Kristy and the Secret of Susan (6-10)
Judging by the comments on my previous thread, this book strikes an emotional chord with a lot more than just me.
Also wtf is up with the title? Susan isn't a damn secret. The fact that she's autistic isn't a secret.
Chapter 6
Oh no, a sitting job for the horrible Jenny Prezziozo! The girl who likes to be clean and doesn't abide by BSC-approved methods of play! The girls all fight over who should sit for this clearly evil 4-year-old, passing her around like "You take her! No, YOU take her!" and checking the club notebook to make sure they're busy. Finally, after lots of hemming and hawing, Mary Anne takes her. I thought Mary Anne was supposed to be the only one who was okay with Jenny? Imagine being 4 and finding out your favorite sitter is only there for you because she lost an argument...
Kristy tells the BSC about what Susan is like. She says that Susan is locked off in her own little world and is only impaired because nobody can reach her, but she's a pro piano player and can name off the exact days of past dates. She reveals that she'd been using this calendar trick for her own personal amusement at sitting jobs, and even tried to CONFUSE her by giving her a date that didn't exist (February 29, 1985). Thankfully Susan was too smart for that and caught on ("March 1, Friday"), but how dare Kristy not only use this child for her own amusement, but attempt to trick her for her own amusement as well! Kristy goes on to say that she cries real tears about how "isolated" Susan is and that if her horrible parents only let her go to Stoneybrook Elementary she could be bestest friends with all their favorite sitting charges and then become fodder for the BSC cult herself!
They get more calls, one of them is for the Hobarts and Mal begs for it because she wants a piece of Ben. So then Kristy continues to glow about her plan to cure Susan's autism by forcing her into a friendship with the Hobart kids, thinking that if her parents see that she has friends in Stoneybrook, they'll tell her quality of life to go fuck itself to make Kristy happy. The girls then spend the rest of the chapter laughing at Mallory for being in love, because what kind of stanky beast would ever love a square like Mallory?
Chapter 7
Kristy goes to the Felders, and Mrs. Felder tells her that Susan has been having a bad day and won't eat. All she wants to do is sit at the piano. I don't have eating problems in general but I do occassionally, and my very smart soulbonds respond to them with "She'll eat when she's ready, no need to bother her now." People tend to eat when they're hungry due to basic survival instinct. It's not like Susan is gonna starve if she misses one lunch. And you know what, I'm gonna bring this up again even though I was criticized for it in my old snark. The sentence "Mrs. Felder left then, as if she couldn't escape fast enough" REALLY fucking bothers me. Wtf did Susan do to warrant running away from her like a snake is after you? She isn't violent. She doesn't break things, strike out, or pull hair. By the sounds of it, all she wanted to do was perseverate over the piano, and maybe she whined or screeched or pushed when being pulled away from it for lunch...but then immediately quieted down again once returned to the piano. Maybe she clamped her mouth shut and whined when food was placed in front of her. So why the hell is Mrs. Felder acting like her daughter is such a total beast of a child that "she couldn't escape fast enough?" Because of some screeching and a little pushing? She ought to be fucking lucky that Susan isn't violence prone, or doesn't display any self-injurous behavior. If you "couldn't escape fast enough" from an otherwise passive little girl who screeches and struggles, what would you do if you had gotten the flipside of the coin, Mrs. Felder?
So, because Kristy was instructed to get Susan off the piano, you know this will not end well. First Kristy screams at Susan, which does not get a response. Then she fucking grabs her fingers and clamps her hands over them so she can't play anymore, and swoons over how "for a fraction of a second, she looked at me with those big beautiful brown eyes." First of all, creepy as shit. Second of all, she's looking at you because you are DISTRESSING HER and she is wondering who the fuck it is that is causing her this distress. So Kristy starts attempting to manhandle the girl away from the piano, eventually culminating in picking up and carrying a child who she was told from the start hates touch. Okay, she is DAMN lucky Susan is not the type to strike out. But at the same time, that means this poor little girl is completely defenseless to this mishandling by an older girl who her mother keeps bringing to the house for 3 days a week to do the same damn thing over and over. Just because Susan is nonverbal does not mean she can't think, and it does not mean she can't pick up on that sort of thing and develop some severe issues with trust.
Susan is taken outside and given a cookie, which she devours, because as I said, they'll eat when they're hungry. Kristy drags her to the Hobarts to impliment her plan, and she meets Claire Pike, who tries and fails to communicate with her and is told that she can't talk. Margo decides that you don't need to talk to play tag, and trying to play tag with Susan results in Susan going off by herself under a tree to stim out. Kristy is an idiot if she actually expected Susan to just "click" and start playing with them despite all that she's learned about Susan so far. Then the kids who tease the Hobarts come around, and Kristy decides "Well, kids need to work things out for themselves so despite being babysitters, we are not going to stop this bullying." NO. NO NO NO NO NO FUCKING NO. I don't give a FUCK if "kids need to work things out for themselves." I don't give a FUCK if it's "none of your business." YOU DO NOT JUST SIT BY AND LET BULLYING HAPPEN. If I saw the kids that lived on my street bullying eachother, I don't give a shit that I don't know them and it's "not my business." I'd tell the bullies "Hey, knock it off and leave him/her alone. Or else I'm going to let your parents know what you've been up to." You do NOT just watch bullying happen. These books have such terrible depictions of what a bully is (Karen and Pamela) or what you're supposed to do when you see bullying in action.
So, one of the bullies starts mocking Susan, and James Hobart steps up and tells him to leave her alone because she's his friend. Kristy SOARS INTO THE AIR about "YES! YES! IT WORKED! SUSAN HAS A FRIEND! NOW I CAN GET MY WAY!!!" And then she decides to rope them in by encouraging them to use Susan as a circus act, telling them about the calendar thing all "Go on, give it a try!" Because apparently in order to be her friend, she has to exist for their amusement. Sounds like Karen's principles. (Can I take a moment to mention how glad I am that Karen never met Susan?) So they start firing off dates to Susan and getting all excited when she tells them the days. Kristy swells with pride over Susan's new place as a trained monkey.
Chapter 8
So this is a babysitting chapter with the Karen Show playing Let's All Come the Fuck In. At the end, Kristy seethes to Stacey about how she told Mrs. Felder that Susan made a friend, and it didn't change the fact that she still feels the need to send Susan to a special school. Because maybe it has nothing the fuck to do with friends and more the fuck to do with Susan's educational needs. She rages that having a friend didn't convince Mrs. Felder that Susan was "normal," and it is jarringly plain to see that all Kristy--and the BSC in general--cares about is that the kid fits into the BSC Agenda, playing with their Kid Kits and partaking in BSC-sanctioned activities just like all of their "favorite charges" will happily comply with. Amusing as it is that the BSC operates exactly like a cult, one has to wonder just how Ann was able to convince an entire generation that this was perfectly normal and that this was how babysitting works. Just like one has to wonder how Ann was able to convince an entire generation that Karen was a perfect wonderful angel of a child and not a miniature narcissist. Kristy ends the chapter by discussing how Susan screamed when she tried to get her pajamas on her. Just let her sleep in her clothes if she's going to be that against it, Kristy. Unless the clothes have something pierce-worthy or choke-worthy on them, I don't see the damn problem. I slept in my clothes until I was 13 because I didn't like or understand the sudden change of clothes that came with bedtime.
Chapter 9
Kristy is at the Felders screaming at Susan again because she doesn't want to leave the piano. She decides against manhandling her this time because she "had a good day and behaved herself." Oh, so because she didn't "behave herself" last time, she deserves to have her personal space intruded on and to be placed in distress. Good to know, Best Babysitter Ever. The doorbell rings, and it's one of the boys who was teasing the Hobarts. He says he's here to see Susan. Instead of doing the responsible thing and asking "What for?" Kristy shits her pants about OH MY GOD SUSAN HAS ANOTHER FRIEND!!! YES!!!
...
How could anyone be this stupid?
Not only does Kristy instantly assume this boy who was BULLYING another kid yesterday is here to be Susan's friend, not only does she just go on ahead and invite him into a home that isn't even hers to invite people into, but she decides to show off that Susan can play the piano from memory. As if she hasn't already done enough to ensure that this girl will be perpetually used as personal entertainment for the neighborhood kids. So the boy, Mel, fires off songs for Susan to play, and she plays each one he fires off. He gawks as Susan plays and sings Marian the Librarian from The Music Man (because kids never, ever watch anything current in Stoneybrook). Mel makes an allusion to a performing chicken he saw at the circus and KRISTY REALLY NEEDS TO SEE THE RED FLAG THAT IS RISING AAAALL THE WAY TO THE TOP HERE, but she doesn't. She thinks it's perfectly fine and even a compliment that Susan has just been compared to a trained chicken. I'm pretty sure my facepalm is about to break the sound barrier. The second extremely red flag that is rapidly rising to the top to join its brother is that Mel asks when Kristy will be babysitting for Susan. You know, so he can get to her without her mother around and when he knows her absolutely idiotic babysitter will just invite him right in without question and let him do whatever he wanted with her so long as he pretended it was for "friendship." I would be LIVID if I were Mrs. Felder. I wouldn't only be forcefully throwing the little shit out of my house and telling her she'll have another thing coming if she even comes NEAR my child again, but I would be making sure that the other parents in Stoneybrook knew all about this and see if they don't think twice before calling these lovely "five experienced babysitters" ever again, in addition to calling HER parents and telling them to do something about the little bitch that has been inviting people into my home to use my child as a trained monkey for their amusement. I'd be putting the fucking BSC out of business if I were Susan's mother and I found out about this shit.
So then James comes by to see Susan...to genuinely see SUSAN, and not make her perform, because he asks if Susan wants to come out to play. He sees that Susan is busy with the piano and tells Kristy not to make her stop if she doesn't want to, because James is a good kid. But Kristy's like "No, friends are more important" and manhandles her away, as appalled as James is to see this go on. You know what, my parents lived by that motherfucking "friends before all else" doctrine and would often attempt to push me into socializing when I didn't want to, or yank my books and video games out from my hands and say "Talk to ____. Tell them hi and talk to them." And then call me a rude little brat and say I was the nastiest girl they knew when I refused and/or screamed at them and grabbed my things back. I absolutely DETEST the idea of forcing an unwilling autistic child into social interaction just because you want them to have friends. Maybe they're happy just doing their own thing, like I was, and maybe they can make friendships when they're fucking ready. Or with kids they feel more at ease with. The chapter ends with James feeling sad that Susan isn't like his other friends and can't play with him the way he likes to play, and Kristy whining that something is wrong.
Chapter 10
There's an assembly at school, and Kristy and Mary Anne lament that the assemblies are hella shit. During the assembly, Kristy decides to gawk at the special education students like she's at a zoo. She uses completely dehumanizing terms to describe these children..."Down's Syndrome people have slanted eyes, flattish faces, and are usually docile, affectionate, and friendly" and FOR FUCK'S SAKE KRISTIN AMANDA THEY ARE NOT DOGS. And then Susan spots another autistic kid, and lo and behold, he can TALK and COMMUNICATE, so that must mean Susan will be able to someday too! It's her evil parents who are keeping her down by sending her to that special school that forcibly removes her ability to speak! Oh, if only she could go to the holy land that is Stoneybrook Elementary, then she will instantly learn to talk, and make friends, and play with Kid Kits and do BSC activities just like all of the other kids, and then the cult will have a brand new charge! Okay, this I can chalk up to Kristy's regular ignorance and not just her usual brand of maddening stupidity. As far as I know, it was not understood that autism was a spectrum back in the 90s. Kristy wouldn't have understood different areas of the spectrum or different functioning levels.
And then some little assholes throw spitballs at and mock the special ed kids. And Mary Anne the Sensitive and Kristy the Justice Warrior just sit there and watch and silently seethe, instead of speaking up or even just telling a damn teacher that the kids were being bullied. WHAT IS IT WITH THESE BOOKS AND SITTING IDLY BY WHEN KIDS ARE BEING SHITS TO EACHOTHER? Kristy realizes that if Susan goes to school in Stoneybrook, she would be around kids who would tease her like this, but that doesn't matter because SHE wants her to stay at home.
So when the assembly is over, Kristy marches over to the special ed teachers and instead of reporting the bullying, starts sucking up to them and being all "I was watching your class and they are FASCINATING creatures! And is that boy right there autistic?" Instead of telling her that her students are not there to be gawked at and that she is not at liberty to disclose information about them, and to please go back to her own class, she just complies. Not only that, but offers to let Kristy sit in the classroom to gawk at them some more. I can't with Stoned Brook.
I really can't with Stoned Brook.
Also wtf is up with the title? Susan isn't a damn secret. The fact that she's autistic isn't a secret.
Chapter 6
Oh no, a sitting job for the horrible Jenny Prezziozo! The girl who likes to be clean and doesn't abide by BSC-approved methods of play! The girls all fight over who should sit for this clearly evil 4-year-old, passing her around like "You take her! No, YOU take her!" and checking the club notebook to make sure they're busy. Finally, after lots of hemming and hawing, Mary Anne takes her. I thought Mary Anne was supposed to be the only one who was okay with Jenny? Imagine being 4 and finding out your favorite sitter is only there for you because she lost an argument...
Kristy tells the BSC about what Susan is like. She says that Susan is locked off in her own little world and is only impaired because nobody can reach her, but she's a pro piano player and can name off the exact days of past dates. She reveals that she'd been using this calendar trick for her own personal amusement at sitting jobs, and even tried to CONFUSE her by giving her a date that didn't exist (February 29, 1985). Thankfully Susan was too smart for that and caught on ("March 1, Friday"), but how dare Kristy not only use this child for her own amusement, but attempt to trick her for her own amusement as well! Kristy goes on to say that she cries real tears about how "isolated" Susan is and that if her horrible parents only let her go to Stoneybrook Elementary she could be bestest friends with all their favorite sitting charges and then become fodder for the BSC cult herself!
They get more calls, one of them is for the Hobarts and Mal begs for it because she wants a piece of Ben. So then Kristy continues to glow about her plan to cure Susan's autism by forcing her into a friendship with the Hobart kids, thinking that if her parents see that she has friends in Stoneybrook, they'll tell her quality of life to go fuck itself to make Kristy happy. The girls then spend the rest of the chapter laughing at Mallory for being in love, because what kind of stanky beast would ever love a square like Mallory?
Chapter 7
Kristy goes to the Felders, and Mrs. Felder tells her that Susan has been having a bad day and won't eat. All she wants to do is sit at the piano. I don't have eating problems in general but I do occassionally, and my very smart soulbonds respond to them with "She'll eat when she's ready, no need to bother her now." People tend to eat when they're hungry due to basic survival instinct. It's not like Susan is gonna starve if she misses one lunch. And you know what, I'm gonna bring this up again even though I was criticized for it in my old snark. The sentence "Mrs. Felder left then, as if she couldn't escape fast enough" REALLY fucking bothers me. Wtf did Susan do to warrant running away from her like a snake is after you? She isn't violent. She doesn't break things, strike out, or pull hair. By the sounds of it, all she wanted to do was perseverate over the piano, and maybe she whined or screeched or pushed when being pulled away from it for lunch...but then immediately quieted down again once returned to the piano. Maybe she clamped her mouth shut and whined when food was placed in front of her. So why the hell is Mrs. Felder acting like her daughter is such a total beast of a child that "she couldn't escape fast enough?" Because of some screeching and a little pushing? She ought to be fucking lucky that Susan isn't violence prone, or doesn't display any self-injurous behavior. If you "couldn't escape fast enough" from an otherwise passive little girl who screeches and struggles, what would you do if you had gotten the flipside of the coin, Mrs. Felder?
So, because Kristy was instructed to get Susan off the piano, you know this will not end well. First Kristy screams at Susan, which does not get a response. Then she fucking grabs her fingers and clamps her hands over them so she can't play anymore, and swoons over how "for a fraction of a second, she looked at me with those big beautiful brown eyes." First of all, creepy as shit. Second of all, she's looking at you because you are DISTRESSING HER and she is wondering who the fuck it is that is causing her this distress. So Kristy starts attempting to manhandle the girl away from the piano, eventually culminating in picking up and carrying a child who she was told from the start hates touch. Okay, she is DAMN lucky Susan is not the type to strike out. But at the same time, that means this poor little girl is completely defenseless to this mishandling by an older girl who her mother keeps bringing to the house for 3 days a week to do the same damn thing over and over. Just because Susan is nonverbal does not mean she can't think, and it does not mean she can't pick up on that sort of thing and develop some severe issues with trust.
Susan is taken outside and given a cookie, which she devours, because as I said, they'll eat when they're hungry. Kristy drags her to the Hobarts to impliment her plan, and she meets Claire Pike, who tries and fails to communicate with her and is told that she can't talk. Margo decides that you don't need to talk to play tag, and trying to play tag with Susan results in Susan going off by herself under a tree to stim out. Kristy is an idiot if she actually expected Susan to just "click" and start playing with them despite all that she's learned about Susan so far. Then the kids who tease the Hobarts come around, and Kristy decides "Well, kids need to work things out for themselves so despite being babysitters, we are not going to stop this bullying." NO. NO NO NO NO NO FUCKING NO. I don't give a FUCK if "kids need to work things out for themselves." I don't give a FUCK if it's "none of your business." YOU DO NOT JUST SIT BY AND LET BULLYING HAPPEN. If I saw the kids that lived on my street bullying eachother, I don't give a shit that I don't know them and it's "not my business." I'd tell the bullies "Hey, knock it off and leave him/her alone. Or else I'm going to let your parents know what you've been up to." You do NOT just watch bullying happen. These books have such terrible depictions of what a bully is (Karen and Pamela) or what you're supposed to do when you see bullying in action.
So, one of the bullies starts mocking Susan, and James Hobart steps up and tells him to leave her alone because she's his friend. Kristy SOARS INTO THE AIR about "YES! YES! IT WORKED! SUSAN HAS A FRIEND! NOW I CAN GET MY WAY!!!" And then she decides to rope them in by encouraging them to use Susan as a circus act, telling them about the calendar thing all "Go on, give it a try!" Because apparently in order to be her friend, she has to exist for their amusement. Sounds like Karen's principles. (Can I take a moment to mention how glad I am that Karen never met Susan?) So they start firing off dates to Susan and getting all excited when she tells them the days. Kristy swells with pride over Susan's new place as a trained monkey.
Chapter 8
So this is a babysitting chapter with the Karen Show playing Let's All Come the Fuck In. At the end, Kristy seethes to Stacey about how she told Mrs. Felder that Susan made a friend, and it didn't change the fact that she still feels the need to send Susan to a special school. Because maybe it has nothing the fuck to do with friends and more the fuck to do with Susan's educational needs. She rages that having a friend didn't convince Mrs. Felder that Susan was "normal," and it is jarringly plain to see that all Kristy--and the BSC in general--cares about is that the kid fits into the BSC Agenda, playing with their Kid Kits and partaking in BSC-sanctioned activities just like all of their "favorite charges" will happily comply with. Amusing as it is that the BSC operates exactly like a cult, one has to wonder just how Ann was able to convince an entire generation that this was perfectly normal and that this was how babysitting works. Just like one has to wonder how Ann was able to convince an entire generation that Karen was a perfect wonderful angel of a child and not a miniature narcissist. Kristy ends the chapter by discussing how Susan screamed when she tried to get her pajamas on her. Just let her sleep in her clothes if she's going to be that against it, Kristy. Unless the clothes have something pierce-worthy or choke-worthy on them, I don't see the damn problem. I slept in my clothes until I was 13 because I didn't like or understand the sudden change of clothes that came with bedtime.
Chapter 9
Kristy is at the Felders screaming at Susan again because she doesn't want to leave the piano. She decides against manhandling her this time because she "had a good day and behaved herself." Oh, so because she didn't "behave herself" last time, she deserves to have her personal space intruded on and to be placed in distress. Good to know, Best Babysitter Ever. The doorbell rings, and it's one of the boys who was teasing the Hobarts. He says he's here to see Susan. Instead of doing the responsible thing and asking "What for?" Kristy shits her pants about OH MY GOD SUSAN HAS ANOTHER FRIEND!!! YES!!!
...
How could anyone be this stupid?
Not only does Kristy instantly assume this boy who was BULLYING another kid yesterday is here to be Susan's friend, not only does she just go on ahead and invite him into a home that isn't even hers to invite people into, but she decides to show off that Susan can play the piano from memory. As if she hasn't already done enough to ensure that this girl will be perpetually used as personal entertainment for the neighborhood kids. So the boy, Mel, fires off songs for Susan to play, and she plays each one he fires off. He gawks as Susan plays and sings Marian the Librarian from The Music Man (because kids never, ever watch anything current in Stoneybrook). Mel makes an allusion to a performing chicken he saw at the circus and KRISTY REALLY NEEDS TO SEE THE RED FLAG THAT IS RISING AAAALL THE WAY TO THE TOP HERE, but she doesn't. She thinks it's perfectly fine and even a compliment that Susan has just been compared to a trained chicken. I'm pretty sure my facepalm is about to break the sound barrier. The second extremely red flag that is rapidly rising to the top to join its brother is that Mel asks when Kristy will be babysitting for Susan. You know, so he can get to her without her mother around and when he knows her absolutely idiotic babysitter will just invite him right in without question and let him do whatever he wanted with her so long as he pretended it was for "friendship." I would be LIVID if I were Mrs. Felder. I wouldn't only be forcefully throwing the little shit out of my house and telling her she'll have another thing coming if she even comes NEAR my child again, but I would be making sure that the other parents in Stoneybrook knew all about this and see if they don't think twice before calling these lovely "five experienced babysitters" ever again, in addition to calling HER parents and telling them to do something about the little bitch that has been inviting people into my home to use my child as a trained monkey for their amusement. I'd be putting the fucking BSC out of business if I were Susan's mother and I found out about this shit.
So then James comes by to see Susan...to genuinely see SUSAN, and not make her perform, because he asks if Susan wants to come out to play. He sees that Susan is busy with the piano and tells Kristy not to make her stop if she doesn't want to, because James is a good kid. But Kristy's like "No, friends are more important" and manhandles her away, as appalled as James is to see this go on. You know what, my parents lived by that motherfucking "friends before all else" doctrine and would often attempt to push me into socializing when I didn't want to, or yank my books and video games out from my hands and say "Talk to ____. Tell them hi and talk to them." And then call me a rude little brat and say I was the nastiest girl they knew when I refused and/or screamed at them and grabbed my things back. I absolutely DETEST the idea of forcing an unwilling autistic child into social interaction just because you want them to have friends. Maybe they're happy just doing their own thing, like I was, and maybe they can make friendships when they're fucking ready. Or with kids they feel more at ease with. The chapter ends with James feeling sad that Susan isn't like his other friends and can't play with him the way he likes to play, and Kristy whining that something is wrong.
Chapter 10
There's an assembly at school, and Kristy and Mary Anne lament that the assemblies are hella shit. During the assembly, Kristy decides to gawk at the special education students like she's at a zoo. She uses completely dehumanizing terms to describe these children..."Down's Syndrome people have slanted eyes, flattish faces, and are usually docile, affectionate, and friendly" and FOR FUCK'S SAKE KRISTIN AMANDA THEY ARE NOT DOGS. And then Susan spots another autistic kid, and lo and behold, he can TALK and COMMUNICATE, so that must mean Susan will be able to someday too! It's her evil parents who are keeping her down by sending her to that special school that forcibly removes her ability to speak! Oh, if only she could go to the holy land that is Stoneybrook Elementary, then she will instantly learn to talk, and make friends, and play with Kid Kits and do BSC activities just like all of the other kids, and then the cult will have a brand new charge! Okay, this I can chalk up to Kristy's regular ignorance and not just her usual brand of maddening stupidity. As far as I know, it was not understood that autism was a spectrum back in the 90s. Kristy wouldn't have understood different areas of the spectrum or different functioning levels.
And then some little assholes throw spitballs at and mock the special ed kids. And Mary Anne the Sensitive and Kristy the Justice Warrior just sit there and watch and silently seethe, instead of speaking up or even just telling a damn teacher that the kids were being bullied. WHAT IS IT WITH THESE BOOKS AND SITTING IDLY BY WHEN KIDS ARE BEING SHITS TO EACHOTHER? Kristy realizes that if Susan goes to school in Stoneybrook, she would be around kids who would tease her like this, but that doesn't matter because SHE wants her to stay at home.
So when the assembly is over, Kristy marches over to the special ed teachers and instead of reporting the bullying, starts sucking up to them and being all "I was watching your class and they are FASCINATING creatures! And is that boy right there autistic?" Instead of telling her that her students are not there to be gawked at and that she is not at liberty to disclose information about them, and to please go back to her own class, she just complies. Not only that, but offers to let Kristy sit in the classroom to gawk at them some more. I can't with Stoned Brook.
I really can't with Stoned Brook.