The spare chair stays out after company leaves.
It shouldn’t matter. It’s the chair from the bedroom, dragged in because there weren’t enough seats. But after the door shuts, it keeps the whole room in the middle of something.
You liked having them there. You might’ve even said, while they were still standing in the hallway, “We should do this again.”
Then you wash the glass they used. Their coat is gone from the hook. The chair goes back where it belongs. The cat reappears from a location known only to the cat.
The room loses its company manners.
The visit isn’t over when they leave. It’s over when every object has stopped looking like it expects you to answer.
— Autistic Ang
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Adult Autism 101
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