Daniel Isn't Talking

by Marti Leimbach

Melanie Marsh knows something isn't right with her son. As an American living in England, she has the perfect life: great husband, great daughter, and an adorable son. But as Daniel's behavior deteriorates, Melanie learns that Daniel has autism. And in dealing with Daniel's autism, Melanie discovers more about the people around her than she had expected.

For a book about a woman dealing with her son's autism, this book is less about autism than I expected. Using autism as a sort of background noise, I found that this book spoke to the classic theme of finding out who you can count on when the chips are down. Melanie's husband Stephen can't hack it and leaves. She spends a good portion of the story trying to get him back, only to find out that she doesn't really need him. I loved the part at the end of the book when Melanie tells Stephen, "If something had happened to you, Stephen, if something had happened to you instead of Daniel, I want you to know that I would have fought just as hard. And for as long as it took." And after a moment of thinking, she says "But I don't think you'd fight for me," It's that moment that Melanie realizes that she's capable of standing on her own. That she has been all along.

It's funny, isn't it, how the oftentimes, the person you think you NEED in your life, isn't that person at all? It reminds me of a somewhat dysfunctional relationship I was in at one point. I was so focused on getting this guy that I couldn't even see what he was really like. I would have gone to the ends of the earth for him, done anything he asked. I needed him in my life (for whatever reason!) and took all manner of crap from him in order to be with him. And then one day, I said "I'm not calling him today" and when he called me two days later, I said "I'm not calling him back" and like that he was gone from my life.

And I never missed him at all.

I like to think that maybe he realized what he lost. I like to think that he wished it hadn't gone that way. But the reality is, I don't think he did. He wasn't a bad guy, really. Like Melanie and Stephen, we were good together for a time. But on his terms. And when Melanie needed Stephen to be something for her, when the tables turned, Melanie discovered that he wasn't going to be able to be that someone. And she could move on and help her son.