Touching An Image

Touching an image and expecting it to respond in some way is now something more than one Generation has been born into Kallisti's first tablet was a 10-inch Acer, acquired via barter It was my entrance into the realm of tablet and stupid smartphone rebuilding This particular model happened to be constructed more robustly than most any of the current Models, much like laptops birthed with XP, thick and injurious to bare toes Kallisti was four Her mother abandoned us a year and a half prior My little blue-eyed girl barely spoke and was still wearing diapers A long process of specialist appointments that would culminate with a five-hour battery Of tests, performed by four separate disciplined PhDs, had begun Eventual Diagnosis Autism Even though her maternal grandfather, aunt, and half-brother lived next door, they would Not watch her for any length of time I was renting out rooms of my three-bedroom, two-bath mobile home My aunt, who lives two hours or so away, would take me to Sam's Club and tell me to fill Up a cart when she was in town Over the years, guests observed that my computer was always on, being used and functional Computrons accumulated quickly, along with anything else that electrons get directed Through Having no spouse nor parents, siblings nor grands, it was just little girl and me The window to the world in question was actually the first tablet I had used as well, having Recently graduated to a touchscreen phone I loaded it up with apps that were recommended for autistics and other educational flashes Of light first Art stuff, drawing and painting, then some actual games, a Super Mario knockoff being The only one I can recall at the moment Downloaded pictures of My Little Pony and Hello Kitty On this model, individual apps were lockable, so after adjusting the settings I did just That, entering a four-digit lock code for about ten of the built-in features I thought Would be easier if she left alone for the moment When I first presented it, I turned it on in front of her, waited for it to load and Demonstrated that what was on the screen responded to a tactile input Changing the cover screen image was part of the larger settings, so I unlocked them and Showed her the options she had to choose from I started the Super Mario knockoff and explained what I was doing for no more than five seconds Then I kissed her on the forehead and left the room, dishes and laundry always calling When I returned an hour later to check on her, my darling little girl had gone down The list and unlocked, separately, every one of the locked features The cover image and lock screen were also changed She had visited the Google Play Store and downloaded more games, and was happy, as always I kept her logged into my account on YouTube, otherwise Google would mandatorily censor Her viewing because of her age That is one of the duties of the parent, to answer questions arising from confusing information Up until three weeks after her ninth birthday, Kallisti was able to experience empathy To understand what was being presented to her in even a cartoon dramatic performance And respond as a person who cared about others would She would grow to love Minecraft and Five Nights at Freddy's I still sleep on sheets and under a bedspread adorned with those characters Daddy loves the horror genre, and one day when I was viewing a flick called 13 Eerie She ran into the room and observed a woman getting her fingers eaten by a zombie She looked down at her own hand, back up at the screen, and down at her own hand before Running away laughing From that point on, I would pretend I was a zombie, much to her amusement Both franchises have an enormous fan following Music was always playing in our house, very rarely television She had her own powered monitor speakers and was looking forward to her first subwoofer The Living Tombstones, I Hope You Die in a Fire, and lots of Minecraft related songs Were her favorites when I saw her last Three weeks after her ninth birthday, Child Protective Services ripped her under threat Of gunpoint and execution from her home For a solid year, I was allowed one hour a week, then one every two weeks, then nothing Half of those visitations were on the Zoom app due to COVID The first time I saw her after putting her on the bus and never getting her off again She was visibly broken, like I was Deep dark circles under her red eyes, oily skin and hair, far more acne than usual, persistent Cough and nasal drainage It took me half an hour to get her to weakly smile We spent all of our lifetime together in each other's arms, comforting as best as possible When surrounded by monsters, caricatures of humanity with heavily painted funhouse faces Regurgitating lies incessantly On the screen, viewing with the Zoom app, her prison cell in April 2's New Braunfels House was stark, barren of personality Neutral painted walls devoid of decoration, like those of a private mental institution Barely a bed which she was placed centrally framed on, none of her toys or belongings Present, prodded by her teachers, her purchasers, to stumble through unfamiliar books The speakers emitted no sound the first video visitation so she couldn't hear her father Visibly disturbing both of us A house where singing and spinning and dancing and happiness is forbidden and crushed like Cigarettes, fire extinguished She was removed from my custody on her 10th birthday, most certainly as a demonstration Of smug power They had coincidentally removed our visitations on my birthday months before The only reason being given was my refusal to voluntarily submit her to, again, non-mandatory Behavioral training at Bluebonnet Trails, the same institution that in my childhood I had been issued experimental mind-altering prescriptions and been illegally funneled Into a private psychiatric care facility from That was common at the time, probably still is About a year ago, I was charging my phone behind a vending machine in front of Walmart In Cibolo Wiederstein Elementary is across the street Moving to Texas in the middle of 4th grade, I spent the rest of that school year at a Different building labeled the same thing My daughter was sitting in a shopping cart next to a 4-door sedan in the parking lot Two women I did not recognize were loading parcels into the trunk when I spotted them Kallisti was drooping in the shopping cart, staring expressionless downward, behind bars In a literal and figurative sense I called her name and started towards her, having to wait for traffic One of the women picked her up and threw her into the back seat, taking care to physically Block her view The vehicle spun tires, leaving the parking space Kallisti Aeon McKenzie will be 11 years old on September 2nd