Clocks

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.”