Upward Bound

Walter, a nonspeaking autistic young man in his early 20s, spends his days at Upward Bound, an adult day care center for disabled adults housed in a converted nursing home. He communicates through echolalia, the involuntary repetition of scripted phrases, and by pointing at letters on a laminated QWERTY board held by a trained aide. The novel unfolds through rotating perspectives of clients, staff, and outside observers, revealing intersecting lives shaped by disability, dependence, and fleeting connection.

Walter opens the story by watching Jorge, a large, gentle, nonspeaking fellow client, slip out the back door while staffers are distracted. He follows Jorge outside and finds him safe in a play area. Walter shares his background: A practitioner named Soma taught him to communicate by pointing at letters on a board. His mother supplemented his special education with grade-level lessons, and Walter earned a high school diploma and an associate degree, with his mother as his college aide. Jorge, by contrast, was placed in a school offering no real academics and has no means of communication. Walter theorizes that Jorge runs not from Upward Bound but toward something: Every time he wanders during weekly Target trips, he is found gazing at Mr. Potato Head in the toy section. Walter ended up at the center after his father's death forced his mother back to work. When Carlos, a calm aide, retrieves Jorge, he defends both clients to Dave, the center's director, who files incident reports. That evening, Walter spells out his story for his mother on the letter board. She is relieved and proud, and at his request, agrees not to confront Dave. Walter tells her "the magical place is right here."

The perspective shifts to Tom, a young man with spastic quadriparesis cerebral palsy, a condition that limits his muscle control, speech, and facial expression. He depends entirely on caregivers. His mother has emotionally withdrawn since a doctor said Tom's lifespan is shortened and urged residential placement. When Ann, a new summer lifeguard, begins talking directly to Tom and crouching to his eye level, he experiences genuine connection for the first time. She gives him a fast wheelchair ride through Target, floats him in the pool, and Tom calls this the happiest period of his life. Inspired, he begins practicing deliberate blinking: one blink for yes, two for no. No one notices because no one watches for a response. On Ann's last day, Tom blinks, but she does not register it. Afterward, Carlos sits before Tom and asks about his eyes. He has noticed the blinking.

A chapter on Mariana, the center's administrative assistant, reveals she is Carlos's older sister. Their mother went to prison for robbery when Mariana was 16 and Carlos was six, and Mariana raised him alone. After retrieving Carlos from jail following an unspecified offense, she debates whether to get him hired at Upward Bound. She worries about his unreliability but recognizes the center's need for strong male staff and suggests him to Dave, who agrees to interview him.

Ann narrates her own chapter as a retrospective journal. She recounts her initial terror at Upward Bound and her gradual transformation as she learns to read individual clients: Emma, a quiet nonspeaking young woman, responds to Beatles songs; Drew, a hyper-verbal client, memorizes rules and birthdays. Ann organizes a spontaneous decorating party that engages the clients, but Dave shuts it down over sensory overstimulation and liability concerns. As she prepares to leave, she takes forbidden selfie photos with clients and considers pursuing speech pathology, inspired by learning that one client communicates through typing.

Walter narrates a chapter on autism and representation. At 12, he watched an HBO film about Temple Grandin and grew furious at its depictions of autistic experience. He thrust his arm through a window, leaving a permanent scar he calls a reminder that the story of autistic people must be told by one of them.

A chapter on Dave follows the director through his lonely evening routine and preparations for the annual Holiday Spectacular. On show night, the scripted production collapses when its star performer, Anthony, a client, cracks under pressure. The cast improvises, gravitating toward a Christmas tree donated by local debutantes. Walter moves from the back of the stage to center, his arm-swinging resembling conducting, and the audience sings along in an unscripted, joyful moment. Afterward, Dave hands his keys to Carlos to lock up for the first time, a significant concession of control.

Shorter chapters capture quieter dimensions of life at the center. Walter and Emma, whom he has known since age six, share a wordless morning communion at a window. Walter recounts being sent home early from Camp Cammie, a sleepaway camp, after a counselor mistook his father's forgotten supplements for dangerous pills; his mother's anguished question on the drive home lingers: If a camp for disabled people will not tolerate Walter, who will? In another episode, a staffer named Andy swerves the center's truck to avoid Jorge during one of his elopements—unsupervised wandering incidents—and crashes into Dave's parked car.

A chapter on Carlos traces his six-year bond with Jorge. Initially wary of Jorge's size, Carlos discovered his gentleness and developed an intuitive connection, sensing Jorge's emotional and physical states through proximity. Carlos ensures Jorge gets daily time with Mr. Potato Head during free hour. One morning, he senses extreme distress and breaks protocol to open the toy closet early, but Jorge grabs the toy and bolts outside, crossing a busy street. Police confront Jorge, who crouches in a parking lot rocking and shrieking. The officers draw guns. Carlos runs across the street shouting at them to stop. When Jorge raises his hands to cover his ears, still gripping the toy, a young officer fires. The bullet strikes Carlos in the abdomen; a second hits a nearby play structure. Carlos collapses across Jorge's back.

Avery, a Target cashier, provides an outside perspective, observing the Upward Bound group each Friday over many months. She gradually distinguishes individual clients, notices the energy shift when Ann arrives, and senses something missing when Carlos is later absent.

Walter narrates the final chapter. Carlos dies en route to the hospital with Mariana in the ambulance. Police place Jorge on a 5150, a 72-hour involuntary psychiatric hold. Walter's mother pulls him from Upward Bound permanently. At home, Walter replays the incinerator scene from Toy Story 3 on repeat while online commenters blame Jorge for Carlos's death. At Carlos's memorial, a priest describes how Mariana got Carlos the job that transformed his life, and Walter realizes for the first time that Carlos and Mariana were siblings. On a last visit to handle paperwork, Walter sits across from Jorge, who is hunched and barely responsive. Walter's mother puts her arm around Jorge and whispers to him. Walter says goodbye using a scripted phrase from Blue's Clues. Only Drew responds.

Walter's mother becomes his paid caregiver through Supplemental Security Income (SSI). They sell the family home, buy a smaller townhouse, and establish a routine of daily reading and 20-minute writing sessions. Walter writes about his father, Carlos, and Jorge. They develop two possible plans: transfer to a university to complete a bachelor's degree, or continue writing and see what happens. Walter reflects that his three-person family lost a leg when his father died, and his mother is missing half of herself, but he is not going anywhere.