Eric looked back at Walden. "He can't teach me to be like other children, can he?"
"No," Walden said. "I can't."
"Then I don't want to go to school." Eric threw the ball across the room as hard as he could.
"But there once were other people like you," Walden said. "Lots of them. And you can learn about them, if you want to."
"Other people like me? Where?"
Myron and Gwin looked helplessly at each other and at the old man. Gwin began to cry and Myron cursed softly, on the perception level so that Eric wouldn't hear them.
But Walden's face was gentle and understanding as he answered, so understanding that Eric couldn't help wanting desperately to believe him.
"Everyone was like you once," Walden said. "A long time ago."
It was a new life for Eric. Every day he would go over to Walden's and the two of them would pull back the curtains in the study and Walden would lift down some of the books. It was as if Walden was giving him the past, all of it, as fast as he could grasp it.