Gary, 25, with Hypersocial Disorder, Joins the Spring Party of the HSD Association
The Autistic Planet, ch. 4
This story is based on my article “What If Autistic People Were the Majority?” I recommend you read it first if you haven’t already:
The day of the spring party was finally here. Gary assumed there would be drinking involved, so his dad gave him a ride to the HSD Association. They picked up Brad on the way.
“Wassup, B-Boy?”
“Wassup, G-Boy? Excited about the party?”
“Yeah, I’m excited”, Gary said, smiling.
They arrived at the HSD Association. There were already cars parked.
“All right. Have fun, boys!”
“Thanks for the ride, dad”, Gary said.
“Thank you, Mr. Miller”, Brad said.
“So, do you think Miranda’s here yet?” Brad asked and winked.
“I dunno.”
Gary was starting to feel a little nervous. That wasn’t like him.
Gary and Brad went inside.
The party took place in the big room. There were flower and butterfly decorations everywhere.
Gary had only been to a few parties in his life. Autistic people rarely had parties. And when they did, they were nothing like this. People usually sat alone in their private cubicles. Sometimes, if they were in a super social mood, they entered the boxes in pairs. Even that was rare.
The loud music was new to Gary as well. At autistic parties, people listened to music with headphones in their individual cubicles.
Now, the bass boost felt like the whole room was vibrating. That made Gary feel alive.
John, Amy, and a few other people were already there.
“Gary! Brad! Good to see you”, John greeted.
“Hi! Have some refreshments”, Amy said.
There was beer, wine, and some non-alcoholic drinks. As for food, there was salad, taco chips, donuts, and other treats. Simple but tasty, that’s what Gary liked. Gary and Brad grabbed cans of beer to get started.
“So, do you guys have any plans for the summer?” Amy started small talking.
“Depends on if I’ll manage to find a job. If not, Brad and I might have a little road trip”, Gary said.
“My plans are pretty much identical to Gary’s. Either working, if I’m lucky, or road tripping with Gary, which also sounds good to me”, Brad said.
“How about you, Amy?” Gary asked.
“Oh, nothing much. John and I might rent a cabin for a few days. A little romantic getaway.”
Amy spotted some friends and went to talk to them. Gary and Brad sipped their beers. Gary looked around, but he didn’t see Miranda.
“So, Miranda’s not here yet”, Brad said, as if he had read Gary’s thoughts. “Don’t worry, man. I’m sure she’ll show up later.”
“Yeah.”
“So, do you have a strategy yet?”
“For what?”
“You know what.”
“No, I think I’ll just go with the flow.”
More people came in, but Gary still didn’t see Miranda. He drank more beer and munched on the snacks. Gary didn’t say much, which wasn’t like him at all. Brad seemed to notice how nervous he was and tried to relax him by joking.
Gary spotted a dark-haired girl across the room talking to Amy. That was Miranda! So, she was here now. Gary would go talk to her soon.
Brad noticed Miranda too.
“Come on, man! Go talk to her!”
“Yeah, I will. In a minute.”
“No! What’s wrong with you? Go talk to her now!” Brad commanded and pushed Gary towards Miranda.
Feeling insecure, Gary started walking.
“Hi”, Gary said when he reached Miranda.
“Oh, hi”, Miranda said.
Miranda looked amazing. She was wearing a purple dress, and she had curled her hair.
“So, you made it to the party. Cool.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“I’ll go get myself a drink”, Amy said, smiling knowingly.
Having HSD, she always seemed to spot what was going on. That made Gary feel self-conscious. Even other people noticed he liked Miranda!
“Cool that you could make it”, Gary said.
“Yeah”, Miranda replied.
This wasn’t going well. Gary wasn’t himself at all. Here he was, standing in awkward silence.
What did he usually talk about? What was his favorite topic?
Yes, of course!
“So, how was your weekend?” Gary asked.
“Umm, it’s weekend now”, Miranda pointed out. “Do you mean, like, last weekend?”
Damned it. Gary had forgotten it was the weekend.
“Yeah, I mean no, this weekend?”
“Well, last night, I just stayed in and read books. And now I’m here.”
“Right.”
Gary suddenly wished he was autistic. Then, he wouldn’t have been so socially awkward. Gary would just talk about his special interests. Now he was boring Miranda to death with small talk.
“Wassup?” Gary heard Brad’s voice.
Brad had spotted Gary’s awkward body language and come to the rescue. And not a minute too soon. Miranda was yawning.
Brad started talking about the rap songs he had made. Miranda laughed at Brad’s jokes and seemed to have a good time.
“I’ll just get a drink”, Gary said.
Brad and Miranda didn’t even seem to hear him. Annoyed, Gary sneaked towards the drinks. He grabbed a beer and took a big gulp.
Gary noticed someone was sitting in one of the cubicles. That was weird. It was an HSD party, after all.
It was a girl with long blonde hair and glasses. Gary recognized her. That was Kate, the reporter who had written the article about Gary. What was she doing at the party?
Kate was holding a notebook and a pen, but she wasn’t writing. She just looked at her feet, looking miserable. Gary waved at her, trying to catch her attention. Kate looked up, but Gary wasn’t sure if she had recognized him.
Gary tried to ask Kate if he could join her by making hand gestures. Kate didn’t react. Gary took a risk and opened the door of the cubicle carefully.
“Hi, can I come in?”
Kate nodded.
“I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Gary.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but how come you’re at the HSD party?”
“Well, I was supposed to write an article about it. But I didn’t realize it would be so noisy here.”
Kate started sobbing.
“Hey, it’s OK”, Gary said. “I think I have a tissue, just a minute.”
Gary picked up a wrinkled tissue from his pocket. Kate wiped her eyes and sneezed loudly.
“I guess you don’t feel like you fit in here. But neither do I, even though I have HSD. There’s someone I wanted to talk to, but that person didn’t seem to like my company”, Gary said.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’m not used to feeling like I have nothing to say. I felt silly trying to small talk.”
“Well, I’ve always said small talk doesn’t make people’s lives better”, Kate said.
“It does for me, usually! But maybe I should stop if that drives girls away.”
“I don’t think you should stop, though. If you enjoy it, you should keep small talking. Even if it annoys the hell out of other people.”
“Oh, yeah? I didn’t think you would say that.”
Kate fidgeted with her pen, looking thoughtful.
“That’s the paradox. We always say that people with HSD should act more like autistic people. But what’s more autistic than not caring about what other people say?”
“Yeah, you guys don’t exactly hold yourselves back when you talk about your special interests.”
“Nope. And maybe small talk is your special interest, kind of.”
Inside the cubicle, Gary could hear the music only faintly.
Being forced to sit inside cubicles instead of being “out in the open” always annoyed Gary. And here he was, sitting in another box when he had the rare opportunity to enjoy the freedom of open space.
“You know, there’s something I’d like to propose to you. I understand that this can be surprising”, Kate said.
She was playing with her hair, looking nervous.
“Oh, cool! I’m listening.”
“I was thinking, I’d like to hire you if you’re available. I need an HSD consultant to help me with my new project. I’m writing a book about HSD”, Kate said. “It’s not a full-time job or anything. You would just need to visit New York once in a while. I’d like to visit some HSD places in New York to get material for my book. And I need someone with HSD to consult me about what’s happening.”
Gary would have taken almost any job at this point. And now Kate wanted to hire him because he had HSD?
“You bet I’m interested! I just need to ask the employment services if I’m allowed to work. But I think it should be OK if it’s temporary.”
Gary had come to the party hoping to get a date. Instead, he had landed himself a job. He sure hadn’t seen that coming!
To be continued.
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