Tahoe Silence

by Todd Borg

  “You are investigating the kidnapping?” she asked.

  “Yes. The girl’s mother, Marlette Remmick, hired me. There are few clues. It’s been a frustrating case.”

  “I read the childrens’ names in the paper, but I forget.”

  “SalAnne and Charlie Ramirez. They have their father’s last name. The mother went back to her maiden name after their divorce. Everyone who knows the girl calls her Silence.”

  Dr. Netman raised her eyebrows.

  “She is non-verbal,” I explained.

  “Quite common with autism.”

  “So I understand,” I said. “Which is why I want to talk to you. I’ve never met Silence. I’ve spoken to her teacher and a psychiatrist who treated her and a friend of hers. Her mother gave me a disk with video clips of the girl and her brother over the years. The picture that emerges is confusing at best.” I sipped my coffee, which was rich and strong.

  “Tell me, do you or the police have any idea why the children were kidnapped?”

  “Nothing concrete. My approach is perhaps a bit unorthodox, shaped by the knowledge that random kidnappings are difficult at best to solve. Of course, Silence may in fact be a random victim, picked for sexual slavery or something worse. In spite of that possibility, I’m proceeding with the presumption that she was instead specifically targeted, not randomly targeted. I take this approach because that is the only scenario where – if it is true – I’m likely to have a small chance of finding her.”

  “If you’re hungry,” Dr. Netman said, “you climb the type of tree that you think is most likely to bear fruit.”

  I nodded.

  Netman’s hands were resting on the chair arms. She raised an index finger an inch. “How do you think her autism figures into this?”

  “I don’t know. But because her autism is such a prominent facet of her personality, the better I understand autism, the better I will understand how she will respond to her current situation, how she will react if we can make a rescue attempt. It may even suggest why she was targeted in the first place.”

  Netman nodded slowly. “Let me give you an overview of autism. Although you must keep in mind that having never treated the girl, I won’t be of much help.”

  “I understand, Doctor.”

  “Please call me Rhonda.” She took a dainty bite off a croissant and sipped some coffee. “Let me begin by saying that a portion of what we think we know about autism will eventually be proven wrong. And we don’t know how big that portion is.”

  “As it has been throughout all of medical history, right?”

  The doctor smiled. “Yes. All areas of science have their components that are later shown to be false. Having said that, I think all the scientists who study autism – and I’m one of them – agree that autism is a word we use for a wide range of disorders that revolve around a person’s ability, or rather, inability to communicate with other people. One person with autism can be quite retarded and another can be quite brilliant. One can be verbal albeit with certain abnormalities, another completely non-verbal. One can have normal physical movements while another can exhibit awkward and repetitive movements.

  “Because of this range of characteristics, the DSM refers to autism as Autistic Spectrum Disorders.”

  “Excuse me. DSM?”

  “I’m sorry. The Bible of the American Psychiatric Association is the DSM. It stands for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It is where these disorders are defined.”

  “Do we know what causes autism?” I asked her.

  “We have some ideas. But nothing definitive. There are several genes that may have something to do with autism. At this time we don’t know how genetics are involved, but a genetic predisposition seems a factor. For example, if a child has ASD, the...”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Forgive me, there I go again. Autism Spectrum Disorder. Every child with autistic characteristics seems to have a different manifestation of autism. There are countless variations, so we refer to the problem as a spectrum of disorders.”

  “Ah. You were talking about genetics.”

  “Yes. If one child has ASD, the chances of their siblings having ASD is increased because of similar genetic makeup. If the child with ASD has an identical twin, the chances that the twin also will have ASD is huge, ranging up to ninety percent.”

  “If the genes predispose a kid to ASD, what is the trigger?”

  “I dearly wish we knew. But it appears that there may be many triggers. There’s been some speculation that environmental factors may contribute. Certain industrial chemicals and such that have increasingly found their way into the environment. If that is the case, it might explain the dramatic increase in recent autism diagnosis across the country and throughout Europe. On the other hand, the increase may just be attributable to more accurate diagnosis. It could also be that autism is like cancer in that it can be caused in several different ways. Bacterial pathogens, irritants, even viruses. Brain studies have found physical and functional differences in the brains of children with autism. So it could be that something about early brain development is the trigger.”

  I said, “Differences a person can see, or differences in how the brain operates?”

  “Both. Certain parts of the brain appear less developed in people with autism, whereas the overall brain is larger than normal and there is an excess of white matter. There are also differences in brain function. For example, when we do brain scans we can see which areas of the brain are involved in certain activities. If we scan the brains of normal children and show them pictures of people they know, a certain part of their brain lights up, so to speak. But if you do the same observation with autistic kids, that part of their brain often remains inactive.”

  “Facial recognition is absent in autistic children?”

  “Impaired, anyway. But it’s important to remember that while we often see children – and adults - who exhibit so-called classic autistic characteristics, we also commonly see unique combinations of behavior and cognition disorders. There is no single pattern. But regardless of whether these characteristics are common or uncommon, the bottom line is that if a person has characteristics that interfere with communication, we often categorize them as having Autistic Spectrum Disorder.”

  “You are being very careful with the nomenclature.”

  “Because there is so much room for confusion. And because one person we say is autistic can be so very different from another person we say is autistic.”

  “May I describe what I’ve learned about Silence Ramirez, and perhaps you could give me your thoughts?”

  “Please do.” Rhonda Netman took another bite of croissant, then waited expectantly.

  “When Silence was born, her mother Marlette noticed unusual behavior from the beginning. As a baby Silence wouldn’t turn to look at sounds, wouldn’t focus on her mother’s face, and didn’t move her hands and arms like other babies. As she grew, she didn’t learn to speak or read. Or at least, if she did learn to read, she didn’t reveal the ability.”

  “She looked at books?”

  “She paged through them as a child and still does now. Marlette says it looks like she might be reading, but there is no way to verify it. It could be she just likes looking at the printed words. Marlette says that Silence always noticed symbols. And words and letters are merely symbols, correct?”

  “Yes. Abstract symbols that we arrange in meaningful order.”

  I continued. “Silence never looked anyone in the eye, didn’t try to communicate with anyone, didn’t play with toys. She likes to be squeezed. She actually climbs under her mattress to let the weight of it push down on her. Apparently, it gives her comfort and calms her when she’s agitated. And she is a spinner. According to Marlette, she spins more the older she gets.”

  “Does she do things in a ritualistic way?”

  “Things like brushing her teeth, yes. The videos her mother took over the years periodically captured Silence doing some bas
ic things like brushing her teeth or spinning or how she gets into a car. She does things exactly the same this year as ten years earlier. If her routines are interrupted, she gets very upset.”

  “What kind of medical intervention did she get?”

  “The Special Ed teachers at the school have been good at getting her regular psychiatric evaluations, and they’ve been focused on designing appropriate lesson plans. But outside of the school, she’s gotten almost no specialized treatment.”

  Rhonda Netman closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

  I continued. “The family was poor and was not adept at using social services. Through the school, Silence has seen a psychiatrist every year for some time, a Dr. Raymond Power.”

  “I know Raymond,” Rhonda said. “A good man.”

  “He thinks the girl is quite retarded and from the first time he saw her he didn’t think much could be done. The most significant help came from a Special Ed teacher who has worked as Silence’s advocate for many years.”

  “This sounds like many cases I’ve been acquainted with over the years. Does the child have any special abilities?”

  “Yes. She is a fairly amazing artist,” I said. “Although she may just be a great draftsman. Either way, she can draw anything, quickly, and with photo-realism. Her perspective is perfect, and her attention to detail is astonishing.”

  “Tell me, Owen, what do you mean when you refer to the difference between an artist and a draftsman?”

  “I’m not sure. I suppose an artist puts something more into a drawing than just depicting what they see in an accurate way. Art interprets life, rather than just rendering a scene from life. I don’t know if that distinction is germane, but it occurred to me that artistic expression or lack thereof may be important in understanding how a person’s brain works.”

  “I think it is relevant,” Rhonda said. “It could be that Silence is a savant.”

  “You mean, like the Dustin Hoffman character in the movie Rain Man.”

  “Yes,” Rhonda said. “A person with a special talent unaccompanied by normal related behaviors. The Hoffman character could see patterns and instantly quantify aspects of those patterns. Like how many coins are scattered across the floor. A musical savant may be able to listen to a piano piece just once, then sit down and play it perfectly and even transpose it into other keys. But they might not be able to compose such a piece themselves or rearrange the movements in a logical fashion. A savant may be able to recite a speech from Hamlet, but have no understanding of the speech’s meaning. Think of it as performance without understanding.” The doctor paused, as if waiting to see if I understood.

  “Let me tell you about Silence’s Special Ed teacher,” I said. “Henrietta Johanssen works for the school district and first encountered Silence when the girl got to junior high school. Henrietta had read through Silence’s file. She’d worked with a few other autistic children over the years, and after reading Silence’s file, expected more of the same. But from the first time she met Silence, she thought the girl had been misdiagnosed.”

  “She thinks the girl is high-functioning?” Rhonda said.

  “Yes. Those were exactly her words. She believes that Silence is not only high-functioning, but actually brilliant.”

  “But you said the girl is non-verbal.”

  I nodded. “She’s never said a word in her life. She apparently makes sounds, little grunts and squeaks. And she hums. She also points and gestures.”

  “There are cases of autistic people who don’t speak, yet who write very well. Does Silence write anything?”

  “According to her mother, no.”

  “Not even her name?”

  “Not that I’ve heard of.”

  “These drawings you mentioned. What do you think? Do they seem to you a kind of communication? Or are they just renditions of the things around her?”

  I thought about it. “Mostly renditions, I think. Here, have a look.” I was holding a folder of drawings that Marlette had given me. I kept the two recent letter drawings and handed the rest to the doctor.

  Netman opened the folder and picked up the first drawing, a picture of the kitchen in the house where Marlette and her kids live. The doctor studied it for awhile, then slipped it under the pile and looked at the next drawing in the stack. This one depicted Silence’s backpack leaning against her bedroom doorway. The third drawing was a birthday cake that had several slices cut out of it. The fourth drawing was of her high school classroom.

  The doctor flipped through the rest of the drawings. “These are very good, indeed. But it appears they are of the things and places that are important to her. It doesn’t seem that these drawings are much in the way of communication.”

  “You mean, a substitute for speech,” I said.

  “Correct.”

  “Her mother says that Silence draws her Valentine cards. Is that a kind of communication?”

  “Yes. As are all of these drawings in some way. But I wouldn’t want anyone, especially the girl’s mother, to read too much into it.”

  I finished my coffee and got up to return my cup to the sideboard as well as to stretch my legs. I came back to Rhonda, reached for the folder and pulled three of the drawings out of the stack. “Have a look at these,” I said. “Silence’s teacher Henrietta is particularly taken with the way Silence notices Fibonacci numbers in nature.”

  Dr. Netman smiled. “I’m sorry, I don’t know that term.”

  “Henrietta didn’t either, at first. But she looked it up after Silence pointed it out.” I spread out the drawings and pointed to a tree in one, a flower in another, a pinecone in a third. “It is a number sequence, common in nature, first identified by a Thirteenth-Century Italian mathematician.”

  “That would be Fibonacci?” Netman said.

  “Leonardo, yes.” I nodded and explained how the numbers work. “What do you think of the girl’s observation of the sequence?”

  “Well, of course it is fascinating. I’d love to meet Silence and explore this area.”

  “But you don’t think it is indicative of high-function?”

  Netman gave me a polite smile and then frowned. “Hard to say. The drawings and the Fibonacci observation are impressive, of course. But I’m not convinced it means much. There is a regular occurrence of such abilities in autistic people. Not a frequent occurrence by any measure, but regular. The usual question is whether the person has a gift for arithmetic or a gift for math, the latter being indicative of a larger understanding.” Rhonda thought a moment and then said, “Perhaps the more important question is how any of this may factor into her kidnapping. What difference does it make if she is high-functioning?”

  “That’s why I came to you,” I said. “I may be completely misguided, but I’m hoping that something about her is connected to why she was kidnapped. If she is smarter than it appears, then perhaps that is a factor in why the kidnapper targeted her.”

  The doctor’s eyes widened. “You think Silence heard or saw something that led to her kidnapping?” Rhonda said.

  “Like?” I prompted, curious about where a doctor would go with the reasoning.

  “All I come up with are clichés,” Rhonda said. “Again, a metaphor applies. The location of something very valuable.”

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  Rhonda Netman continued, “You’re wondering if the girl has the intelligence of verbal people, but is simply missing the communication link that allows the rest of us to use words. A kidnapper could be thinking the same thing, that Silence has a different communication ability, and that she could possibly use her drawings to reveal whatever valuable knowledge she has. But I’m out of line speculating on such a thing. And as I said, I think it unlikely. A high-functioning child with no verbal ability whatsoever would be very rare.”

  “But is it possible?”

  Rhonda took another deep breath. I could tell that she was concerned that I was pursuing a dream instead of reality. “I think it would be possible under only a co
uple of conditions.”

  I waited.

  She continued, “Let me explain about the brain hemispheres. In most people, the left side of the brain controls the verbal center. If a stroke or a blow to the head in a car accident or some other damage to the left side of the brain eliminates the verbal center, the person is left without any speech. This is true even if the right side of their brain continues to function very well. One of the ways we know this is from studies of epilepsy. In some cases, doctors have cut the connections between the hemispheres of the brain in order to stop life-threatening seizures. While the operations are often successful, the side effect is that the right side of the brain can no longer communicate with the left side.”

  “What does that do?”

  “It does something quite extraordinary. A simple experiment will show that the right brain is active but unable to communicate. You may recall that the nerves from the body cross to the opposite side of the brain. The right brain controls the left half of the body, and the left brain controls the right side of the body.

  “I should add that above the neck it is a little different. Each eye is connected to both sides of the brain so that each hemisphere of the brain controls half the vision in both of the eyes rather than all the vision from one eye.

  “Here’s where it gets interesting. Imagine a person who has had the connections between the two halves of their brains severed. You show them a picture and place it to the side of their visual field so that it is only perceived by the left brain. Let’s say it is a picture of peanuts. You ask them what they see and of course they answer, ‘I see a picture of peanuts.’ They can answer because the left brain sees the picture and the left brain controls speech.

  “Next, you take a picture of a train and place it to the other side of their visual field so that it is only perceived by the right side of their brain. You ask them what they see and this time they say they see nothing because again the left brain controls speech and the left brain can’t see the train. Only the right brain can see the train and it can’t tell the left brain because those connecting nerves were severed.”