Acoustic States

“Encounter with Acoustic States”, he said reading aloud the title of the book “Encounters with Autistic States.” This was the first of the tragic mistakes Noah would make outside the Taliban Bookstore on the bustling, snow-filled Craig Street. He was standing outside the bookstore when he picked up the book which was in a cardboard box indicating that it was free to take. As the box was outside, a layer of snow coated the plastic jacket. I corrected him about the title, he laughed and shook his head.

Harry, a rapacious child, snatched the book and buffetted it against the bookstore to remove the snow. The employee of the Taliban Bookstore who was in his office when it was beleaguered by the sound of someone banging a book on it stood up. He walked over to the window of his office and caught Harry’s attention by tapping his pen against the window. Harry stopped, and he, Noah, and I walked to the Bágelle Factoire.

Once completely inside le Factoire, we stood in the doorway staring blankly at the menu. We are continually disappointed by the menu, but frequently return nonetheless because of le Factoire’s convenience. Harry ordered a pizza bagel, as did I, but Noah, who occasionally experiences sudden onset ordering anxiety disorder (SOOAD) committed his second and final mistake.

After learning a few days earlier from the venerable Gennaro that it was indeed possible to order bagels with peanut butter on them, he decided he would use his newfound knowledge to order such a bagel. I helped him decide to get a Cinnamon Raisin bagel, and then he walked to the counter. The employee — a man—asked, “What do you want?” Noah replied, “I’ll have a Cinnamon Raisin Bagel with peanut butter, please.” Then the man asked, “What kind of peanut butter: crunchy or creamy?” But Noah heard, “Do you want cream or sugar?”, so he responded “Ah, sugar, ah… sure.” So the man said in an irate tone, “CREAMY or CRUNCHY?” Noah, who way beyond nervous said while biting his fingers that he would, in fact, want creamy.