The Guy at the CD Store [Larry Stylinson]

10/22/1994

-Harry, son, you must wake up. It's late.

A female voice deep into the dark of the room. Then she opened the curtains and windows slightly. The boy shifted in his plaintive bed, covering with blankets over his head.

-Harry, please.

The boy ignored her. His mother sighed, walked over to him and placed her a sweet kiss on her head above the covers.

It was the mid-nineties. The streets of England were covered by a vast fog that fall.

Anne was in the kitchen preparing a breakfast for her son. Harry was a special guy. He had been diagnosed as a child with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. It is a kind of disease that affects the right to socialize with people. Whether hindering development with other verbal or lack the ability to interact easily with people. All in his head was fine. He don't have cognitive problems. He was not a genius or a fool. His brain was that of a normal child. The most closest person to him, his mother, with whom he was exchanging words. Any kind of human contact that wasn't his mother make him feel really nervous. He had suffered a panic attack at school when I was little child, teachers and peers were terrified and had no idea how to contain it, it was not until his mother came to the establishment when he finally managed to calm him down. Since that day, his parents decided that he would study at home with a trusted person, without being exposed to so many people around who could suffocate him. No specialist had been able to say that he will be "normal" in some point of their life. But she never lost hope.

She heard the footsteps of Harry down the stairs and turned hiding something behind his back. The sixteen year old guy slowly walked into the kitchen wearing his striped pajamas, with his tousled curls and rubbing one eye with his fist.

-Hi sweetheart. How did you sleep? She asked in a sweet tone while serving at the table.

Harry just shrugged, without being rude, and sat down.

-Eat it before it gets cold.

It was Thursday. Harry had private lessons in his living room Monday through Thursday with a very nice woman named Marianne. She was the instructor Harry for years, was accustomed to his behavior and he could trust her. On Friday he had an appointment with his psychologist. Not spent so much time with that woman as he did with Marianne. They had not formed an affectionate bond between them, then their conversation are more limited. Saturdays were his days off. Her mother don't demand anything on Saturdays. He can sleep until the time he want and invest his time as he pleased. Sundays are the least favorite day for Harry. His family gathers at his grandparents' house for lunch together. They are his uncles and cousins ​​and he had to withstand that human contact for a couple of hours on end.

Thursday had math classes. He hated math. He don't is that bad on maths, it just was not to his liking and his mother knew it perfectly. So always looking for ways to compensate, either with your favorite meal or some present.

-Harry -called him softly.

 Harry stop eating and notice her -I have something for you, but Harry, like most of the time, he had a blank look.

She pulled her arms of behind her back and showed him that in his hands he held a music CD that Harry wanted. She held it out and he took it careful, watching it, admiring every detail, as with every gift his mother regaled him.

-Is what you wanted right? He nodded, still seeing the object -Is there anything you wanna tell me?

Harry stopped watch the CD and looked into her eyes, and after a few seconds, he finally said a simple "thank you" with a tiny smile.