Hi, I'm Simon

Chapter 6

It took a week for him to decide if he wanted him tested. After the conference with Ms. Higgins, Simon kept a close eyes on Anthony. When helping with his math homework, he would pay extra attention to how he wrote his answers. He noticed he would write 35 instead of 53, or he would add an extra 0 to a number. When completing his reading, he would sometimes read "top" instead of "pot", even misreading simple words.

Simon realized Ms. Higgins right, there was a chance Anthony could have dyslexia. After some phone calls to the school principal and waiting for an appointment to be made with a real psychologist, a decision was made that Anthony would have the test on Saturday and they would get the results back by Friday of the following week. They didn't want to embarrass him and pull him out in the middle of class. Plus, if the test was on Saturday, it would give the principal some time to look for a teacher that was experienced in teaching a dyslexic child.

Telling Anthony hadn't been easy to begin with. He didn't understand why he had to go for a test on Saturday and when Simon broke it to him as gently as he possibly could he was still confused about what dyslexia was.

"Why do I have to go for a test? It's Saturday."  Anthony asked with a whine.

"It's not a test, per se, it's more of an evaluation." Simon explained.

"Okay, why do I have to go for an evaluation?" Simon took Anthony by the shoulders and led him to the couch where he sat him down.

"Do you know what dyslexia is?" He had to go about this carefully.

"No. Is it bad?"

"No. Dyslexia is just a word that means that you learn differently."

"What do you mean by 'learn differently'?"

"Your brain learns things differently than other people." Anthony looked thoughtful for a minute.

"So what you're saying is...I'm dumb." Simon instantly shook his head.

"No, no. I'm not saying you're dumb, you're smart. There are lots of people with dyslexia who have done amazing things."

"Like who?" Simon looked elsewhere, desperately trying to think of someone an eight-year-old would know. A few names came to mind.

"Magic Johnson, Tom Cruise..."

"Really?" He had no idea who Tom Cruise was but he loved Magic Johnson. He looked up to him, and he hoped that one day he would be as big and strong as he was.

"Yeah, they had dyslexia." Anthony sighed and looked down.

"What's wrong?" Simon asked, noticing the boy's fallen mood. Anthony looked back up at him with unsure eyes.

"Would you still like me even if I do have dyslexia?" Simon was taken back by that question. He knew what Anthony really meant to say was if he would still love him.

"Yes I would still like you." He replied with a soft smile. The smile Anthony reciprocated made Simon scared his face would split in two.

********

When Saturday rolled around Simon got Anthony ready and headed to the school. When they arrived, they walked to the office and were instantly greeted by a tall man standing next to Mrs. Price, the principal. He was at least eight inches taller than Simon and four feet taller than Anthony. When he caught sight of them he turned and whispered to Mrs. Price.

"Is that the eight-year-old I'm evaluating?"

"Yes, that's him, Anthony McPartlin."

"Are you sure he's eight? He's so small."

"He's been through a lot, Mr. Walsh. Hehasn't been getting enough food...or nutrients and he was rarely let outside. Lack of vitamin D will stunt your growth." She was going off what Simon told her. Upon seeing Anthony the first day of school she thought he belonged in the kindergarten class, not the second grade class. When Simon came to pick him she pulled him to the side and demanded an explanation. It was her job to report any signs of child abuse. He assured her he wasn't abusing him but he had been abused before he found him. She just couldn't understand how anyone could do that to such a poor, innocent child. No matter if it was the parent or the siblings.

"Point taken." He walked up to Simon and Anthony and extended his hand to each of them. "Hello, I'm David. You must Anthony." Anthony nodded. "I know you don't want to be here." Anthony nodded again. "Do you know what we're going to be doing today?"

"Yeah, you're testing me to see if I have dyslexia."

"Right, would you like to go in now? The faster we get started the faster this is over with and the faster you can get home and enjoy the rest of your Saturday." Anthony nodded and Simon took his hand again. The four of them walked into the school and straight into the principal's office.

The principal's office was pretty much the same as Ms. Higgins', except hers had no whiteboard, desks, or cubbies. It was also about the same size as her classroom. It did have a shelf behind the teacher's chair, a fish tank, and a few chairs lining the walls. There was a table in the center of the room with two chairs directly in front. On top of it was clutters of paperwork and a computer.

Between the chairs against the wall and the chairs in front of Mrs. Price's desk there was a mini table with two seats opposite each other. Simon took a seat in one of the chairs against the wall, Mrs. Price sat a seat away from him. Mr. Walsh and Anthony took a seat at the small table. Simon fought from laughing at the sight of Mr. Walsh sitting in a kiddie chair, his knees almost touch his lips.

"Mrs. Price, can you get those for me?" On Mrs. Price's desk were a stack of papers. Those were what he was going to use to evaluate Anthony. He didn't want to go through the trouble of getting out of the small chair to fetch the papers and have to settle back down again. Mrs. Price gladly got it for him. "Thank you." He smiled gratefully at her. She saved him some embarrassment. 

"Now Anthony, we're going to start with a questionnaire. It's kind of like 20 Questions." David enthused, taking a sheet from the stack. He was at least trying to make it exciting.

********

Hours later, a tired and emotionally drained Anthony trudged through the school doors. Simon tried unsuccessfully to keep him standing. They had gone through many tests: intelligence, word recognition, spelling, reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, and phonological processing, the ability to identify, pronounce, or recall sounds. Simon hated to admit it but even he was falling asleep. Mrs. Price had to nudge him a couple of times because his snoring was giving him away. She couldn't get mad though, she was nodding off also. They were surprised Mr. Walsh was wide awake. Even though he was a professional, it could still get tiring.

Simon decided to carry Anthony home. He wasn't heavy, it wasn't that long a walk, and the poor kid needed a break. Those tests could have knocked out a high school student, let alone an eight-year-old. 

Simon carried him home and into his room, setting him down on top of the covers. He didn't bother changing him, it would only wake him up. Besides, it wasn't hot and he wasn't wearing heavy clothing, just a light sweatshirt that hid his skinny arms and semi-long pants that covered his bony legs.

Simon looked back at him before walking out of the room.

Soon, you'll have a permanent place to call home. He declared.

He closed the door slightly and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. No more leftover pizza nights. Now that he had a kid in the house, he had to start cooking.