SOMETHING ABOUT BENNY

(Chicken Soup for the Soul: Children With Special Needs-Health Communications, Inc.  2007)

There is something about Benny that is strange.  My little brother Benny doesn’t look strange, but sometimes he acts like he is from a different planet.  He thinks he is a dinosaur, and roars in restaurants and growls in the grocery store.  My mom tells him not to growl so loudly, but he doesn’t always listen.

            There is something about Benny that is different from other little boys.  Most little boys want to grow up to be firemen or astronauts.  Not Benny.  He wants to grow up and be a building.  He likes to hold up the walls at the school and stare at the bricks very closely.  I think he can see right through them, but he never tells me what he sees.

            There is something about Benny that is magical.  He can make a whole room of people disappear just by closing his eyes really tight and saying, “Go Away!” Poof! They’re gone.  When he wants them to come back again, he just opens his eyes.  Sometimes I wish I could do that magic trick too.

            There is something about Benny that is smart. He never forgets where he puts his toys, shoes, book, coat or chocolate-chip cookie. He has memorized all of his favorite movies, from beginning to end. He can say them line for line and not miss a word. He knows all of his colors and the alphabet and the bones of the tyrannosaurus rex , but he won’t always tell you.

            There is something about Benny that is unique. He doesn’t care what the other kids are wearing at school or what the weather is like outside.  Last summer, when the sun was melting ice-cream cones faster than we could lick them, he wore a blue snowsuit and a green knitted cap everyday.  In the winter, when the ice cracked beneath our feet on the driveway, he wore his swimsuit and his favorite short-sleeved t-shirt.  My mom told him he couldn’t wear it outside, so he laid down flat and closed his eyes and made her go away.

            There are lots of things about Benny that are funny.  He makes silly faces and rolls his eyes and giggles to himself.  He hides in the bushes and thinks he really is a tyrannosaurus rex.  He wants to eat leaves, because that is, of course, what dinosaurs do.  But my mom won’t let him.  She makes him eat chicken.

            There is something about Benny that is athletic.  He climbs trees and walls and doorways, and makes it look so easy.  He can hike farther than any of my friends, and he can ride his bike for miles and miles without even breathing hard.  He can also swim for hours and never get tired. 

            There is something about Benny that is tender.  He loves babies, and wants to touch their eyes and nose and mouth.  He wants to hold them and feed them a bottle.  He loves animals, too, and pets their soft fur and feathers. 

            There is something about Benny that makes me sad.  Kids say, “What’s wrong with you, kid?” and “Why do you talk so funny?” Benny just ignores them, but it makes me sad inside.

            There is something about Benny that makes me mad.  Sometimes I get made because I have a brother who screams and yells and acts so strange.  Sometimes I get embarrassed and wish that he had a different brain, a typical brain like mine.

            But then he wouldn’t be Benny.

            There is something about Benny that is out of this world. When he babbles and banters and barks to himself, I don’t call it nonsense.  I pretend he is speaking with angels.

            There is something about Benny that many people don’t see.  They see a five-year-old boy saying silly sentences and parroting protests.  They see a child whose body never seems to stop moving. Sometimes they get mad and say mean things to him or my mommy.  But they don’t see what I see.

            There is something about Benny that is just like you and me. He wants to feel loved and needed and special.  He wants to be included in the playground games. He wants to have a best friend.  He wants to help others.

            There is something about Benny that makes me want to reach out to those who are different from me.  Sometimes I see people’s differences on the outside.  Sometimes I see people who don’t look any different on the outside, but I know they are different on the inside.  I can see it in their eyes and feel it in my heart.

            I know that Benny is here to teach me to be patient and kind and forgiving and compassionate.

            There’s something about Benny that makes me thankful that I have a brother who speaks to angels.

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