Family Jewels

Felix stayed up all night staring at the moon.
Mrs. M. ( Felix's mom) announces this as she deposits the little man and his younger sister at the entrance to the gymnasium. Felix is seven years old, a cute cherub of a boy, already about 20 lbs too heavy for his somewhat delicate frame thanks to the pharmacological cocktail he is using for his anxiety and other autistic " behaviours". So far this year, his favourite things are swimming and hiking and he likes to get changed for swim a tad early for everyone's liking.... especially since he has a compulsive attachment to the little blue superman speedos he wore as a five year old. His mom packs his other swim trunks, and some days we actually get him into them.... not today!! We do not negotiate with Felix after a night of moonlighting .... he is dreamy to the point of silliness and this takes the edge of the absurdity of going on a hike with the rest of his group in those very small speedos matched with big sneakers and socks. You can't get much more glamourous than that...

I should back up for a bit and acknowledge that the Autism camp I have run lo these past 13 years has been located at a university in my community and it is a wonderful venue... gorgeous trails and fields and use of gyms and other spaces free of charge.... the president is a former track athlete and an avid runner.... he likes to get a run in just before lunch and often uses the running and walking trails on the campus. Thus the stage is set.

About a half hour into the hike, Felix's group come hustling back into the gym.... the students working with the group look a little flustered. What's up... I ask them.
We had a ... mishap. We think we just might have been the cause of your camp being closed down for good.
Unlikely, I say. Tell me what happened
And they do. It seems that Felix was a little more anxious than anyone suspected given his goofy and floppy state at the beginning of the hike. He had been ambling along and was all of sudden startled into peeing himself by a huge noise in the bushes along the trail. Great, I think... an animal and a nasty accident...
no! -- nothing so straightforward as that...
turns out el presidente came crashing through the bushes in time to take the full wrath of Felix's anxiety: the little guy swung and punched at the first thing that appeared in front of his face ... and since he is only as tall as a man's ... pelvis... well, needless to say, the president dropped to the ground like a stone and kind of groaned and rolled there for awhile.
I wait for the rest of it.
We checked to make sure he was Ok ... and then we got back here asap to tell you, the students tell me.
I 'll check into it, I say. I smile... a small, secret smile. Felix, I say, we better get you out of those wet trunks. At least we can salvage this.
and... I'd like him to be dry; there could be a long line of people who'd like to shake his hand.