A family living with autism can mean any number of things. Often it means dealing with obsessions. My brother Rob had, has and I'm sure will continue to have an obsession with specific foods. Strewn throughout our house was a variety of hidey holes for all the treats Rob desperately wanted to get his hands on.
Luckily for us, my mother and father are not only ideas people but also good problem solvers. Mum would figure out what was going to be an issue and possible ways around it, then Dad would figure out and create the perfect locking device to keep Rob out.
My favourite of the devices was the fridge lock, although I hated having to carry around a magnet on my keys: it constantly got stuck to metal things as I walked by (I lost many a magnet this way) and Rob would always try to steal it as it was slightly easier to grab on a run by than the whole set of keys. A lot of my stories involve Rob breaking into what we all thought were secure locations. He gained the nickname Houdini quite early on in life.
Another aspect of my life I found tedious was having to lock my bedroom door. My friends, who would often be amazed with jealously that I could keep safe all my teenage secrets, couldn't believe that I didn't love the power of a locked bedroom. TBH it's just tiring to have remember to lock your door every time you want to go ANYWHERE in the house -- kitchen, lounge room, bathroom. No matter how short a time you leave that room, you must lock it.
Worse though was locking your keys in your room or forgetting them or leaving them somewhere to find out Rob snuck them away. OH and it's SO ANNOYING to try to go to the bathroom and it's locked and you left your keys behind in your locked bedroom.
I was not the best at keeping my door locked or guarding my most holy (to Rob) set of keys. I was often outwitted by Rob, who was a master of unlocking any door with treats behind it.
This little comic highlights Rob's ability and my ineptitude. It was first published in Issue #99 'Plastic' of Voiceworks Magazine.
Keep doing what you're doing and see you next week!
Gx
Following on from my last post about how the design of the characters in my graphic novel, Oh Brother, have changed over the 7-ish years I’ve been working on the book, this post is about my absolute favourite thing: drawing emotions!