looks greasy. “Eeew, Ally, couldn’t you at least take a shower before you came in? I can smell you all the way back by the seafood case! You smell worse than the fish!” He’d laugh and say he was just teasing, but she knew he was really a mean kid.
It wasn’t like when Kevin teased her. Kevin always made her feel more loved in some strange way; he made her feel like a normal little sister. But it hurts when strangers tease her. Just because she has Down syndrome doesn’t mean she can’t tell when someone is being mean.
You humans would not treat these Dear Ones like that if you only knew the truth. You’ll see.
Being teased at work makes Ally feel embarrassed, ashamed, angry. And when she gets angry, she stutters, which, in turn, makes her more embarrassed and ashamed. It is not a good situation, going to work with dirty hair. She’d heard the term “hostile work environment” and she wonders if that is the kind of thing it refers to.
My dirty hair creates a hostile work environment, she thinks.
She wants to go home and sleep.
***
While Ally is at work, Lois drops by Sylvia’s house. The Cool People’s moms have all been pitching in to help Sylvia and Mara out ever since the accident. Jason’s mom, Trish Gibson, is there, helping out with the laundry and dusting. Since Sylvia is still on the mend from her bypass and ankle surgery, Trish and Jason have practically moved in. The situation would normally cause insane jealousy in Ally, but as things stand, Ally doesn’t care about her boyfriend hanging out with Mara all the time. As Lois walks into the homey kitchen, which smells of freshly-baked cake, she reflects on how nice it is to be part of such a kind and caring group. They are the best thing that had ever happened to Lois and Ally, blessing them with a second family.
“Have you given any more thought to the group home idea?” Lois asks, joining Trish and Sylvia at the kitchen table, for a cup of tea. Sylvia’s kitchen seemed so bare compared to the Formans’ cluttered space. Not a single thing was out of place in the Heffron house. Lois thought that must make one feel so…free, not having to worry about where specific things were hiding among the disorder. Must be nice, she thinks.
The group home was Lois’s idea, well, my idea, actually, if you want to get technical. The thought had struck her that day at the hospital, as she held her best friend, and she had not been able to think of much else in the weeks since. In hindsight, she refused to believe that she’d heard anything. Then she thought it had been a voice in another room, or on the muted television, or, that she’d imagined the whole thing. Of course you imagined it, you dummy, only crazy people hear voices, she thought to herself during her own private self-scolding.
It made me laugh.
Silly humans.
But, the more she’d thought about it, the more real my voice had seemed, and the more the idea of a group home had appealed to her. Call it her new calling.
She’d been anxious to share the idea with her friends, but had waited until Sylvia was home from the hospital and the mothers had gathered at the Heffron house for a welcome home potluck dinner. It was hell getting Ally out of the house, but she did it. She told her that Mara had her eye on Jason. Eh, it was only one of those little white lies, no biggie. That was before Ally had become too depressed to care. While the Cool People congregated in the basement to watch a pay-per-view WWC wrestling event, Lois had revealed her new idea to her friends in the kitchen.
“You know, it is a marvelous idea,” Trish says, blowing across her mug, “but, again, I think it’s going to be waaaaay too expensive.” That was the group’s chief concern when Lois first suggested it. All six mothers absolutely loved the idea of their children living in the same house and having each other as a permanent support network, even after the parents had themselves passed away, but the
It wasn’t like when Kevin teased her. Kevin always made her feel more loved in some strange way; he made her feel like a normal little sister. But it hurts when strangers tease her. Just because she has Down syndrome doesn’t mean she can’t tell when someone is being mean.
You humans would not treat these Dear Ones like that if you only knew the truth. You’ll see.
Being teased at work makes Ally feel embarrassed, ashamed, angry. And when she gets angry, she stutters, which, in turn, makes her more embarrassed and ashamed. It is not a good situation, going to work with dirty hair. She’d heard the term “hostile work environment” and she wonders if that is the kind of thing it refers to.
My dirty hair creates a hostile work environment, she thinks.
She wants to go home and sleep.
***
While Ally is at work, Lois drops by Sylvia’s house. The Cool People’s moms have all been pitching in to help Sylvia and Mara out ever since the accident. Jason’s mom, Trish Gibson, is there, helping out with the laundry and dusting. Since Sylvia is still on the mend from her bypass and ankle surgery, Trish and Jason have practically moved in. The situation would normally cause insane jealousy in Ally, but as things stand, Ally doesn’t care about her boyfriend hanging out with Mara all the time. As Lois walks into the homey kitchen, which smells of freshly-baked cake, she reflects on how nice it is to be part of such a kind and caring group. They are the best thing that had ever happened to Lois and Ally, blessing them with a second family.
“Have you given any more thought to the group home idea?” Lois asks, joining Trish and Sylvia at the kitchen table, for a cup of tea. Sylvia’s kitchen seemed so bare compared to the Formans’ cluttered space. Not a single thing was out of place in the Heffron house. Lois thought that must make one feel so…free, not having to worry about where specific things were hiding among the disorder. Must be nice, she thinks.
The group home was Lois’s idea, well, my idea, actually, if you want to get technical. The thought had struck her that day at the hospital, as she held her best friend, and she had not been able to think of much else in the weeks since. In hindsight, she refused to believe that she’d heard anything. Then she thought it had been a voice in another room, or on the muted television, or, that she’d imagined the whole thing. Of course you imagined it, you dummy, only crazy people hear voices, she thought to herself during her own private self-scolding.
It made me laugh.
Silly humans.
But, the more she’d thought about it, the more real my voice had seemed, and the more the idea of a group home had appealed to her. Call it her new calling.
She’d been anxious to share the idea with her friends, but had waited until Sylvia was home from the hospital and the mothers had gathered at the Heffron house for a welcome home potluck dinner. It was hell getting Ally out of the house, but she did it. She told her that Mara had her eye on Jason. Eh, it was only one of those little white lies, no biggie. That was before Ally had become too depressed to care. While the Cool People congregated in the basement to watch a pay-per-view WWC wrestling event, Lois had revealed her new idea to her friends in the kitchen.
“You know, it is a marvelous idea,” Trish says, blowing across her mug, “but, again, I think it’s going to be waaaaay too expensive.” That was the group’s chief concern when Lois first suggested it. All six mothers absolutely loved the idea of their children living in the same house and having each other as a permanent support network, even after the parents had themselves passed away, but the
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