“Happy New Year Brian.

And…

May The Force be with you”

—————————————

My last passenger of 2017 smiles and waves as he literally bounces across the street in front of my van and into his front door.

For this story, I’ll just have to call him Luke.

Luke has a developmental disability. Since I don’t know his diagnosis, I can’t be 100% certain but my experience tells me that it’s autism or a subtype of autism like aspergers. I’ve known Luke for a few years now and ever since I changed to the late shift about a year and a half ago, I’ve taken him home from work quite often.

At first, Luke never spoke. Especially if there was anyone else on the bus. He would go directly to a seat in the back and immediately put in his earbuds. Looking in my rear-view mirror I could see his face, lit by the glow of his smartphone. Luke seemed completely enraptured by the devise… or whatever was on it anyway. I don’t remember when it was, but I distinctly remember our first conversation. As he got on, he could see that we were alone on the bus and this time he chose a seat as close to the front as possible and directly behind me.

When he spoke, it almost seemed like he was not so much starting a conversation with someone he’d never spoken to before (which is what was happening) but continuing one that he’s been having for quite some time. Like we’d been discussing something over several meetings and were now simply picking up the thread. The topic was pretty easy to determine but I was a bit taken aback by the immediate familiarity his tone assumed. I also assumed he was quite nervous as he spoke with a very quick and sharp stutter-like style, repeating words in a way that suggested he was using whatever word he’d just said as an audible pause to keep things going while he thought of the next thing he was going to say.

“Brian, you know, you, you know, you know in the movie Under Siege two, Dark Territory starring Steven Seagal as retired naval officer Casey Ryback when, when, when, when, the train he is on is hijacked by armed mercenaries, armed mercenaries, led by former U.S. government computer hacker and computer genius Travis Dane with his second-in-command and mercenary leader Marcus Penn… Travis Dane is played by Eric Bogosian who was featured, was featured in season, in season six through nine of Law and Order, Criminal Intent as Captain Danny Ross… yea as, as Captain Danny Ross.”

Although the sudden burst of information took me completely by surprise, I was quite motivated to take advantage of the obvious opportunity I was being handed to connect with this young man. I stumbled a bit but eventually said.

“Yes Luke, I do seem to remember seeing that movie Under Siege. I’m not a big Steven Seagal fan but it was ok, an entertaining action film but I…”

“Under Siege two, Dark Territory.” Luke quickly corrected me.

“Yes, I’m sorry. I saw both movies but it was quite a while ago.”

“The original Under Siege starring Steven Seagal was, was when, was when Chief Petty Officer Casey Ryback was still in the Navy and…”

And Luke then rattled off another burst of information as if he was reading the IMD or Wikipedia synopsis of the film. It was quite impressive. I eventually got my bearings and with a more careful style, eliciting from Luke, rather than trying a true back and forth conversation, I was able to gather what I thought it was he was trying to say.

But I have to go to work now so ill just have to post this partial story now and then tomorrow it will have to…

To be continued…