December Love

Eudora

Eudora, Eudora Jefferson, the doctor called for the second time. Oh, sorry. I said while coming out of my trance. No, you're fine I have a lot of patients who tend blank out during their first visit here. Just take your time and start from where ever. Honestly doc I don't know where to start. Well for starters you don't have to keep calling me doctor we are just here to talk we don't have to do any deep soul searching today just tell me about yourself. Yeah, ok. I said quietly. I am from New Orleans, I have five siblings. Are you the oldest? The doctor asked intrigued.

Yes, I am. What are their ages? Well, I am the oldest at 28, August is 25, Edilia 22, calier and Moriah are 18. Awesome twins! Yes, they are twins. They act very differently though. How so? The doctor asked curiously while leaning in. Well for starters justify is very outgoing he is apart of the choir at his college, he is very much into performing arts, poetry just all things performing arts. He is very outgoing says what's on his mind and does not have a shy bone in his body. Everyone loves him, all his professors to old people. I say while thinking of my talented brother. What about Telly? he asked. Telly, well he is the complete opposite. He is like a 1,000 piece puzzle that you have to work on day and night to put together.

He has an old soul that just sometimes can't be overlooked or you will miss everything. I remember when he was little he had trouble communicating with us up until he was 8 years old he could understand everyone who spoke to him so we knew nothing was wrong he just didn't or wasn't ready to communicate with us yet. I knew sooner or later that he would I just couldn't pinpoint when he actually would say something. Then one day we were all sitting at the dinner table and our dad was asking us questions about our day at school as he usually would do and even though my brother would never say anything my dad asked him how was his day at school just to make sure he didn't leave Telly out.

He just shrugged his shoulders and put his thumb up, then a couple of minutes go by and he just asks, mom are you pregnant? Wow, I bet that shocked everyone the doctor said while laughing. After we got over the shock he finally spoke we found out our mom was pregnant. Wow, how did he find out at such a young age? We asked how did he know and his response was your skin tone is a lot darker from what it usually was, she stopped drinking at our family dinners, you are a lot more tired than usual, and your feet are swollen.

Everyone looked at Telly with there jaws to the floor like how could this child know so much about women and pregnancies, and we realized he was not a regular child, A year or two later we found out he has autism which explained why he was never really a verbal kid. You can't tell just by looking at him but he is. If you watch him close he tends to just stare off into the distance, absolutely hates to be touched, can't read people's emotions, and sometimes he won't want to talk to you so we will sign to him somedays.

Oh, wow. What makes him go silent? the doctor questioned. We have no clue somedays he just won't speak a word he just likes to sign. When he was younger he didn't really want to speak that much either he just nodded his head yes or no if we asked him questions, shrugged his shoulders, or nodded his head to acknowledge that he was listening to us. Wow, so has he shown progress from when he was a child? Yes and no. Like some days he will surprise you and talk on other days he won't speak at all. Is Telly social or does he tend to stick to himself?  He tends to stick to himself he doesn't really like to interact with anyone except me and his brother. His brother wanted him to go to college with him so he could look after him but the day they were supposed to leave he broke down and didn't leave the house for a month. Wow! the doctor said wide-eyed.  Yeah, I think we pushed way too hard and he just couldn't really handle that pressure.

Do you think he might want to leave home eventually? I don't think so I don't think he wants to go anywhere where I am not there.  What does he do when you have to go to work? Well, I'm a teacher I work with special-ed kids at the elementary school near my house and since I know the principal she lets him come to the school to help me with the kids sometimes and to my surprise he really likes it and he helps me a lot, but other days he stays home and builds stuff, read, and watch tv. What about your other siblings they don't watch him sometimes?

Belvedere is in the military and Juss is in the Navy so they are always gone so the responsibility of taking care of him usually falls on me. Oh, ok. He nodded. I absolutely don't mind because I love him very much but when everyone does come home it is a weight off my shoulders because it does get very stressful at times.

What about your parents they don't help? My parents help but not as they should. From a young age, my siblings and I knew that even though we have our parents we will have to stick together and raise ourselves if that makes sense. My parents had all of us at a young age so they were always in and out of the house. That night at the table when Telly blurted out that my mom was pregnant she told us all that she pregnant again we were all very excited but then things took a turn for the worse when she lost the baby, she got really depressed and distant. She wasn't really always there but when she lost the baby she was totally disconnected no one could really bring her back not even my father. Wow! the doctor said as he nodded.

Yeah, I said while looking down. I was only 16 at the time so at that time I felt like I lost my mom and gained a couple of friends called depression and anxiety. It got really hard for my mom to even look at us it's like when that baby died she died with the baby. Why do you think she took the baby's death so hard? Don't get me wrong any miscarriage would be hard but she already had 5 kids. You know what doc I asked myself that question time and time again and everytime I come up with the same answer, we just weren't enough. I said while looking down a little. Tell me how things were around the house after that. Well, it just seemed like the house that was once a life died a little. My mom-. Before I could finish my sentence the alarm went off. I'm sorry but our session is up but if you want to keep talking for a few more minutes that's ok too. Wow, that hour went by really fast, doc. See I told you it would if you talked. Yes, you did I said with a little smile. Alright, I have you on my schedule again for next Tuesday at 11, is that ok? He asked quizzically. Yes perfect. Alright, I will see you later Eudora. Ok, thank you! With that, I walked out of the therapist's office. I wasn't to keep on seeing many doctors especially a therapist but after my last break down I didn't really have a choice in the matter.