WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.065 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.065 --> 00:00:07.590 align:middle line:84% There are two shorter ones that are about two little girls that 00:00:07.590 --> 00:00:12.330 align:middle line:84% are daughters one of my oldest friends from college-- 00:00:12.330 --> 00:00:15.300 align:middle line:84% Sandra [INAUDIBLE]---- who lives in Maine. 00:00:15.300 --> 00:00:20.620 align:middle line:90% And one of them is named Lydia. 00:00:20.620 --> 00:00:22.530 align:middle line:90% She has Asperger's syndrome. 00:00:22.530 --> 00:00:25.350 align:middle line:90% And she's a savant. 00:00:25.350 --> 00:00:28.200 align:middle line:84% When she was six, I'd come to visit. 00:00:28.200 --> 00:00:30.750 align:middle line:84% And she'd say, would you like to see 00:00:30.750 --> 00:00:34.350 align:middle line:84% the timeline of the human race that I have on the stairs 00:00:34.350 --> 00:00:35.100 align:middle line:90% up to my room? 00:00:35.100 --> 00:00:37.980 align:middle line:84% And she's reading Greek and Latin and Homer. 00:00:37.980 --> 00:00:42.450 align:middle line:84% She's reading Homer and Shakespeare, 00:00:42.450 --> 00:00:45.000 align:middle line:90% but she couldn't get along-- 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.210 align:middle line:84% of course, how would you get along with children 00:00:47.210 --> 00:00:48.540 align:middle line:90% your own age? 00:00:48.540 --> 00:00:50.220 align:middle line:90% What would you talk about? 00:00:50.220 --> 00:00:53.880 align:middle line:84% But she did all the other children things. 00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:54.780 align:middle line:90% Like, I did this. 00:00:54.780 --> 00:00:57.330 align:middle line:84% I was reading the Iliad when I was eight, 00:00:57.330 --> 00:00:58.800 align:middle line:90% and I was reading comic books. 00:00:58.800 --> 00:01:03.450 align:middle line:84% And I considered the Iliad an improved comic book 00:01:03.450 --> 00:01:04.530 align:middle line:90% without pictures. 00:01:04.530 --> 00:01:05.940 align:middle line:90% It didn't need them. 00:01:05.940 --> 00:01:06.990 align:middle line:90% It was pretty vivid. 00:01:06.990 --> 00:01:10.710 align:middle line:90% 00:01:10.710 --> 00:01:13.330 align:middle line:84% And I think maybe I have that syndrome too. 00:01:13.330 --> 00:01:17.040 align:middle line:90% But anyway-- no, she has-- 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:19.410 align:middle line:90% we're very worried about-- 00:01:19.410 --> 00:01:21.810 align:middle line:84% well, the thing was, she turned 12. 00:01:21.810 --> 00:01:25.980 align:middle line:90% And as everyone knows-- 00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:28.080 align:middle line:84% well, first of all, like Freud said, 00:01:28.080 --> 00:01:30.990 align:middle line:84% there's this moment in the life of children 00:01:30.990 --> 00:01:36.390 align:middle line:84% between the ages of 11 and 13 when the light goes away, 00:01:36.390 --> 00:01:36.900 align:middle line:90% you know? 00:01:36.900 --> 00:01:38.310 align:middle line:90% Everyone knows that, right? 00:01:38.310 --> 00:01:40.470 align:middle line:84% Some people, few people, keep it. 00:01:40.470 --> 00:01:45.210 align:middle line:84% But it goes away, and it's one of the most terrible things 00:01:45.210 --> 00:01:46.950 align:middle line:90% in the world. 00:01:46.950 --> 00:01:49.860 align:middle line:90% But this other thing happens. 00:01:49.860 --> 00:01:51.930 align:middle line:84% Like, we would go up twice a year. 00:01:51.930 --> 00:01:57.300 align:middle line:84% From one visit to the next, her body changed. 00:01:57.300 --> 00:02:00.270 align:middle line:90% And it was kind of weird. 00:02:00.270 --> 00:02:01.680 align:middle line:90% And we laughed. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:03.850 align:middle line:90% We talked about it and laughed. 00:02:03.850 --> 00:02:07.440 align:middle line:84% But the thing is, I've known many women who've 00:02:07.440 --> 00:02:11.290 align:middle line:84% told me that when this happened to them-- 00:02:11.290 --> 00:02:14.070 align:middle line:84% one woman actually said it destroyed her childhood. 00:02:14.070 --> 00:02:15.310 align:middle line:90% You know, men looked at her. 00:02:15.310 --> 00:02:16.143 align:middle line:90% She didn't know why. 00:02:16.143 --> 00:02:19.080 align:middle line:84% And she didn't understand what's happening to her. 00:02:19.080 --> 00:02:20.370 align:middle line:90% She was an extreme case. 00:02:20.370 --> 00:02:29.160 align:middle line:84% But, Lydia, on the contrary was delighted. 00:02:29.160 --> 00:02:32.340 align:middle line:90% She was absolutely delighted. 00:02:32.340 --> 00:02:36.970 align:middle line:84% She just talked about it and wanted to talk about it. 00:02:36.970 --> 00:02:40.100 align:middle line:90% And then, OK, it was weird. 00:02:40.100 --> 00:02:43.590 align:middle line:84% I kept trying not to look at her, you know? 00:02:43.590 --> 00:02:47.970 align:middle line:84% And, so, it's called, "I Don't Know How to Tell You This." 00:02:47.970 --> 00:02:49.590 align:middle line:90% "It is so strange. 00:02:49.590 --> 00:02:51.900 align:middle line:84% 1 minute I'm in the city, and the next I'm 00:02:51.900 --> 00:02:55.380 align:middle line:84% on the dirt road in Maine walking in the early summer 00:02:55.380 --> 00:02:58.500 align:middle line:84% woods beside a little girl I love 00:02:58.500 --> 00:03:01.530 align:middle line:84% and gazing off in the direction of some music I 00:03:01.530 --> 00:03:05.490 align:middle line:84% remember hearing years ago at this very spot. 00:03:05.490 --> 00:03:09.990 align:middle line:84% A phrase of spare piano music played very slowly over 00:03:09.990 --> 00:03:13.470 align:middle line:84% and over again, coming from a place in the dense trees 00:03:13.470 --> 00:03:15.150 align:middle line:90% where no house is. 00:03:15.150 --> 00:03:17.640 align:middle line:84% And when I turned to look at her once more, 00:03:17.640 --> 00:03:20.790 align:middle line:84% she has become a beautiful young woman-- 00:03:20.790 --> 00:03:25.230 align:middle line:84% a disturbingly beautiful young woman, if still somewhat short. 00:03:25.230 --> 00:03:27.900 align:middle line:90% And I am old. 00:03:27.900 --> 00:03:30.525 align:middle line:84% I look at my hand, and it is an old man's. 00:03:30.525 --> 00:03:33.300 align:middle line:84% How will I ever explain this to people? 00:03:33.300 --> 00:03:36.240 align:middle line:84% But then the problem may never arise. 00:03:36.240 --> 00:03:38.040 align:middle line:90% I stop a minute, look around. 00:03:38.040 --> 00:03:41.160 align:middle line:90% Who says I will be coming back? 00:03:41.160 --> 00:03:43.080 align:middle line:90% I watch her going on ahead. 00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:45.480 align:middle line:84% Does she seem bewildered, tongue tied? 00:03:45.480 --> 00:03:47.010 align:middle line:90% Nothing of the kind. 00:03:47.010 --> 00:03:50.880 align:middle line:84% Has her face become preoccupied, troubled, the light 00:03:50.880 --> 00:03:52.440 align:middle line:90% around her disappeared? 00:03:52.440 --> 00:03:53.850 align:middle line:90% Not in the least. 00:03:53.850 --> 00:03:57.090 align:middle line:84% Does she skip, twirl, or laugh no more? 00:03:57.090 --> 00:03:58.470 align:middle line:90% On the contrary. 00:03:58.470 --> 00:04:01.120 align:middle line:84% Is she halt with self-consciousness? 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:04.290 align:middle line:84% Has embarrassment or sadness overshadowed her? 00:04:04.290 --> 00:04:06.930 align:middle line:90% Not yet. 00:04:06.930 --> 00:04:10.050 align:middle line:84% It is as if she were six again and had just received 00:04:10.050 --> 00:04:12.420 align:middle line:84% a new dress she adored and delighted. 00:04:12.420 --> 00:04:15.990 align:middle line:84% So delighted in that she'd secretly vowed, within earshot 00:04:15.990 --> 00:04:18.510 align:middle line:84% of everyone, never to take it off again, 00:04:18.510 --> 00:04:23.760 align:middle line:84% not under any circumstances, waking or sleeping, never ever. 00:04:23.760 --> 00:04:25.980 align:middle line:84% Now, she is telling us--" this is true-- 00:04:25.980 --> 00:04:28.740 align:middle line:84% "now she is telling me about a dream she had. 00:04:28.740 --> 00:04:33.180 align:middle line:84% She said she met a girl who was her except this girl was 00:04:33.180 --> 00:04:35.790 align:middle line:84% so thin she appeared to be starving, 00:04:35.790 --> 00:04:38.790 align:middle line:90% and she had the greenest hair. 00:04:38.790 --> 00:04:42.510 align:middle line:84% Then it occurred to her to ask the girl if she was dreaming. 00:04:42.510 --> 00:04:45.870 align:middle line:84% No, the girl answered before she could speak. 00:04:45.870 --> 00:04:49.190 align:middle line:90% Actually, I think you're awake." 00:04:49.190 --> 00:04:50.000 align:middle line:90%