Susan Senator

Good things can happen to good people.

There’s been a softening within The Beast lately. For months now, I have been feeling a greater connection with him. His therapist told us the same thing. He will be stopping therapy soon, because he has had such terrific growth. Oh, sure, he still talks and writes about bad guys like the Voguons being killed (by Max and Andy, super twins, dying in horrible ways). He still is quick to anger, and once angry, feels the need to crush everything in his path.

But, the other day, he explained Nat’s autism to his therapist, in kind of an offhand way, “Oh, it means that his brain grows differently.” And he didn’t add (as he used to): “Isn’t that stupid?!” And on Saturday, he wandered into the playroom, where Nat and I were playing Pajama Sam on the computer, he sat down and started to help. I left, and Ben stayed next to Nat, hand on mouse, for an entire hour! Finally he came and found me and said, “Mom, can you go in now? I’ve been helping Nat for so long!”

I could have seized him and mauled him with kisses, but he is a Little Wild Beastie and that is not recommended. (I think I did it anyway.)

So here we have, under one roof: Nat enjoying a computer game for an hour, solving problems and feeling engaged, rather than just wanting to lie on the couch, when he had seemed to have lost interest in those for nearly a year; and Benji playing with him and being kind, and feeling the nascent tender seedlings of empathy and compassion unfurl within.