he liked to play cards with the old men at the hospital where his mama worked because they'd tell him jokes that he didn't quite understand he could laugh and no one would make fun of him and sometimes they'd give him their desserts sometimes the old man named George would cry a little when he looked at him and that would make him sad but he said he reminded him of a boy he used to know and that he hoped he stayed just the way he was the kids at school called him slow (stupid, *******) and played tricks on him sometimes he would cry but sometimes he would feel those fists flying because they hurt him first and then his mama would cry because they'd send notes home and she would say "i have my hands full. why can't you just try harder?" so he'd try harder and he'd keep things to himself and he wouldn't tell what it was like when one of his teachers took him into a closet after school and made him do terrible things and he wouldn't tell when mama got a new boyfriend and he'd hit him every time that mama was gone and he wouldn't tell how much it hurt that he knew he was different but he couldn't change and he wouldn't tell when he went into the bathroom to swallow some pills because sometimes it's so hard not to tell