Classmate

I guess I always knew there was something different about her.

I popped into the supermarket just before going home today, mainly because the cat food is finished. As I entered I saw this girl at the entrance and immediately recognised her. She used to be in my class in middle school, and she suddenly left, whereto nobody knew. People made fun of her because she was 'different'...because she didn't shave, because she was pimply and dressed liked a hippy, because she talked slow and "acted weird", because she was a loner and emersed herself in singing and music. I took pity on her because I knew very well what it felt to be 'on the outside'. Kids can be mean to each other.

And here we were, six, perhaps seven years, down the line, meeting by chance at the local supermarket. She hadn't changed that much, and part of the reason I recognised her immediately. We chatted a bit, exchanging our lives over the past few years. She's been around, "hippie life took over" she said, never managed to finish a study, been working on farms all over the place. All she wants to do is sing.

I told what I'm studying now and her reaction was: "But isn't that to do with war and econmics and stuff?" I explained a little about how international law is not just about war, but about many other things. She looked at me with intensity and a nervous smile, so intense I was unsure what she was thinking. She didn't change a bit from the way she was back in high school. Sometimes you get the feeling that she's stoned or that her mind is completely blank. Probably the reason people shunned her. I never thought it was any reason to dislike a person....she's just the way she is.

We cycled home together, since we live just a few numbers down the same street. Suddenly she told me something, which explained a lot, and probably something I'd suspected all this time. Two years ago they diagnosed her with autism, something they never realised for over twenty years of her life.

"That's why I can't remember a lot of, you know, stuff," she said.
"Yeah, I guess that explains somethings."
"Like when you're twelve you don't remember things from five. Like when you're twenty, you don't remember stuff from twelve. Like that."
"Yeah, I guess that explains a lot of things," I said.

We laughed together, at the small secret we shared.