Osel's Rendezvous

It was the scariest afternoon of my sister's life, I suppose. Her son Osel, a lad aged 15, went for a long and far walk to a schoolmate's house on the other side of the city. Being a teenage boy, this may seem like an ordinary and normal adventure of exploring the city. Except that Osel was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3 and has since been a special child that requires the full time care of his mother and the understanding of people around him. As a toddler, he was doing odd things like spinning on the floor, mumbling to himself in a different language, and sticking his head against the TV screen. He would not look at you straight in the eye and has difficulty in communicating. And he had a whole bunch of fixations at different stages, one after the other. Osel had difficulty eating when he was younger and had a number of food items deleted from his diet including chocolates which the doctor says increases hyperactivity. And the worst part is the absence of the concept of fear from his human instinct. This can maybe explain his delayed reaction to pain.

However, despite being all these, among autistic people, Osel can still be considered lucky. His fixations are on a cerebral level. Language was his first talent. At a very young age, he speaks English fluently without being taught. Filipino and hiligaynon were and still are the primary language/dialect at home. He got the lingual skill from Barney and his friends. Next was, I think, mathematics. He got hold of a calculator and toyed with it until he was able to memorize the addition of similar numbers up to six digits and give you the answer through mental calculation in less than 10 seconds. I wondered how he did this. Until I discovered that when you press the plus sign over and over again, the screen will give you the sum of the previous number plus itself. But he surely remembered a lot of those numbers that appeared on the screen which mortals like myself would never be able to do. He also went into maps and geography, building blocks and engineering. The conclusion then was that he has photographic memory. Recently, however, his concentration is focused on a phallic fixation. I would get a tight hug from Osel every time I see him these days with a greeting of “boobs”.

Unlike maybe most autistic children, Osel is in 3^rd year high school, the appropriate academic level for his age. My sister spent almost double on his school fees each year because of an exclusive shadow teacher. She was determined to mainstream Osel in school at an early age. Now in high school, I think he does not have a shadow teacher anymore but has a very compassionate seat mate who helps him out in focusing and reminding him of taking down the important stuff especially assignments. This female classmate would also inform my sister of things that Osel needs to do. What a kind-hearted girl!

So, on this fateful afternoon when my sister needed to do some groceries, she left Osel and the youngest son aged 7 I think, to the care of her second son who is only a year younger than Osel. She is confident of leaving the three boys alone at home for some time now for short periods because they just do their own stuff and are really quite tamed boys. They even help out with the household chores since my sister decided not to get a helper anymore after the last one left two years ago. So off she went to the nearby grocery store for an hour or so and came back home at around 5pm. Her husband was, by the way, in China on a business trip. Upon entering their house, an immediate head count indicated that one was missing. Osel was nowhere inside the two story apartment and a look around the next door neighbors also proved futile. The second son had no idea that Osel left the house. He told his mother that he and Osel had a small spat on using the computer and that Osel threatened to run away if he didn't get his way. Of course, the second son didn't think that Osel would do it because of his condition. Well, anyway, lesson learned. Osel left the house at around 5pm, just before my sister arrived. She was beginning to be hysterical when she can't find him in the neighborhood. The village guards told her that they noticed Osel walked pass them but they were unaware of Osel's condition. She drove around the nearby villages up to the main highway but can't find a trace of Osel. Frantic of the situation, she called up her husband in China because fear was beginning to creep through her and all the images of what can happen to her son started to appear in her mind.

After two hours of looking, she called up the police and informed them that her special child was missing. She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It was not until on or about 9 p.m. when she received a call that she learned where Osel was. The call came from the mother of Osel's school mate informing her that the boy was sitting on the gutter in front of their house and seemed to be at a loss on how to make his way home.

When Osel left the house, he walked passed the village guards and continued walking for a couple of kilometers or more to his school mate's house who also happens to be a bus mate. It was quite a long walk, maybe the distance is from Quezon City Hall to SM North Edsa Annex or maybe even up to Munoz. Anyway, when he arrived at his school mate's house, he did not attempt to enter. He just lingered in front of the house until it was after 8 pm when a man noticed his unusual stance and approached him. One would instantly notice that Osel is special when you try to talk to him. For some, even just by looking at him, one could sense that something is amiss. I would describe him as a combination of Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man and Forest Gump. But he's definitely far from stupid. He's autistic. Fortunately, the man was decent and kind enough to assist him in knocking on his school mate's door and confirmed that Osel was indeed a classmate in school. The school mate was actually already asleep and the mother had to wake him up. She immediately called up my sister and informed her about Osel's whereabouts.

They had a serious talk about the incident and Osel promised not to do it again. The village guards were warned not to let Osel out of the village alone and the second son to be more conscious of Osel's disposition. I haven't talked to Osel about his rendezvous yet but I'm really curious to know if he ever felt afraid during those four hours that he was out there in the world all alone by himself. But I sure bet that it was one hell of an experience for him. And for his mother as well.