The sounds outside were almost as bad as the sounds inside. There was a large bouncy castle on the grass, and it was perhaps the noisiest thing outside. The fan powering it, combined with the noise of the many, many children jumping on it, was a lot to take in. Jumping children, laughing children, children jumping into the pool – everywhere you looked, something was going on, something loud, and a hell of a lot of jumping.
‘This is . . . it’s so . . . um,’ I stuttered, looking around me.
‘I’m coming to get you!’ Becca shouted from my left, and I swung around in fright. She raced out of the house, hands in the air, her fingers claw-like, and sprinted towards the bouncy castle. The kids screamed at the top of their lungs, as if they really were being chased by a claw-handed monster, when it was clearly not one. I had no idea kids had such high-pitched screams. I was sure, if they continued, they would shatter all the glass windows in the house.
‘Loud?’ Andrew offered.
‘Understatement,’ I replied, trying to think of the correct synonym. But as I ran over the words in my head –thundering, rowdy, deafening– they didn’t seem quite right. Because although this was loud, overwhelming even, it wasn’t unpleasant.
‘Hi, Pippa!’ Leroy screamed. He jumped off the castle, rushed towards me on tiptoes and then grabbed my hand. ‘Come on.’ He tugged at my arm and began pulling me towards the bouncy castle.
‘I’m not sure I like bouncy castles,’ I said.
‘I used to hate them. I didn’t like the noise and the bouncing made me feel sick. But you get used to it. And then it’s fun. Take your shoes off.’ He pointed at my feet.
‘Okay,’ I said tentatively. I hated being barefoot.
‘You can leave your socks on if you don’t like the way the ground feels,’ he added.
‘I don’t like the way the ground feels.’
‘Me neither. Especially grass.’
I smiled. ‘I hate the way grass feels.’
‘And cotton wool,’ Leroy added.
‘Me too!’ We smiled at each other for a while and, when my shoes were off, Leroy pulled me onto the bouncy castle.
‘Whoaa!’ I almost fell. I hadn’t imagined it feeling this soft and unstable.
‘It takes some getting used to.’ Leroy jumped up and down, causing me to lose my balance. Clumsy people and bouncy castles were probably not a good combination.
‘Here. Take my hands.’ Leroy reached out and took my hands. We jumped together like that, getting into a steady rhythm. At one point I almost fell, pulling Leroy with me.
‘My OT says bouncing is good vestibular and proprioceptive input.’
‘Wow, okay. Do you know what that means?’ I asked. I knew what it meant, because my OT had said something similar to me. I’d also been in OT for years.
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘I just remember everything people say, even if I don’t understand it all.’
‘Your OT means that it’s probably good for developing better balance and stability,’ I said, continuing to jump.
He rolled his eyes at me. ‘Why do people never say what they actually mean?’
I smiled back at him. ‘Tell me about it. Bouncing is really good for people with dyspraxia, like us.’
‘Do you also have it?’ he asked.
I nodded. I held on to his hands as I jumped. When I was his age, I’d longed for someone to tell me it was okay to be different, or to tell me they understood. I squeezed his hands a little. ‘Can I tell you something else?’
He nodded.
‘I’m also on the autism spectrum, like you.’
He smiled at this but didn’t say a word. We just continued to jump. My jumping got better as my confidence increased and I became more comfortable on the uneven surface.
‘This is so fun,’ I screamed across the garden at Andrew. ‘You should join us!’
