Work Text:
Statement of Dr. Lionel Elliot regarding "His new Children"
Statement taken directly from subject via tape recording, by Johnathan Sims. And later transcribed by Martin Blackwood to be added to paper, and digital records.
Statement Begins
I've always wanted to be a father. To watch another being slowly grow and develop. To help them along the complex path of living. To teach them right and wrong.
All throughout my life I remember being so envious of the parents around me. So many of them didn't seem to appreciate what a monumental opportunity they have. To watch firsthand as a new human comes naked and screaming into this world. And then be able to play an active part in that brand new human's developmental journey.
But Romance has always been something I didn't have time for. Or in some cases actively did not want.
A lot of my fellow professors have been dragged kicking and screaming into what they call "The world of SJW's and Identity politics." But I've always found it fascinating. An interesting new way to look at the world and the people in it.
And then when I came upon the term Asexual . . . Well . . . Suddenly so much of my life made sense.
My Paternal instincts may seem like an odd way to begin. -But I feel it provides needed context to explain my actions in regards to my latest group of students.
The day I first met these students began like any other day. I walked into my 4th and last class of the day, an Introduction to Human Anatomy and Physiology. And was surprised to find only seven students. There names were Erika Mustermann, Jan Novak, Piotr and Pavel Petrov, John Doe, Fulan Al-Fulani and Juan Pérez.
Being a scholar yourself I'm sure you don't need me to tell you the significance of a name like John Doe. It wasn’t until several weeks later when I did a quick Google search in a whim that I realized all of my students names are place holder names in different countries. But at the time Only John Doe's name struck me as odd. Still I chalked it up to a joke between his parents and moved on to the lesson.
The class is 2 hours long. With a 10 min brake in the middle. And during the First class I always begin with a basic overview of all the bodies' systems, Muscular, endocrine, skeletal etc. So that as the course progresses the students can be mindful of how each of the bodies systems interact with and depend on each other. And I was describing the role the Diaphragm plays in the respiratory system I heard all seven deeply inhale and slowly exhale in unison.
At the time I figured it was because I was talking in so much detail about breathing. It's a common phenomenon in any anatomy class. When talking about the role of any given part of the body students tend to become hyper aware of that part within thier own body. Every semester when we get to the class talking in depth about the urinary system without fail at least one student will suddenly rush out of the room desperately in need of the toilet.
But looking back I don't think any of my students had been breathing until that first unified breath, just after I'd explained the mechanics of breathing.
The main thing that stood out to me on the first day was the questions these students asked. I've been teaching this course for years now, and am pretty familiar with what kind of questions most students ask. Many questions I've answered dozens of times. But the questions these students asked were entirely out of left field. As if they were approaching human anatomy from a completely new and alien perspective. They were a lot more fun to answer than the standard ones, and I made a point to encourage all of them to ask as many questions as they had.
It's been very refreshing, and over the last few weeks looking at the human body from this perspective has given me a whole new appreciation for its beautiful idiosyncrasies.
It wasn’t until our third class period together that I realized none of them were blinking. It might strike you as odd that it took me almost six hours to realize this. But I am what my mother called "Just a Little Autistic" and don't make much eye contact to begin with. Someone else might have been creeped out, or chosen to politely ignore it. But I have never been what you might call subtle. So I asked them directly. "Say, don't any of you ever blink?"
They all seemed absolutely confused. As if they had no idea what blinking even was. Erika went as far as to say rather accusingly "You never mentioned Blinking in your summary of the body."
At that point the class period ended. But as it is my last class of the day, I offered to stay later and explain blinking to them in detail. I told them that if they had other classes or obligations, they could leave and I wouldn't hold it against any of them. None of them left. So we spent the next twenty minutes talking in detail about the muscles involved in blinking, the purpose of blinking, and when someone would blink. They absolutely loved it and by the end we were all blinking in unison!
That was the first time we stayed after class had officially ended. But it soon became obvious to me that none of them had any pressing engagements after class so we started staying later and later. Which was a godsend for me. What with all the tangents we went on answering questions in extreme detail, the extra few hours was the only way we were able to keep up with the syllabus.
One day we stayed so late talking about neurotransmitters, that the janitorial staff had to kick us out of the room.
Pavel was thrilled by the first dissection we did as a class. And afterwards kept coming to class with say a kidney, or a pancreas, and a whole arm on one occasion. And asking to cut it open in front of me so I could explain all the little bits and pieces he didn't know.
As I am recounting this now I realize how suspicious it sounds. But at the time I just assumed he'd made friends with someone in the lab and was using them to get extra parts. And it was such a golden learning opportunity I chose not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
After about three weeks I came into class and found an apple waiting for me on the desk. I held it in my hands for a few minutes as I began the lecture, then absent mindedly took a bite out of it. It was a delicious apple don't get me wrong, I don't want to seem ungrateful. But I was shocked when I bit down on something hard. I pulled the thing out of my mouth and was surprised to find a tooth. -Not my tooth I should add I still have all of mine. - It was the molar of a child.
I told my children (by then I'd started to think of them as my children, after all I was spending up to 16 hours a week teaching them) That I was very grateful for the apple and that it was delicious, but that apples aren't supposed to have teeth in them.
This led us down a delightful rabbit hole about botany and plants, and farming and the like. My children weren't as interested in this at first. But they are all insatiably curious. And as this wasn't my area of expertise I wasn't able to answer all their questions. So I told them we would have to go on a field trip.
I friend of mine runs a botanical garden you see. And -
THE ARCHIVIST; "Use full names please."
Sorry what?
THE ARCHIVIST; "Please provide full legal names of all persons involved in your statement."
Ah Yes, Jeremy Blake an old friend of mine runs a botanical Garden. And at the time he owed me a favor. - Though after what happened, I now owe him several favors.
The week leading up to the field trip was spent teaching my children how to not come off like total creeps. I knew other people would find them creepy, hell I found them creepy at first. But growing up Autistic people often found me creepy or odd, so I'd decided to give them the benefit of the doubt fairly early on. I didn't have even the slightest Inkling anything supernatural was going on until that day at the botanical gardens.
Anyway for a week we talked about the difference between a pleasant smile, an exited smile, and a predatory smile. How to make eye contact with someone and not come off uninterested, or creepy. How to adjust the tone of your voice to make a statement or ask a question. And the utmost importance of moving one's lips when speaking. Pavel really struggled with that one.
"Masking 101" I jokingly called it. But this only got me blank stares, and by the time I'd throughly explained it, it wasn't funny anymore.
I was proud as a mother hen, showing her clutch to the wolrd for the first time, the day of the field trip. All my children did wonderfully! They'd all brought notebooks and pencils and scribbled furiously as Jeremy gave us the grand tour and answered thier questions. - Pavel even managed to avoid cutting any of the plants or research assistants open to "See what's inside."
We were looking at some particularly lovely tulips, near the end of the tour. When Juan held up a tulip hairy bulb and all and asked. "It this what the part underneath is supposed to look like."
Jeremy looked like he was about to have an aneurysm. And started yelling at Juan, shouting how dare he dig up such a priceless bulb. And did he have any idea what he'd just done.
I was about to intervene and tell Jeremy he was going to far. When Jeremy snatched the bulb out if Juan's hand. There was a loud ripping sound. And when Jeremy inspected thr bulb he found a fleshy tube about as thick a pencil coming put of the bulb and bleeding slowly. It matched almost perfectly a similar tube coming out of Juan's palm.
There was a moment of hushed silence as Jeremy and I looked from the bleeding bulb to the bleeding hand, and then at each other.
Darling Jan, always the peace keeper tapped Jeremy politely on the shoulder and said. "Mr. Blake, that tulip didn't come from the ground see." She pointed to the dozen happy tulips in thier neat rows. "All twelve are still there."
Then a look of utter horror washed over Jeremy's face as he realized what he was holding.
Suffice it to say we were rushed put of there quicker than you can say Achilles Tendon.
That was four days ago.
Yesterday I was talking to one of my colleagues, Dr. Laura Gill. And whe. I described the incident and the botanical Gardens she suggested I talked you. Or more precisely your institute.
Transcriber's Note; At this point Johnathan told Dr. Elliot that he'd given us more than enough information and that we would contact him if we had any further questions. Before dismissing him a little rudely. Not that I blame John. The poor man has been under a lot of stress lately. But someone really ought to talk to him about being polite to people when they are sharing thier trauma. - I mean statements.
Statement ends.
Supplemental;
While following this statement up we looked into the college's records. And could not find anything indicating that the students described above have ever been enrolled there. Or that Dr. Elliot even has a class scheduled during that time slot.
Dr. Elliot has recently made it clear that we would be more than happy if someone from our institute were to observe his class. We will probably be sending someone over in the next few days.