Lea's Story

When Lea Met Shaun

When Lea Met Shaun

Lea knocked three times before Shaun answered the door. Of course, she didn't know this was his name at the time. She thought about going back to her apartment after the third knock. She wasn't sure anyone was even home, but it was pretty late. So, she decided to give it a few more seconds. She had almost turned around when Shaun opened the door. She didn't introduce herself. That's not really how she rolled. She just got straight to the point saying "So, I'm in the middle of Uncharted and I'm dead. Can I borrow some triple-As? "As he stood there silently, she had realized she had forgotten to introduce herself. So, she then said "I'm your neighbor....34" still not giving her name. He finally said something. He came out with a very sweet sounding "hello," while looking at her in the eyes for a quick second that she almost missed it. He then said, "I moved in last week....33." She for the most part stayed in her apartment. She didn't talk with her neighbors. So, this was a rare occurrence for her. She had made no friends in San Jose for the entire year she had been living there. Although her old neighbors had known she lived in apartment 34, Shaun didn't know anyone lived there until she knocked on his door. Continuing the conversation, she replied with "yeah, I know." Shaun then blurted out "I work at a hospital." Lea responded with "that's cool". He then said "yes." Although she wanted to change the subject back to her needing batteries, she was actually interested in him telling her he works at a hospital. Lea did wonder what his job was at the hospital. So, she then asked him again for batteries by saying "triple A's por favor." It took him a second, then he responded with "batteries", with Lea replying with "right.... do you have any?" He then walked back into his apartment, She watched very closely as he turned around to get the batteries. He brought her the batteries and she said "thank you." She had noticed when she first knocked that the cat who always sat outside her window was sitting on Shaun's table on his patio. She then gave him some advice to not feed the cat. Shaun responded with "what cat." She knew he had seen it and was planning on feeding it. Lea said to him, "feed it once and it will never leave you alone." Then said "thank you for the batteries neighbor" and gave a half-smile as she walked away. She had already shut her door to her apartment, but was pretty sure he said "you're welcome." Lea got her batteries, but realized it was too late to play Uncharted because she had to be up early for work the following day. She got ready for bed. But once she got into bed, she couldn't stop thinking about who this mysterious neighbor of hers was from who she had just borrowed batteries. She just kept playing every action and every word he said over and over again, knowing there was something different about him. She just couldn't quite put her finger on it. Even know it was late and she needed to go to bed, she got her iPad out and searched different things she had noticed in Shaun. Every result had the word "autism" In the title. She was kind of shocked. She had never met someone with autism, much less her own neighbor. Lea spent the next couple of hours reading articles on autism when she knew she should be sleeping. She ended up falling asleep on her iPad. Her alarm on her phone made this blaring sound because she had left it right next to her when she normally leaves it across the room. It startled Lea right out of her chair. She got ready for work, still thinking about her friendly neighbor's diagnosis. She went to knock on his door to say hello since she hadn't said goodbye the night before, but he wasn't there. She had forgotten for a minute that he worked at a hospital and that he might be at work earlier than she leaves. So, she then went to work. She was very distracted all day, still thinking about Shaun. She didn't understand why he was still on her mind. She didn't even go to the assembly line that day to see the cars being built. She just sat in the conference room waiting for the next meeting to start. Her boss was shocked when she wasn't late for the next meeting. He was being rude as usual and said to her "so, you decided to be on time for the meeting today. That's a change" with a smug look on his face. As he left Lea rolled her eyes. The meeting went as it always does, with her ideas being pushed off to the side and never ending up being used. It was the end of her day and she drove home. Lea had still been thinking about Shaun and what it means to have him as a neighbor and maybe even a friend. She was worried she may say the wrong thing about his autism. So, on that ride home, she decided to never bring it up because she realized that it didn't even matter that he had autism. He was a wonderful man, maybe even the most wonderful man she had ever met. So, she just stopped overthinking it. Lea decided to stop at Salad Farm to pick up a Caesar salad on her way home. She forgot all about her dilemma once she got home. Lea had just finished eating as she heard a knock on her door. She didn't know who it was. The only person who has ever knocked on her door was Armin to yell at her to turn her music down. But he usually knocks a lot louder, so she didn't know who it was. She opened her door, and there he was. Her neighbor who she couldn't stop thinking about all day. She was kind of surprised to see him. She didn't expect him to ever talk to her again. She has read a lot about autism and knew that people with autism try to avoid social interaction. As she said hi and he said hello back, she realized that not everyone with autism is the same. Lea asked him if he was a lab guy or something not really knowing what she was exactly asking. He then responded with "I'm a surgeon." As she responded with "That's insane," he interrupted her asking if he could have his batteries back. The ones she borrowed. She gave him a very surprised look. But as she went to take the batteries out of her controller, she realized that she had in fact said "borrowed." She handed him his batteries and thought that was it for their conversation for the night. As she was about to go back into her apartment, he suddenly turned around and he said: "what's your name". She then responded with "I'm Lea" and he said back "I'm Doctor Shaun Murphy.... Nice to meet you." Lea smiled as she was happy that she now knew his name. Then went back into her apartment.