as “Go to the shop and buy ice-cream” or “Mummy buy pizza”. If he is in a more diligent mood, he might type a few sentences about what happens first and what happens next, and what happens after that.
I suppose it qualifies as a “story” of sorts. These stories are mostly about things he has seen or done or would like to do. He understands the notion of causality to some extent. At the very least, he is conscious of the idea that things occur in sequence.
The 12th Step
Jan will follow instructions if he is in the mood. When he was younger, he would follow instructions when he stopped running long enough to hear them and carry them out. Nowadays, if he is not in the mood, he will either give you a grumpy look and flounce away or ignore you altogether.
If one catches Jan in good humour, however, he can be very helpful. He will sometimes even take the initiative with household chores without being told.
The slight catch is that taking the initiative also gives him the chance to plan and execute Big Ideas around the house. Big Ideas can be quite hazardous to our laundry, cooking and the lifespan of miscellaneous household appliances.
The 13th Step
My brother has a sense of humour and it is a decidedly mischievous one. He would snicker, snigger and smirk, for instance, whenever he pulls a fast one on somebody else. Jan is also a big admirer of Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean. He has watched the television series, the live-action movies and the cartoons. It is the hijinks that tickle him. He is always entertained by the fixes Mr Bean gets in and out of, and the messes generated along the way.
Mr Bean can get ingeniously acrobatic in his attempts to get out of trouble, and therein lies the fun. For Jan takes great amusement in things that go bump and crack and crash on screen (which might not make him that much different from regular people). His favourite movie is the Disney animated film Hercules, which too has a lot of crashing and thundering in it, and he has played and bested the computer game version countless times.
It is not surprising that Jan is also a great fan of Jim Davis’s Garfield comics. They are filled with crashes and thumps and falls, in bright colours. An illustrated character can also
