The next day started like normal. The routine didn't change at all until I was at the breakfast table. "Morning Dad" I greeted. "Ally, we won't be working the store today" he announced out of the blue. My world just stopped. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "B-but I always work at the store" I complained. I honestly didn't like this change in routine. "I know Alls, but you won't have time to work if we are at the children's hospital" he replied. What? I gave him a blank stare. "Point is, we are going out" he ended the conversation.
I stared at the passing images out the car window; wondering what this was all about. Children's Hospital? Was this a check up? Well I guess it is. I mean, it's been awhile since my last one. Then again that's not really something you think about when you have other things in life to deal with. But if it's a checkup then why would my dad be so secretive about it? Am I due for another shot? Oh god, Dad knows I hate getting a shot. It's so painful they might as well just kill me. Wait, this route is different from the usual doctor appointments. What is happening? Where is my Dad taking me? Now Im really freaking out and I should stop blabbing right now.
I spent the rest of the ride staring out the window. Eventually we parked in front of a building titled "Miami Children's Autism Center". Now I am freaking out for real. Anxiety then came crashing out of nowhere, and I was chewing hair like crazy. No. I wasn't chewing like crazy. I was chewing like I lost my sanity. "What is this place?" I asked my Dad through hair. No answer. This only made me more nervous. Make that anxious. We got out of the car and went into the strange place.
"Ally Dawson?" a lady called. "That's me" I replied, smacking the hair out of my mouth and hand. She gestured me to follow her deeper into the foreign place. After introducing herself I asked a very important question: why am I here? She smiled slightly. "Your father told me and I quote 'Ally thinks there is something wrong with her. Always has'. We are going to find out what it is exactly. Didn't he tell you that?" she replied. I shook my head. Anxiety crashing once again at the thought of being the weird girl, my fingers started drumming once again. Her eyes gave away that she noticed this action, making a mental note.
"So tell me about yourself" she asked me, sitting us down at a table in an empty room. "Well, I'm a songwriter. I actually write songs for Austin Moon-" I started, only to be interrupted by that lady. "Ohmygoodness! The Austin Moon! My daughter loves him! She's always talking about him 24/7" she blabbed. I rolled my eyes, not enjoying the fact that I never got to finish what I wanted to say. Plus I wasn't really interested into what she had to say about Austin. She continued blabbing about how much her daughter loved the guy. It was actually getting annoying. One second we were talking about me, the next the conversation is about a little girl's obsession about some guy she doesn't even know. Omg. "IFIGETHIMTOGIVEYOURDAUGHTERA NAUTOGRAPHWILLWERETURNTOTHEC ONVERSATIONWEWEREHAVINGEARLI ER!?" I interrupted. (Authors note: in case you can't read that, she said "if I get him to give your daughter an autograph will we return to the conversation we were having earlier!?"). "Yes, I'm so sorry" she apologized. Queue the sigh of relief. I then caught her finishing a note in her pad. I never pointed that out though.
I told her about my songwriting career and my love of cloud watching. During this time, she continued writing in her notepad, and I finally noticed a recorder. Of course I never pointed it out. "So, tell me about your social life" she asked. "Well, my closest friends would be Austin of course, and please don't talk about your daughter's obsession I don't want to hear it" I immediately added. She nods, still writing in that pad of hers. "Trish is his manager and my best friend since kindergarten and Dez is his best friend and director" I told her. "Together we make Team Austin" I added. "I see. Can you tell me about any friends outside of team Austin?" she asked. "Well, I do have a Tweeter account. Though considering 'Spider Noodle Soup' was my only funny item, I went back to about 3 followers" I added. "What do you write anyways?" she asked. "Nothing much, just some thoughtful poems that I miraculously can fit into a 140 character limit" I explained. "Other than that, I basically have no social life" I concluded.
"Now, could you tell me some emotional triggers? You know, what makes you happy, sad, mad, etc" she asked. "Well I do get happy when I get to write for Austin and support his career. I love to read at the library. OH! And I love my pickles" I started getting excited at the thought of those things. "Seriously, why do you think I love such stuff?!" I started my excited question asking. Then I caught myself and told her not to answer. "When you get happy, is there anything you do? Like skip, smile, sing?" she asked. "Well, I do ask a lot of questions" I replied. More notepad writing.
"As for irritated, it's mainly stuff like when people don't knock before entering the room, or when they bring food in the store. I also hate it when people talk with food in their mouth or say 'Liberry' instead of 'Library'. Seriously, what is up with the confusion? And do you have any idea how irritating the sound of Styrofoam being rubbed together is? I hate that!" I explained. "I see" was all she said. I continued explaining what makes me feel those emotions. "Ally, besides asking questions when excited, what do you do when you feel these emotions?" she asked. "Well, I either drum my fingers or chew hair when nervous. Clean when upset, plug my ears and shut my eyes when overwhelmed, and complain when irritated. That's all I can think of" I responded.
After some more question asking, she brought out a few toys. "Ally, I would like you to show me what you would do with these items" she instructed me. Easy enough. I examined the figurines and other items, and set them up. "I'd throw a tea party" I cheered with the plastic cup. "I used to force my dad to be the guest of honor when I was little. I had a lot of fun" I explained, pouring Batman an imaginary cup of tea. "I see. Well, what if I wanted to play superheroes with you using these dolls?" she grabbed a Spiderman figure, making 'POW POW' noises at Batman. "I'm sorry, it's really not my thing" I responded, feeding an imaginary cookie to a stuffed bunny. More note taking.
More talking and more tests and I was finally out of there. The rest of my day went normally.
