Re: George’s Legacy
Part 7 – Spaghetti
2002 – 2009
The next morning Tommy had his breakfast in his old booster seat. His orange juice was served in a cup with one of the new caps with a straw in it. He ate the waffles with his hands, even though Mary tried to encourage him to use his fork. After Breakfast he was changed into one of the disposable boy pull-ups and dressed for school. Mary drove him to school and delivered him to his regular education classroom.
At school that day, Mrs. Arrons found Tommy to be functioning mostly at a two year old level. He could no longer write his name or even trace it. When given a writing utensil he would just scribble all over the paper, no matter what it was. He needed help to do simple puzzles and could not stay focused on any task or toy for longer than a few minutes.
Shortly before lunch, the teacher assistant went up to Mrs. Arrons and asked, “What has happened to Tommy?”
That was a good question; the only problem was that Mrs. Arrons had no idea what had happened. After lunch, the cafeteria assistant came to Mrs. Arrons and asked the same question. For the last two days, he had spilled his milk two times each day and couldn’t stay seated.
While Tommy was at school, Mary went clothes shopping. She found a variety of new clothes meeting Jenny’s new needs and even found some size 3 and 4 clothing that wasn’t designed for kids in diapers. While trying to find 3T or 4T clothing for Jenny that didn’t puff out making it look like she was still wearing diapers, she discovered that they made size 5T clothing. The store had a few different kinds of pants, overalls, and even blanket sleepers in size 5T with snaps going down the legs. She bought one of each piece of 5T clothing she felt was appropriate for a 6 year old boy. She also found regular size 5 clothing that would more easily accommodate the diapers.
She timed the shopping trip, so she could pick Tommy up on the way home. Again she didn’t stop to talk with Mrs. Arrons or the 1st grade teacher. She didn’t know what to say to them. She also wasn’t ready to face how he was acting at school.
After school, Tommy’s 1st grade teacher went to have a talk with Mrs. Arrons, with her first question being, “What has happened with Tommy?”
That was the third time she had been asked that question, not counting the number of times she had asked it herself. When they asked, they didn’t need to say any more, she knew what they meant. What she didn’t know, was the answer. The two teachers sat down and talked for over an hour about what to do with Tommy. He was no longer functioning in the 1st grade classroom at a level where he got anything out of it. The other children were now treating him like a baby. Some of the children had even figured out he was now wearing diapers. Neither of the teachers felt a need to correct them at this point on the difference between diapers and pull-ups. The 1st grade teacher had taught Tommy for months, and she was confused by his regression over the last two weeks. Before this, he was just an immature 1st grader who wasn’t picking up the skills but would always try to do his best. Now he is acting like a two year old, not understanding even the simplest of school tasks or expectations. They both felt he needed more support than what he was currently getting from Special Education. Mrs. Arrons said she would arrange a meeting for Thursday or Friday to discuss changing Tommy’s program. It was too late today to have a meeting and she was going to be absent tomorrow.
After creating her sub plans, Mrs. Arrons called to arrange the meeting. She explained that a meeting is needed to discuss how best to meet Tommy’s needs. Trying to avoid any real discussion over the phone, Mrs. Arrons just stated that Tommy needed more help than they first thought and there was a need to change his program to better meet his needs. Mary knew what she was talking about, but didn’t say anything. They arranged the meeting for Thursday after school.
That evening, Mary really stressed to Tommy how much of a big boy he was. She kept pointing out things big boys could do and little kids couldn’t. It wasn’t working. Tommy was no different and didn’t even seem to understand what she was talking about. If he did understand, he definitely didn’t care. He never used the toilet. He only used his hands to eat with, and kept knocking over his drink or dropping it on the floor. He never helped with getting redressed after his pull-ups were changed. He only played with the infant toys.
Mary and George however, had a bigger problem on their hands. Last night Tommy kept falling out of his bed. They were trying to stress that he is a big boy. Putting him back in the crib didn’t make sense. They considered buying a fold down bed rail, but decided that wasn’t appropriate for a 6 year old. If they were stressing he was a big boy, a bed rail would not show this to Tommy.
Mary stopped and gave a strange look to George, then said, “Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.”
George looked at her with a quizzical look.
“When I was around Tommy’s age, we would visit my Grandma and Grandpa’s house for a week or two each summer.” She remembered with fondness. “Grandma always said that phrase to me each night when she tucked me in. It was the sleep tight part that might work for Tommy. Grandma always made up the bed so I was squished between the sheets. I literally did sleep tight.”
“Do you think you could get things that tight on his bed?”
“I can try,” Mary said. “but what are we going to do if it doesn’t work?”
“Let’s put the two beanbag chairs next to his bed. They are soft if he falls onto them, and they are higher than pillows on the floor. Maybe he won’t wake up if he falls onto them.”
That was the plan. When Mary and George went to bed at 11 o’clock, he was still in his bed. Mary made sure the sheets were tucked in tight, hoping he would stay in bed all night. When she went in to wake him up in the morning, he was sleeping on the beanbag chairs squished between the bed frame and the bean bags. It looked very uncomfortable, but he was asleep and he didn’t wake up when he fell off the bed. She put him back into his bed before waking him up. She was hoping the fib, would give him confidence that he was a big boy who could sleep in a big boy bed without falling out.
Mary drove him to school again today, forgetting she wanted to send lunch with Tommy so he wouldn’t eat the cafeteria lunch, spaghetti. Mary dropped him off in his 1st grade room and headed home, unaware that Mrs. Arrons was absent.
The substitute teacher struggled with many aspects of Mrs. Arrons’ room. When she took the job, the last thing she expected was to be changing diapers on a 6 year old. She was changing Tommy’s second wet Pull-Up that morning, when she started to question why this kid was in pull-ups and not diapers. After he was changed and sent back into the room, she went through the cabinets to see if she could find some diapers. She was tired of taking his shoes and pants off each time and figured she would probably have to change him at least two more times. She was disappointed when all she found was more boy and girl pull-ups. When the sub left for lunch, she found a quiet secluded area to eat, so she could recover from the rough morning.
Lunch for Tommy was quite enjoyable. He loved spaghetti and by the time he was almost done, no one would question that. He had spaghetti in his hair, all over his face, hands, and his shirt. The kids around him didn’t know what to think. Over the last two weeks, Bridgett had started taking him in hand and treating him like a baby brother. She was unsure what to do when Tommy started to make a mess at lunch, so she tried to help by making sure he didn’t spill his milk today. She was about to help him try and get cleaned up when she smelled something. Some of the other kids at the table were starting to complain and giggle about someone farting. Bridgett however, knew Tommy wore diapers and knew the odor was coming from him. She had to do something before the kids realized Tommy pooped his diaper and started teasing him. She went up to the cafeteria assistant.
“Tommy needs your help,” Bridgett said quietly pulling on her dress. “He made a mess eating and pooped his diaper.”
The assistant went up to the table in amazement. She didn’t know Tommy wore diapers and couldn’t believe he had pooped his pants. He was immature, but not that much. As she got close to his table she was shocked by what he looked like. It looked like someone had just smeared spaghetti sauce all over him. She turned to Bridgett and told her to go get a damp washcloth from the kitchen.
When Bridgett returned, the assistant attempted to clean him up as much as she could. It didn’t take her long to realize one washcloth was not going to get very far, so she cleaned up his hands and some of his face. Then taking him by his hand, she escorted him to Mrs. Arrons’ room, stopping by the staff lounge to see if the substitute was in there. She couldn’t find the sub or Mrs. Arrons’ assistant, so she brought Tommy to the other special education teacher in the building.
“Mrs. Jefferson, could you please help me with Tommy here,” she asked as they walked in? “I can’t find Mrs. Arrons sub.”
“My, oh my, it looks like he enjoyed his lunch,” she said getting up from her desk.
“You should have seen him before I started to clean him up, but I brought him to you because I think . . . I think he pooped. A little girl in his class said he was in diapers, so I figured you would be the best to help him.”
“Oh I see,” Mrs. Jefferson said as she got closer and crinkled up her nose. “And I would have to agree with the theory that he pooped his pants. I will take care of it, thanks.”
Mrs. Jefferson got down on her knees and introduced herself to Tommy. She then took his hand and started escorting him back to the changing area at the back of the room. They were half way through the room when Tommy saw a ring stacking toy and went running over to it. He plopped down on his bottom and started playing with the ring stacker.
“Come on Tommy,” Mrs. Jefferson said grabbing his hand and pulling him back up on his feet. “You can play with that after we get you cleaned up.”
She brought Tommy to the bathroom in the back of the room. After lifting him up on the changing table, she gave him a toy horse to play with as she went to work.
“Well Tommy,” she said to herself out loud. “It looks like you are wearing Pull-Ups. I’m sorry dear, but I don’t have any pull-ups for you to change into. None of the students in my room are wearing Pull-Ups this year. All we have to change you into are diapers.”
Tommy did not say a word, he just played with the little Fisher Price horse.
“You sure did make a big mess,” Mrs. Jefferson kept commenting to her self out loud. She spent a while cleaning up his bottom and putting a diaper on him. Then she sat him up and tried to figure out how to clean the rest of him up. “Tommy, you apparently really enjoyed lunch.”
“Etti! Etti! Yummy.”
“So you do talk,” Mrs. Jefferson commented. “I am glad you like Spaghetti, but now I have to get you cleaned up. I can’t do anything to clean up the shirt or pants, so I better find new ones for you. First let’s get you cleaned up.”
Mrs. Jefferson took his shirt off, so he was sitting there in just his diaper and socks. Tommy just kept playing with the horse. In the cupboards under the changing table, she found a pair of pants and t-shirt that would fit Tommy. With a damp washcloth she cleaned up his face and as much of his hair as possible. After getting him re-dressed, she brought him back into the classroom. He immediately went back to the stacking toy.
Looking around the room, Mrs. Jefferson saw her five students working on their various activities. Jillian was being fed her lunch in the highchair, Francis was playing with his switch toy, Tracy was taking a nap, Byron was playing with shapes on a light box, and Chris was in the play area crawling over to Tommy. She then looked at Tommy.
“Now what are we going to do with you?”
************************************************** ******************** Part 8 – The Legacy
2002 – 2009
Mrs. Jefferson sat down at her desk and looked at Tommy and Chris playing together with the ring stacker. They were working together to figure out the stacker and both having the same amount of difficulty figuring it out. She had heard of Tommy from Mrs. Arrons, but she had just said he seamed to be loosing skills. Looking at Tommy, he appeared to be at the same level as Chris, who was functioning below a 24 month level.
After a discussion with Tommy’s teacher and a search on the district database, Mrs. Jefferson made a phone call. Well, she made two. There was no one at home, so she called the secondary number.
“Yes sir. He was totally covered in spaghetti and had wet and messy pull-ups on. Here in my room I didn’t have any Pull-ups to change him into so I put him in a diaper. If you want I can go hunting in Mrs. Arrons’ room to find some Pull-ups to change Tommy into.”
She explained to George that the regular classroom teacher was hesitant to take him back into her room for the rest of the day due to his current skill level. She explained that Mrs. Arrons was absent today and her sub was struggling with Tommy’s low skills. After a bit more discussion, George just decided to come pick him up and take him home. He didn’t know where his wife was, but expected her to be home soon after he would be able to get Tommy home.
It only took George about 20 minutes to get to the school to pick up Tommy. He wasn’t sure what he should do or say, but if the school was struggling with Tommy due to him acting like a baby, he knew Tommy was better off at home than at school.
When George walked into Mrs. Jefferson’s classroom he froze. Before him was a scene out of his dream. Tommy and another boy were playing with baby toys and talking like two year olds. The room had the smell of baby powder and diapers. In one corner of the room one of the children was being fed lunch. She had a bib on and was sitting in a high chair. The food was cut up into little baby size pieces and after she ate some on her own with her spoon, the teacher would feed her some. It looked more like the girl was 18months old instead of 6 years old.
Before Mrs. Jefferson could get away from Frances, George went over to Tommy playing on the floor with another kid who was crawling around and obviously diapered.
“What happened Tommy, I thought you were going to try to be a big boy?”
“Sowwy Daddy. I twied, but it was too hawd. Sowwy Daddy.”
George remembered the phrase he had said and suddenly regretted it, “My son is no retard. What do you expect us to do, put a diaper on him and put him in a class with retards that have to wear bibs and fed like a baby. No way! I am not having both my children in diapers. Tom is a big boy and can behave like one if he just tried.”
George’s legacy was laid out in front of him. He had caused this. He had known since he was a child that he was living in the Twilight Zone. He said the phrase at the initial meeting with the school that put Tommy into Special Education, the phrase that changed everything. Now the world was changed because of him. His baby girl was now a big kid out of diapers and his big boy was a stupid retard back in diapers. He had watched enough Twilight Zone episodes to know that his fate was sealed. Either he accepted it as the new reality, or he would go insane.
“Hello there you must be Tommy’s Dad. Thank you for coming in. Tommy is enjoying playing in here. He seems to fit very will with Chris here. They have had a lot of fun playing together.”
“Yeah, this is where he belongs. This is my legacy to my son.”
Mrs. Jefferson did not understand George’s comment, but figured it was probably better not to ask.
“So, are you going to be his teacher now?” George inquired.
Mrs. Jefferson was taken back by this question. She was not prepared for him to be that blunt. She had considered it while watching Tommy over the last twenty minutes, but that was not for her to decide. That was really a better question for Mrs. Arrons than her.
“Well, that is a team decision, not one that I can decide. But, he does seem to fit well with the kids in my classroom.”
“Get your team together. This is my son now. He wears diapers and uses them instead of the toilet. He needs a bib and sippy cup at meals, and even with that you get a mess. He has been eating meals at home in his little sisters highchair to help decrease the mess. He plays with infant toys and his just 3 year old sister takes care of him like he is younger than her. He lets her. He can’t sleep in a regular bed without falling out. We tried him one night in his little sister’s crib. He had a much sounder sleep and didn’t even complain or fuss about being back in a crib. This is my son. Does he belong in a classroom like this, yes. I don’t like it but I must face reality. It is all my fault and I must take responsibility. So call your team together and do whatever you need to do. I will not fight you this time.” George closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Tommy belongs here.”
Mrs. Jefferson didn’t know what to say. She just turned to Tommy and Chris and helped them clean up the toys and then got Tommy’s stuff that she had delivered down to her room earlier. She said bye to Tommy and went back to her students, trying to process all that George had said.
George brought Tommy home and as they were pulling into the driveway, Mary pulled in too. He needed to get back to work, so he quickly tried to explain that Tommy made a complete mess at lunch today and because Mrs. Arrons was absent he was sent to the retard room to help get him cleaned out and changed out of his messy pull-up. They put him in a diaper and then he played with the other kids in that room. George explained that when he entered the room Tommy appeared to fit perfectly in there, and that he told the school to just put him in the room full time because that is where he belonged.
Mary was puzzled by George’s attitude and view of things. Something had changed. She didn’t really know what to say. George turned and headed for the door. With him half way out the door on his way back to work, he turned and looked at Mary and the kids.
“Mary, I will move the crib and changing table into Tommy’s room tonight and Tommy’s bed into Jenny’s room.” With that he turned and left.
That afternoon, the difference between the kids was unquestionable. Jenny was clearly the older of the two kids. She may have been smaller and chronologically younger, but she was definitely acting and behaving older. Her skills were more mature than his and he let her be the older sister, taking care of him.
Mary kept Tommy in diapers when he needed changing. She wasn’t sure if she should, but if George was really ready to move the Crib and Changing Table into Tommy’s room for him, then the diapers seemed appropriate. It wasn’t like he was using the toilet, and he hadn’t since Saturday. Mary was unsure what the future held for Tommy and George. Something had changed in George when he went to school to pick Tommy up. Was this good or not?
That afternoon, George came home and immediately went to work moving the furniture around between the two kid’s rooms. The Crib and Changing Table were moved into Tommy’s room. The twin bed was moved into Jenny’s room. When he was almost done, he heard Mary call up saying dinner was ready.
On his way down to dinner, he scooped Tommy up and brought him over to the highchair. Mary looked at him oddly as he strapped him into the highchair and put on the tray. He then went and got a bib for him. When Mary brought over a cup for Tommy, George went to get a sippy cup to replace the regular cup.
“George?”
“Does he need the sippy cup?”
“Well, yes,” Mary hesitantly said.
“Does he need the bib?”
“Well, yes.”
“Does he need the highchair, crib, and diapers?”
“Yes.”
“Then I need to face reality and accept that my son will be using these things till he no longer needs them.” George closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He then turned to Tommy. Running his hand down the back of his head and kissing him on the head, quietly he said to Tommy, “Sorry I passed this legacy on to you. I’m sorry. I should have been more careful knowing that we were living in the Twilight Zone.”
The End