Meeting Guppy

[piwakawaka]

Today Tiwa is looking grown up today and feeling it, she's wearing a long sleeved blouse to cover her tattoo and a swirly flower skirt.

She had to go in front of a class and all her professors have been stressing, you have to look like the adult. Its not that much fun, but the lesson went well and the teachers there seemed to like it.

Now she's stretched out on a couch with her shoes off and a mystery.

Comments

[piwakawaka]

"Tiwa, I know your kids,"

She shakes it with a smile.

[guppy_sandhu]

"Oh, yes, they speak highly of you." Guppy smiles. "What age?"

[piwakawaka]

"About twelve and eleven, thanks, I like them,"

They make her feel like she can make being a teacher work.

[guppy_sandhu]

"I struck lucky." Guppy agrees, smiling softly.

"Not been causing you any trouble then?"

[piwakawaka]

"Not a bit of it. They're always trying to do things right just they don't always agree on what's right."

[guppy_sandhu]

"Sometimes there isn't a right." Guppy agrees. "Or there's more than one. And that's tough on both of them sometimes."

[piwakawaka]

"It is, life isn't that neat,"

After all Tiwa's a creature of the strange places where things aren't what they seem.

[guppy_sandhu]

"They both look for the rules in places that don't always have rules." Guppy agrees. "Fry because he finds it hard to pick up on them and to work out how he can do what he wants to do. Coral because she's keen to keep them, or try to change them."

[piwakawaka]

"Yeah, they both try so hard to make sense of things. I try to show them that things don't have to make sense. A bit of nonsense is good for the soul.?"

[guppy_sandhu]

"It is." Guppy agrees. "But that's hard for Fry."

He sits down next to his paperwork.

"Fry has Asperger Syndrome, it's a type of autism. Maybe he's told you. But for him, imagine that there's a very complicated game that everyone is playing. At the beginning of the game, everyone is given the rules, except you.

Because everyone else has the rules, they assume that you do too, so when you break them, they get frustrated or cross with you. It's hard to make friends, hard on your self esteem, and you end up getting into trouble a lot for things you just didn't know.

So when Fry finds out a rules, he clings to it, because it starts to bring structure into a world of chaos.

So nonsense is hard for him because it's basically going the wrong way, and I suspect he associates that with negative responses from others."

[piwakawaka]

Tiwa nods, she'd sort of figured something like that and so finds other ways when she can.

[guppy_sandhu]

"Coral on the other hand loves nonsense. We get her to hoover her own room for fear of sucking up some tiny model or another."

[piwakawaka]

"Yup and her reading's going a lot better too. I'm glad to see that since I know it worried her."

[guppy_sandhu]

"Yeah, she's very self-conscious about that. We found out she was dyslexic a few years ago - some credit to you, I believe. But actually her reading is a lot better than she thinks it is; she underperforms in exams because she stresses about it."

Soft smile. "Part of the problem is that she doesn't tell us these things. She puts on a smile and tells us everything's fine when actually she's sad because someone was mean."

[piwakawaka]

"Well, she doesn't want you to worry about her. I can be the same way. Drives my family a little mad."

[guppy_sandhu]

"I know, and it's hard because she hides it well and then we don't notice." Guppy says ruefully. "It's good that she's independant, but she's only little."

[piwakawaka]

"I know, its a tricky thing to figure out."

[guppy_sandhu]

"Oh well, hopefully she'll settle in at big school all right. She seems keen on it."

He smiles. "Can I get you a tea, coffee?"

[piwakawaka]

"Tea would nice, thanks. Yeah, sounds like she's found at least one person she likes too."

[guppy_sandhu]

"Are we talking about Laura or Zara?" Guppy asks, ordering tea.

"Laura is her imaginary friend. I haven't met Zara yet, but I know they've been emailing each other, so she's definitely real."

He leans back. "She was popular when she was little, but I think she finds it harder now. The other girls have grown up faster. Hopefully she'll win them over in time."

[piwakawaka]

"Zara, I think, the girl who had sylvanias at school too."

[guppy_sandhu]

"Yes, I think that was Zara." Guppy says. "Unfortunately she had a bit of an argument with some of the girls in her class because they were teasing Fry."

He shakes his head. "We sent him to pick her up because it was on his way. It never occurred to me that he'd get harrassed. Even worse, he had James with him, who then ran off and turned up three hours later in Aberystwyth."

[piwakawaka]

"Oh dear, that sounds confusing. Is everyone okay now?"

[guppy_sandhu]

"Yeah. Fry even said he's still prepared to go and collect her when she starts school there, which was brave of him. But he'll have to drop off James first I think. Maybe they can meet at the end of the road."

Small sigh. "This is the problem with having three different school runs. Fry's safe to walk to and from school on his own; heck, the reason he picks the others up and drops them off is because they feel safer with him. But Coral's too little to be doing that every day."

[piwakawaka]

"How far away are all the schools from each other?"