Clocks
By Dave Woehrle
I worked at an after school program a few years ago with a student
who supposedly had Asperser’s. I’m not
sure he did. I think he was just deadpan and accurate, which is unsettling to
most adults. One day in late May, I asked him about his summer plans.
“I'm going to London with my mom and
dad,” he said.
“London?
That's awesome.”
“Yeah. I
guess so.”
“What are
you doing in London?”
“We're going
to see Stonehenge and stuff. You know, those big stones?”
“Sure.”
“They look like big gray doorways. I
saw it on the internet.”
“ I would
love to see Stonehenge.”
“Yeah. It’s
going to be great. And, yeah, I mean, it’s better than not seeing it.”
“That’s true.”
“And there’s this other place I want
to go. It’s an amputation museum. That's what I'm looking forward to.”
“Amputation
museum?”
“Yeah. I saw
this thing about it on the Travel Channel. There's going to be body parts, legs
in jars and stuff. It's interesting. It all floats in liquid.”
“Legs in
jars?”
“The jars that hold legs are big
jars. But they have smaller things in smaller jars, like little heads.”
“I should hope so. Why do you like
body parts in jars?”
“Because it’s cool. It’s like bodies
become fractions. And then they go into jars.”
“Okay. I can see that. What else are
you going to do?”
“I'm not
sure,” he said.
“What about
Big Ben? Are you going to see Big Ben?”
“I guess so.
Maybe.”
“Do you know
what Big Ben is?”
“I know. I
know Big Ben. I just don't get it, though.”
“Get it?”
“I mean,
it's just a big clock.”
“Yeah. But
it's historic. It's an icon.”
“I guess.”
“You guess?”
“I don't get
why people want to see it.”
“Well, it
was built in the 1850s, and it's, I don't know, just something people want to
see when they’re in London.”
“Just
because something is old and big doesn't make it good to see.”
“Fair
enough.”
“It's just a
clock tower. Why do people travel across an ocean to see a clock?”
I was silent. He’d made a good
point.
He shook his head and said, “Clock
towers are everywhere. That's not interesting. I want to see Stonehenge. I want
to see arms and legs, you know? Clocks are just clocks.”
