A Win-Win

My socks were black and my shoes were white and they had no laces, just the way I like it. My belt buckle was latched in the third hole because the second hole was too loose and it made my pants sag down too low and the fourth hole was too tight and made me feel uncomfortable. A lot of things make me feel uncomfortable like small places and long car rides and being touched and walking on the sidewalk on busy days.

I was walking on the sidewalk and there was a lot of noise that afternoon so I covered my ears. People began to stare at me so I moaned silently to myself and looked down as I continued on my adventure. My legs were long enough to step exactly halfway between the lines of the sidewalk so my right foot touched the line and my left foot touched the space in between the lines. Some people think the lines on the sidewalk are cracks but they are not cracks. They are intended to be there and they are actually called contraction joints in order to prevent cracks. I counted my steps as I walked because that makes me calm down sometimes.

The restaurant I walked to is exactly 1.734 miles from my house and that is exactly 9,155.52 feet which is approximately 3,722 steps down the sidewalk and I counted just to make sure. I was meeting a girl there. When I told mother, she said A girl? and I said Yes mother a girl. I do not like doing new things but I knew I had to be brave so I called this new thing an adventure. I was excited for my adventure but on my 3,000th step I was nervous because I did not want the girl to touch me or make fun of me and call me retarded. On my 3,721st step I noticed that I was approximately three feet away from the door to the restaurant so I took one very long stride and walked in.

I saw the girl and she was smiling and she looked very pretty. It took me 5 steps to walk over to the booth she was sitting in and before I said hello I told her that I wanted to sit at a table and not a booth because booths made me uncomfortable. We sat at a table directly across from the booth and that is when I said hello and she smiled again and said hello back to me.

I kept my hands on my lap and I started counting my heart beats but they were going faster and faster and that made it hard to count and I started feeling uncomfortable again so I began to moan very quietly so the girl could not hear me. The girl took out her notebook and opened it to the math problems she wanted me to solve because that is why she wanted to see me in the restaurant. I looked at the notebook and felt happy because some of the only problems that I enjoy solving are math problems.

Then the waitress came over and she put her hand on my shoulder and that scared me because I was solving problems in my head and I was not ready for a physical encounter so I screamed and put my hands over my ears and I closed my eyes. The waitress asked the girl what was wrong with me and the girl did not say anything. The waitress did not go away so I told her to go away and then the girl said it was okay and put her hand on my hand and I did not like that so I pulled my hand away and moaned loudly because I was being touched and the people in the restaurant were staring at me.

My counselor told me to walk away if I was in an uncomfortable situation so I took the girl’s notebook because she wanted me in the restaurant to do the problems but I prefer to do problems in the comfort of my bedroom. My bedroom is not very adventurous but it makes me feel comfortable.

I tried to leave but the girl wanted to stop me so she said she was sorry and that she did not mean to make me feel uncomfortable. The waitress said she was sorry too and I did not know what to do so I turned around and tried to leave again but the girl told me that she still needed help. I need help sometimes too so I turned around once again and sat down at the table. Some other problems that I enjoy solving besides math problems are problems that involve helping other people, and when I get to help other people and do math problems that is what some people call a win-win.