I Sent My 15-Year-Old Autistic Brother to the Grocery Store Alone for the First Time. Fifteen Minutes Later, a Cashier Came Out Crying and Told Me, “You Need to Come Inside. You Won’t Believe What Your Brother Has Done.”

When he saw us, he jumped up.

“Are you Theo?”

Theo nodded.

“Yes.”

“My grandma told me what you did!”

Daniel looked at him with the excitement of a child meeting someone he had heard about in a story.

“You gave her your money!”

Theo looked uncomfortable with the attention.

“I gave her ten dollars.”

“That’s a lot of money!”

“It was all the money Marcus gave me.”

Daniel’s expression became serious.

“Did you want to buy something else?”

“Chocolate.”

Daniel looked horrified.

“You gave up chocolate?”

Theo frowned.

“I bought the chocolate. I just helped Grandma too.”

Daniel stared at him for a second.

Then he burst into laughter.

“Oh! Grandma said you were amazing, so I thought you gave up everything!”

Eleanor laughed.

“I may have made the story sound a little more dramatic than it was.”

Theo considered that.

Then he said, “It was dramatic at the store.”