Matthew and I were at Best Buy shopping for CD’s (he wanted to buy REVOLVER and The White Album.)

He saw an entire rack of Beatle CD’s and ran over to it gleefully, bumping into another customer-hard.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” said Matthew earnestly.

“What are you, a retard or something? “yelled the customer.

“I give up,” Matthew replied passively, as if the guy was simply telling him a riddle.

As we drove away with Matthew’s CD’s, I convinced myself that Matthew didn’t know the guy had insulted him. I told friends and family the story, and they laughed.

“Thank God he didn’t get it,” we all said.

But when I put my head on my pillow later that night, I knew that on some level Matthew did get it. God only knows how many times he has heard that phrase.

I thought back to the time when I was a teenager, and I laughed at a weird boy at summer camp who was rocking and flapping his hands. His brother, who was also at the camp, saw me laughing and glared at me, deeply hurt. I will never forget it.

I’m guessing that the guy at Best Buy realized later that Matthew was standing next to his mother when he blurted out that hurtful phrase.

If you ever see him, tell him I forgive him.

Laura

Laura is the author of A REGULAR GUY: GROWING UP WITH AUTISM.

She is praying for Anissa.