Quiet Enough

Photo credit goes to Google’s Pegman. I take credit for the wandering. Take a walk with us. What do you see? You can find the coordinates for this week’s “What Pegman Saw” prompt here.

Quiet Enough

by T. Delaplain

On any given day your words would careen off the walls, slicing through our happiness with the precision of a surgeon. “Sam shush. Leave him home. He doesn’t understand. India is too much for him.” And of course what you meant was, “Why me? Why my child? Why autism?”

I packed Sam’s books and ear plugs and we slipped away after dark without disturbing your peace.

Sam and I wandered through India, both of us lost, both of us found: the jarring noise, the spices mingled with the garbage, the mass of humanity and a cacophony of completely overwhelming bliss. Our day at Shahi Qila Burhanpur paled in comparison.
“Mom,” Sam tugged my sleeve, “Let’s go home and tell Dad. He’ll be safe here. We will find the quiet places in India. Quiet enough for chipmunks. Quite enough for Dad.”