Grandma's Garden

Aiden loved blueberries. He loved their elegant blue color, their sweet and tangy taste, and when the berries crunched in his mouth. He always looked forward to picking them from his grandmother’s garden, then washing them in the sink. Most of all Aiden especially enjoyed eating them with whipped cream or sugar over homemade waffles. Whenever Aiden visited his grandmother from Summertime until the end of Autumn, he helped his grandma make all kinds of blueberry-themed recipes. They made delicious jams, pies, smoothies, ice pops, and more!

One year, when it was time for Aiden to visit his grandmother, he saw her standing in the doorway with a sullen look upon her face. At first, he didn't quite understand why she was sad. As a boy, all he could think was perhaps she lost one of her favourite scarfs, or maybe the last piece to a puzzle? However, the news she relayed with a wispy, softened tone, was much worse.

Far more devasting, actually!

"My dear boy, I'm afraid I have some upsetting news... There will be no harvest this year..." Her voice cracked as she withheld tears, "The draught was too much for the plants to handle..."

He couldn't believe what he had just heard. In fact, he refused to believe! Aiden cupped his hands over his ears and ran past the kitchen and threw open the backdoor.

There, he sudden froze on his way down the steps. You could see what a lush, green garden should be just a few feet away. In its place were mouldy, brown stims, and dead leaves hunched down into hardened, dry soil.

“What happened?” Aiden cried out abruptly, “Where are all the fruit bushes? The blueberries, too!” He wailed hysterically, as if he'd just been struck on the head.

His grandmother rushed to his side and hugged him. “I’m sorry, dear. There wasn't much I could do to salvage them. I even tried watering them, but they just couldn't hold on any longer.”

Aiden felt tears well up in his eyes. He had been dreaming of blueberries for weeks, and now there were none. He felt like his whole world had turned upside down.

“Can we plant more?”, he stuttered whilst gulping down spit and tears.

"No.", His grandmother pulled out her handkerchief to wipe his face while shaking her head. “It's too late, darling, there wouldn't be enough time for them to thrive. The soil is much too dry, it won't be right to force them to try to grow in these conditions.”

Aiden felt defeated. He hugged his grandmother, then slumped away off to his room. He went to hide under his bed wrapped tightly in his favourite blanket; it helped him to calm down.

He didn't do anything for the rest of the night, he didn't play with his trucks, or pet the outside cat named Rosy. For tea(dinner), his grandma made his favourite meal, fish pie, peas, and roasted carrots. However, he still too overwhelmed to eat. So, instead he pushed around the peas on his plate with a fork.

"Granny..." He nearly whispered, "Why do sad things happen?" His grandmother tried to make out what he'd said, but then understood quite clearly. She took a deep breath, then replied, "Well, I don't know. Sometimes they just happen, and then you continue on, sometimes it just gets a little difficult."

He began to tear up again. "But I don't understand! I don't want it to grandma! I want to help in the garden like I always do!" Aiden had a difficult time with adjusting to change, but he wanted to try, even though the situation hurt him.

Grandma tapped on the table for a second, this was a sound that Aiden grew to like. As if by reflex, he began tapping, too. This made him calm down a bit. He also swung his feet under the table. Grandma hardly noticed and got up from the table to put her empty plate in the sink.

She thoughtfully wondered if there was a creative activity they could do to get Aiden to eat his dinner. Then, an idea!

"I may have a solution that could solve our dilemma." He looked up at her from looking at his plate. "What is it!", he shouted gleefully.

"We'll paint all of our favourite blueberry recipes!"

Aiden stopped stimming for a moment. Then he jumped off his chair and gave her an approving thumbs up. "That's the greatest idea! I have all my favourite paints in my suitcase! I'll get them right now!"

About half an hour has passed now, and Aiden is happily swinging his feet at the painting work bench. He has his dinner, almost completely eaten, on side and his watercolour paints on the other.

(Imagine a scene where he is lying in bed and the camera pans over to a cute painting of blueberry waffles out in the hallway where grandma is adjusting it one more time, then walks toward the room, smiles softly, then tucks him in before the scene ends)

*Please, understand this is my own fictional story using my personal experiences as an Autistic person... With that said all of us are on a Spectrum, we react, and feel differently throughout our separate lives and it will change overtime as we age!

We may be different, but we are still human.

Happy Disability Pride month everyone!!

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