Here's part 3. Enjoy! (all previous disclaimers apply, but the new characters introduced in this chapter are completely my own invention.)
L did not like his new home. It was a Wammy-founded orphanage in a quiet section of New York state. He did not like the other children there. He did not like his room. The only things familiar to him besides his own clothes were… well, there was only one thing: Watari.
"L," Watari said, leading the boy into the playroom, "these children will be learning with you here. I want you to be polite to them."
L hid behind Watari's legs.
"Don't be shy. This is Saburo."
The older boy looked up from his block house and tried to meet the gaze of the hiding L. "Hi," he said.
L scowled and hid his face.
Watari led L over to another boy, this one blond. "This is Kent."
"Hi, L," Kent said, smiling. "Are you Japanese like Sabu?"
L stuck his tongue out.
Two little Asian girls, who were playing with toy ponies in a corner, observed L's reaction and giggled.
"These two," Watari said, pointing the girls out, "are Cho and Hoshi."
"Hi," Cho offered.
Hoshi smiled and giggled again.
L looked up at Watari, wondering what he was supposed to do.
"And this is Esther," Watari said, pointing out a little redhead. "She's the only one here younger than you are."
L looked around at the children in the room. "More?" he asked.
"Yes, there are other children living in the orphanage. These are the ones you will be spending the most time with."
L's round eyes moved from person to person. "Why?" he asked. He seemed to think something was wrong…
"I suppose you are used to being grouped with others your age, and perhaps all boys," Watari guessed. "The truth is that these children are ones who are doing very well in school. They learn things sooner than most children their age. Saburo is good at logic problems. He shows an aptitude for psychology."
"Ap…ti…tude," L repeated slowly.
"Ability to learn and use," said Esther.
L looked at her in surprise, noticing suddenly that the tiny girl was working with a doodle pad and crayons. She seemed to be writing something.
Watari smiled. "Esther is our vocabulary genius. She is only three and a half years old, but she has a very comprehensive knowledge of the English language. She wants to learn other languages, too. I want you to spend a lot of time with Esther—she'll be good for your limited speech."
L scowled at Esther.
Esther smiled.
"Kent has an aptitude for electronic things," Watari went on. Perhaps he can teach you how to use a computer. You would like that, I think."
L dropped to the floor and pulled his knees up in front of himself.
"Cho and Hoshi came here together from an orphanage in Japan. They both like martial arts. Hoshi especially likes performing karate. Cho is more interested in the history and traditions of martial art forms."
L continued to scowl as he began rocking back and forth. Watari didn't know if anything he was saying was sinking in.
"Cho is also good at psychology, and Hoshi shows an ability to befriend nearly anyone. You can learn a lot from these girls."
L muttered something.
Watari knelt beside him. "What was that?"
"No girls."
"I won't tolerate any stubbornness," Watari chided.
"Here—" Saburo shoved a pile of blocks toward L. "You can play with these."
"Get to know your classmates," Watari said. "I have some important calls to make, but I will be back soon."
As Watari stepped away, L's arms shot out and he clung to Watari's ankle. "No!" he exclaimed.
"L, I have to go now. I'll be back."
"Me too! Me too, me too, me too!"
"No. You have to stay here." Watari reached down and forcibly detached L's fingers from his ankle. "I'll see you soon."
L began to wail as Watari walked away from him. "Waaaaaaaah! Me tooooooo! Me too!" He sobbed loudly, tears squeezing out from the corners of his squinting eyes.
Once outside the play room, Watari turned to watch through the one-way glass.
Hoshi darted forward and put her arms around L, which just made him shriek louder.
"Hoshi, let go," Saburo instructed.
Hoshi obeyed and sat back, staring sympathetically at L's stricken face.
"L-kun," Saburo said gently.
L slumped back into his hands-on-knees position and rocked back and forth.
"L-kun, listen to me. We can all play nicely together."
L moaned, showing no signs of hearing Saburo's voice.
"No one likes all that noise you're making. Let's all build something together."
"I'll sketch out the plans with Esther," Cho offered. "Esther, may you please help with your note pad?"
Esther took her doodle pad and crayons to Cho's corner and they got down to work.
"When the plans are done, I'll calculate the measurements," Kent offered.
"And Hoshi and I can do the putting together," Sabu said, beginning to sort the blocks by size and shape. "Now, which part would you like to help with?"
The children all fell silent, staring at L.
L sniffled, his wails dying away to quiet whimpers.
To Watari's amazement, the children all remained silent, patiently waiting for nearly three full minutes while L's breathing slowly returned to normal. Then, ever so slowly, L scooted forward to sit beside Saburo.
"OK, everyone," Saburo said, "L's going to help me sort the blocks here…"
L showed no signs of wanting to help, but the children accepted Saburo's statement and returned to their own projects.
Watari smiled and tore himself away from the observation window. The other children had behaved like adults in their problem-solving, even though a childish play-project had been the catalyst. L would be all right without him for an hour or so. If everything seemed all right then, he might leave him with the others a bit longer.
The doctors all seemed to say the same thing.
"Sure, I'll take a look at him, but I'll tell you right now: there's no cure for autism."
"If you believe that, then what would be the point of making an appointment?" Watari asked one doctor.
"Well, there are ways you can keep it from getting worse."
"Are these 'ways' tested and proven?"
"Well… not exactly. That is, they often help, but not always. It depends on the case…"
Several specialists expressed interest in L, but none of them seemed confident that they could help. One by one, Watari scratched the doctors off his list. He had brought L here for two reasons. First, because this orphanage was where he had sent all of the most gifted children he had run across. Second, because there were many doctors in the area who were known for treating behavioral disorders. The first reason had been justified nicely, but the second was being bitterly disappointed.
Finally, Watari received some hope.
"Sir, it's true that autism has no known cure. But I don't think we should be treating it like a mental disease, per se. It's more like… like the mind and body are reacting to something that most people don't react to."
"Like an allergy?" Watari asked.
"Sort of. See, I used to be a pediatrician before I started my behavioral studies, and I would see some incredible variety among children. They could be the same age, same weight, same race, same social standing, and one would thrive while the other seemed to wither. In some cases we found that something as simple as giving the sickly child a regular dose of vitamins could help him catch up with his peers. My theory is that it has something to do with our metabolism—some kids are programmed in their genes to need very little help from their environment while other kids need a lot of help. Does that make sense?"
"I think I see what you're saying. And you think this could apply to autism?"
"I definitely think that it could. And I think that if we try doing things backwards… you see, most of the time we use symptoms to tell what the illness is, and then we treat the illness to stop the symptoms. But with autism we don't really know what the causing illness is, so we have to do things backwards—treat the symptoms to lessen the cause."
"That's the most encouraging thing I've heard from a doctor since my return to the states," Watari said gratefully. "I know you're not promising me anything, but you're saying there's a reason to try something new, and I'm with you completely. I'd like you to meet the boy I've been telling you about."
When Watari returned to the play room, he saw that Cho seemed to be introducing Esther to her toy ponies. Hoshi and Saburo were setting out a row of blocks on the rug. Then he spotted L. L was watching over Kent's shoulder as the latter looked at Esther's doodle pad, punched numbers on a calculator, then made notes on the pad with a pencil.
Watari looked at his watch. It was nearly time for lunch. But the children were getting along well with L, and he didn't want to spoil it. He took out his cell phone and waited while it dialed.
"Yes, sir? What is it?"
"Mitchell, I'd like you to stop the lunch bell from ringing," Watari requested.
"All right… any particular reason?"
"The new boy, L, has a fixation with bells. He's doing very well at the moment and I don't want him to be distracted. Let the advanced children stay in their play room until I give the word. I know this means you'll have to go to each of the other play rooms to gather the children—is that all right?"
"Sure," Mitchell replied. "Long as it's not every day," he added lightly.
"No, I'm sure it won't be." Watari put his phone away and watched in delight as Kent handed L the calculator.
L began pressing buttons quickly. Kent pointed things out to L from time to time.
Watari couldn't tell if L was really listening to his instructions. But L did seem to love the calculator. Watari recalled that the superintendent of his last orphanage had mentioned that L liked math, especially statistics and percentages. Perhaps L should have a calculator of his own.
That's all for now. :) Hope you're liking it so far.