Best Kept Secret Page #4

---

and have the bus pick him up,

because he'll be back to school

maybe tomorrow,

maybe Friday,

or first thing Monday.

I'm just concerned

'cause he's been out.

And I called you but I thought

you were sick or something.

No. I have a lot of

doctor's appointments.

Oh, okay.

Just a lot

of doctor's appointments.

Good morning, birthday -- man.

Young man, yeah!

How old are you?

20!

Yeah, so, what are we going

to do today?

-Uh, cake.

-We got a party!

-Party!

-Yes!

-And who's coming?

-Erik's birthday.

Right, and who's coming

for Erik's birthday?

-Mommy!

-Yaaay!

Card.

MINO:
Wow!

-Nice.

-Nice!

You gotta open it.

[Card playing music]

[Laughter]

I know she's going to come, she

always comes, but I'm thinking

maybe I should have just got a

cake, just in case. But I know

she's going to come.

Sit, Erik! Sit down! Sit down!!!

Yay! Erik wins!!

- Erik wins!

That was cheating!

[Beep]

WOMAN:
Mino?

-Yes.

-Can you pick up your phone?

Oh, okay.

How far is she?

Oh, she isn't going to...

Erik, darling.

That was mommy called.

Right, and you know

what happened?

They never came

to pick her up.

So, she's going to come

another day, okay?

Come a day.

Then mommy will bring the Carvel

ice cream another day, okay?

All right, hold on.

Here, Erik.

Hi, Mommy. Hi.

Happy Birthday.

Thank you, Mommy.

Goodbye, Mommy.

Sing "Happy Birthday," Mommy.

Sing "Happy Birthday,"

Mommy.

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday

to you

Happy birthday,

dear Mommy

Happy birthday

to you

-All right, good job.

-Good job.

Good job, Erik.

Yay! Erik!

[Laughter]

-What is that, Erik?

-It's cookies.

-What kind of cookies?

-That's okay.

-Cookie cake.

-Cookie cake!

-All right!

-Yeah!

You happy?

Mmm.

Mmm.

How your cake taste?

Good.

-It taste like a cookie?

-A cookie.

A cookie with M&M's?

-M&M's.

-M&M's

What's the name

of the place we're going?

-The WAE Center.

-The WAE Center?

W-a-e.

MAN:
One more time,

let's reach out.

And then another deep breath in.

WOMAN:
The only criteria to come

to the WAE Center

is that you'd like to be here.

We have quite a number

of people with autism.

And how do they work out?

Oh, they're phenomenal.

As you're here...

That's the population

that I work with.

So that's the population

I'm looking to place

and I'm trying to find something

functional for them

that they're not going to

be sitting around,

so that's why I'm interested

in the art,

because the creativity...

SCHNEIDER:
Nobody sits around.

-And that's what I like.

SCHNEIDER:
Everybody's busy

all the time.

And they're doing things

that they want to do.

And because of that,

they're happy.

We're culturally, racially,

religiously different.

Everybody, we have every group,

and that's what we want.

This is the real world.

This is the real world.

And we want it

to be that way.

This is our art studio.

On Tuesday afternoons, we have

still-life or portraiture.

Like Monday's a bit of

a different class.

We have sculpture.

MINO:
How many students

come in at one time?

Not students.

I gotta...

Everybody here is

a member of the WAE Center.

Okay, I like that.

We have different types of

sessions - one-on-one sessions

where it's one facilitator

with one artist.

We have group classes we've been

starting, expanding on that.

There's no good, bad,

or right or wrong.

It's, what do you want to do?

Is this exactly how you want it?

MINO:
This is great!

Okay, we're going to go into

Circus Arts

and see what's going on.

Carefully, and you're going

to pass it to Mark.

Quietly, quietly.

You can do it, Mark.

I have faith in you.

Nice, good job.

Excellent.

Whoa! All right!

Very good!

-Wonderful!

-Great job!

-Great job.

-Really great.

You're lovely.

What's your name?

-My name is Janet.

-Janet, God bless you.

-You're lovely.

-Thank you.

-Did you enjoy the hoop thing?

-Yes, I really enjoyed that.

I love your...

I love your, uh...

your hair.

Oh, thank you.

They're dreads.

Yeah, ye--

I never saw dreads before.

-No?

-No.

Totally radical.

-Oh, thank you.

-Okay.

This is what

a schedule looks like.

This tells you all the different

classes that we have.

But, you know, even with that,

how do you make it work

for everyone?

The WAE Center is a good place,

but their hours are lousy.

They don't offer transportation.

You don't understand,

I should get paid overtime.

I'm always --

I tell you, always, weekend,

I'm always thinking

about them.

I'm like constantly,

"Well, what if I do that?"

You know,

you're trying different things.

[Sighs]

It's just...

You just gotta

be in my head for a little

while, you'll be like, wow!

This is for Quran Key.

This is for

his psychological testing

that he's having today.

They're just going to see

where he's at.

Um...

His father wanted it.

So I guess his father wants

to see if he's grown

development-wise on, like,

this is like his self-care,

self-direction.

They got social, his work.

They ask about communication.

His functional academics,

school living.

So this is

my first time doing this.

Good morning, Ms. Thompson.

Good morning.

Good morning, Erik.

Good morning, Quran.

Ohh!

Hi, y'all.

Go on, you can get up!

I love you.

[Laughter]

Yaaay!

How was that, Erik?

Mommy's here.

Yes, and we're going to

get ready.

Carvel ice cream.

Yeah? Good!

What else we got.

Mommy got everything!

MOTHER:
You still into

racing cars?

Racing cars, Mommy.

Nice.

MOTHER:
I'm over here.

Hot Wheels, Mommy.

Hot Wheels what?

A race-car video game,

Mommy.

MOTHER:
Why do you gotta be

a comedian?

Go on, take it easy.

ERIK:
I'm a fan, Mommy.

Fans, they do it.

MINO:
You've gotta come

more often.

We get so much language

out of him.

[Mother chuckles]

Well, Erik's going to be 21.

What is his plans

for living situation?

Did they say anything

about you --

Well, he can't live with me

right now 'cause I'm in

a senior citizens disabled

building.

I'd have to get

a 2-bedroom.

Then I'm not too sure he'd sleep

in his own bedroom.

Because when he's around me,

he's closer than my shadow.

I wanted to ask you about

this guy here.

Mm-hmm.

What was he going to be doing

after he graduates?

MINO:
Right. We're looking

into that now.

We're looking for

different programs for him.

And we've visited some spots,

but so far

that's where we're at,

we're just looking.

MOTHER:
Uh-huh.

Is that milk?

Yes, Mommy.

You're finished.

MINO:
The plan is for me to get

Erik a job at Burger King.

'Cause that's where Erik wants

to work after graduation.

Hi, my name is Janet Mino.

I work in Newark.

I work at JFK.

I just come because I have

a young adult with autism.

And his dream is

to work at Burger King.

But a coach, somebody have

to be here with them.

Yes, he will have a job coach

with him, or a life coach.

Only three days in the week?

Only three days,

and it would be in the morning.

Maybe from 9:
00 to 11:00.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes