Hero the greyhound (Simon's Hero)

Hero the Greyhound (Chapter 14)

"And the award for the end of term General Knowledge Competition goes to...could we have a drum roll please?" Mrs Baker smiled at her excitable students, knowing they were dying to find out who had won the end of term GK quiz. The students began patting their thighs and the level of excitement rose to fever pitch. Who could it be? Who could possibly have memorised one hundred answers to one hundred random questions in order to win the prize? "And the winner is..." Mrs Baker made a fuss of opening the envelope and the crowd groaned, "...Simon ELLIS!"

Tumultuous applause ensued; children and teachers smiled and patted Simon on the back and he felt as though he would self-combust. The noise was unbearable, the clapping and cheering quite simply filled his brain until he thought he would faint. His head was spinning and when he went up to collect the trophy, it was sheer adrenaline which kept him from falling over. He, Simon Matthew Ellis, had won the GK100, the end of term general knowledge test. Each week, every student had to take home a sheet of paper with ten questions printed on it. They would research the answers and then, on Thursday mornings, there would be a test. At the end of each term, everyone was tested on everything and on top of their usual homework, it was a really tall order.

"Right sweetie" said Simone, one evening, close to the end of term, "shall we have a go at your GK?"

"Do we have to?" asked a rather distracted Simon, who wanted to play with his Lego. His non-verbal abilities had been noted during the endless tests leading up to his autism diagnosis and at the age of just four, it was reckoned his Lego and brick building skills were that of the average eleven year old. When he started school, the older Year 2 boys would take the Lego and Stickle bricks outside and form a circle. Simon, who didn't really say much, even at the age of four, would sit in the middle and make things and they would watch with their mouths wide open. He was amazing. One day, his form teacher, Miss Tenby, watching from a safe distance, noted that, when he dismantled one thing, he would create something quite different, using exactly the same pieces and not one single piece would be left over. She could see he had special gifts, even if he didn't contribute much in class or speak to anyone.

"OK then, if I must" said Simon, stifling a yawn. His speech and language had come on in leaps and bounds in the past couple of years and although he had a special Learning Support Assistant with him during lessons, he really was coping so well, there was talk of him having support only during the more academic lessons and none during art, music or games. This was a massive step forward and Simone's heart sang as Simon's current teacher, Miss Briars, told her what wonderful strides her son had made throughout the year.

"Right, here we go sweetie. I won't ask the questions in order; that would be silly because they will test you by asking the questions in a totally different order. Capiche?"

"Capiche" said Simon. Oh well, if he had to do it, he might as well get on with it and then, he could go and watch one of his favourite dinosaur films.

"OK, here goes" said his rather worried mum. One hundred questions in no particular order would frazzle the cleverest person and she wondered whether he could cope.

"Which famous artist painted pictures of waterlilies?"

"Don't know" said Simon.

"OK. I'll give you a clue. It begins with an 'M'"

"Oh I know, I know, it's Methuselah" he shouted, excitedly.

"Erm, no, not quite but I can see where you're coming from on that one sweetie."

Simon was muddling up the questions and the answers. He had memorised each answer but couldn't necessarily apply the correct one to the correct question. Had she asked them in the correct order, he would probably have rattled through them. In fact, some weeks, he would answer the question before she had asked it because he had memorised the entire sheet. His verbal skills might have been a long time coming but heck, he had a fantastic memory.