Years ago I worked as a cook at Baptist Hospital in Knoxville, Tennessee. I was a complete fraud. Never cooked a day in my life but I knew cooks made more money than the other kitchen employees. After my interview I was told I got the job and could start the next day. I was elated...until I exited the hospital and realized that I needed to learn how to cook for 400 people by the next morning. This actually didn't turn out to be as difficult as it seems. I faked as much as I could at first, then I learned that the computers had all the recipes in them. They even adjusted the amounts of ingredients to how many people were being served. Using that and the daily census I managed to get away with it. I think I did OK considering that I didn't even know how to cook an egg. I learned eventually that it's just as hard to cook for one person as it is to cook for 400.

Anyway....one of the kitchen employees was a short autistic guy named Malcolm. He'd been there close to 10 years when I started and may still even work there to this day. He was hired along with a bunch of other special needs people that were part of a group called The Sunshine Foundation. Over the years the other special needs people dwindled away...but Malcolm stayed.

His job was to load up patient trays and scrape the dirty trays into the garbage. Then...before he left he had to take out all the garbage. He made 10 cents above minimum wage to do this.

He never...EVER missed a day of work. He never complained. He was never as much as one minute late. He knew the names of every single person that had ever worked there (and there were a lot over the years.) Every morning I'd show up for work and Malcolm would greet me by saying "Good morning, Mr. Wilson. I feel GOOD today!" This was part of his ritual. I wasn't the only one he said this too...but it always made me smile. No matter how bad I felt or how much I'd rather be somewhere else...hearing Malcolm say "I feel GOOD today!" never failed to make me feel good too.

At the end of the day a bunch of the employees (including Malcolm and myself) would stand around just talking. Malcolm would talk about the Tidy Bowl Man...and The Green Giant. (He was fascinated by commercials). Like most autistic people...he had very strange social skills. For example...as we'd be standing around talking, Malcolm would notice it was 5 til' 7 and just split. Not say "I gotta' leave." or " See you tomorrow." He'd just go" POOF". Disappear. He was always afraid he'd miss his bus. To my knowledge he never missed his bus.

One day I decided to play a game with Malcolm. I prepared the night before. I looked up my Birthday and what day of the week it fell on. (It fell on a Wednesday). The next day I approached Malcolm. "Hey Malcolm..." I say, trying to appear as casual as possible ..."I was born October 28th of 1970. What day of the week did that fall on?" Malcolm...without missing a beat says "That was on a Tuesday, Mr. Wilson." I say "Are you sure about that, Malcolm?" and he says "No...sorry. It was a Wednesday." I ask him how he knew that. "That's simple, Mr. Wilson. I just got confused at first. 1970 was a leap year, see? Yea...your Birthday was on a Wednesday." This is all said as if it were just common knowledge.

He then turns around and empties a dirty tray into a trash can.

So many gifted and talented people lay wasted on their true possiblities of growth,,so many just because of their Classifications GIVEN or their just placed in our system that eats their souls up,,as they slide deeper into its cracks and depths.
This man could have neen so much more,,yet, in his thoughts, he was Blessed to have all he had...
THSI was a very heart felt story and it was GREAT,,as to SHOW a reader,,,that names PLACED on human lives,,sometimes mean NOTHING for who THEY truly are..God Bless you for SEEING and KNOWING HIM.
for HIS MORE...

Thank you, Terry! I appreciate yr comments.

That's a good story man. Truth be told, most people are underappreciated in the imperial size of it all -only so much room for so many moviestars. And most aren't as neutral about it as Malcolm. Cool guy. Nice you saw him for the talent he was.

Thanks. ....and yea, he was an amazing guy.

Nice story. Nicer still because it's true. On a slightly different note, it's funny that people like Malcolm can actually earn respect by just being their unassuming selves and some "normal" people think they automatically deserve it.

I'm under the impression that Malcolm is a modern day super hero and his super power is simply, uh....being Malcolm.....