Watching The Godfather With a Special Needs Teen
I met Danny over Thanksgiving. He’s 15 and was born with Down syndrome. He lives next door to my wife’s family and they’ve embraced him as one of their own. During Thanksgiving dinner, Danny showed me the proper way to cut turkey so the gravy covers all the meat. He told me about his love for comic books and movies.
After some sweet potato pie, we departed for the living room. Danny scoured the vast DVD collection until he found The Godfather. He inserted the disc and hit play. As the “Godfather Waltz” serenaded over the opening titles, Danny mock conducted an invisible symphony. The titles ended and the opening image revealed a balding, mustached man.
“That’s the undertaker,” Danny said. “Somebody hurt his little girl.”
“What’s an undertaker,” I asked.
“He takes you underground when you die.”
Marlon Brando as Don Corleone appeared on screen. “That’s the boss,” Danny informed me. “He doesn’t like horses.”
As the movie progressed, Danny summarized each scene and told me about the characters. Sonny (James Caan) was “the big brother who liked ladies in their underwear.” Michael (Al Pacino) was “a good person who did bad things.” Connie (Talia Shire) “married a bad man but that’s okay because she later marries Rocky Balboa.”
