HOW IT BEGAN

Mr Tim Boyes,
Headteacher,
Queensbridge School.
Queensbridge Road,
Birmingham

10th April 2008


Dear Tim,


Following our informal discussion when we met the other night at the Sailing Club, I am writing with a somewhat strange request.

As you know I am a consultant researching into child behaviour in exceptional situations.
The Institute has recently taken into its care a young boy, found wandering alone in the basement of a large, empty Victorian house in the West Midlands. The boy does not speak however it now seems that he does appear to be able to read and write. Last Sunday morning we briefly left him alone in the canteen, and when we returned found that he had written the attached on a sheet of paper. So it appears he is literate, and what’s more has a large vocabulary, although what he wrote makes no clear sense.

I'm afraid that under Child Protection Legislation I am unable to describe him to you physically, but I can say that he is clearly distressed. From what the boy has written we’re led to believe he might gain from controlled contact with a group of students of his own age which we estimate to be around 12 years old. An analysis of the demographic of your school would suggest that you could possibly provide us with access to young people of this approximate age with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences – ideal for our researches.

I am hoping you will be prepared to join us in an experiment to help us build up a picture of what it is to a young person of this age, and to interact with the found boy in the hope that this will help us to find out more about him and help him to regain if not his memory then at least his sense of self.

If this acceptable to you, I would ask you to pass onto a class of Year 8 students (11-13 years old) the attached questionnaire which we hope will give us some initial guidance in what might trigger a response in the boy.


Finally I’m sure you will understand the importance of maintaining confidentiality in this matter as media intrusion at this juncture could be injurious to this young man’s recovery.


Yours sincerely,



Dr Tobias C. Meade-Jones

Executive Consultant

****

Writing by the boy, Sunday 6th April 2008:

" today very Puzzled and bewildered have no idea after the painful break-up no idea however would improve with teaching conditions apply the number of school children 'alarmed' 'alarmed' my name is Observer with teaching among youngsters encourage in an attempt to reverse comply or joe die escape military and speedy free inside a dream a pipe dream bringing it all together rebuilding and reconstructing"

****

HAUSER INSTITUTE

RESEARCH QUESTIONAIRRE

First name:


Date of birth:


PLEASE SUBMIT the following responses for SUBJECTIVE DATA ANALYSIS


1) 5 expressions you use a lot:


2) Your favourite TV programme:
website:
book:
radio station
music

3) Describe yourself: your appearance, interests and home as you would to someone your own age who you had just met


4) Describe your favourite taste

Thank you for your assistance with our researches. This information could be invaluable in helping us to establish better communications with the patient.
Please return to hauserinstitute@gmail.com. Please type ‘LB/B4’ in the subject line

20th April 2008

c/o Tim Boyes,
Headteacher,
Queensbridge School
Queensbridge Road
Birmingham
B13 8QB



Dear Colleagues,

Thank you so much for what I gather was your enthusiastic response to our work here at the Institute. I understand that your participation may be a confusing proposition indeed at times I myself have been confused by what we are doing , very confused.

Your initial questions are very appropriate and confirm my suspicion that you are the perfect group with which to work. I hope that the questionnaires that I supplied will give me a clearer idea of who you are.

Now that I am more certain of your participation I can give you a better idea of the specific scene that greeted me when the foundling was discovered.

The police and social services had already informed me that a boy had been discovered living alone in the basement of a large Victorian house in the West Midlands.

On first inspection the boy appeared to be approximately twelve years old, with dark hair and light brown skin. The boy was almost entirely silent save a few grunts, sighs and inarticulate murmurs. He appeared to have been living alone in the house for a long time, months if not years. His nails were abnormally long to the point of curling back in on themselves. However he was reasonably clean with long hair down past his shoulders. As I mentioned in my introductory letter the boy is able to write and read which he does with great enthusiasm and insistence. The text is full of urgency and has a desperate quality that I find hard to get out of my own head.

I attach a short text found in the boy’s room one morning, written quite neatly in a notebook we had provided for him.


The house itself was a typical family house, idyllic. No, it was not derelict but the upstairs had been abandoned. Various photos remained on the walls. Some of the photos were of a couple who appeared to love each other very much. A quick inspection of the property revealed the house to be the home of a happy, loving family. There was an unlit fire prepared in the fireplace. But we are not concerned with them here. My business, our business is “forgetting, recollection and identity loss”.

As I mentioned earlier I think, it will not be possible to meet the boy under the laws of Child Protection however together we can re-create him. He is lost, disorientated and vulnerable. At the same time he is highly receptive to the stimulation of reading, writing and role play. I hope that together we can give him that sense of himself, of “ being twelve” (or thereabouts) that he seems to have lost. I do believe he has been loved by his parents and indeed they must have equipped him with great survival skills for him to have endured as long as he did.

Thank you for your co operation in completing the tasks we have provided. I hope the examples of writing we have included will intrigue and stimulate you. I look forward to collating your responses to the questionnaire etc.

Again thank you. You are helping me more than you can possibly imagine.


Yours



Tobias

******




BEING MY AGE

FROM THE BOY


Yo friends wassup thank you
i think i like talking with my friends like you
I dunno about chocolate or chipshop chips or rollerblading or.. soooo much more
i wish i could have mother fATHER
oh well I WANt to see
so much
thanks for asking
"You ok?"
SO i dont know nothing
need you to fill me up with telling how it IS to be
my age,
I feel like I know you like i'm one of you
Thanks

I need you to tell me: what makes me laugh and cry
what I am feeling
I don;t know
please will you tell me stories
of where I might come from

Tobias helps me make this
blog
where its
easier than talking and you can add:
more comments, ideas for links of things
what i might DO with my life, might LIKe
IMAGINING me will help me BECOME
Oh my days!