“You say he just wandered in out of the hills?”
“Yes.”
“And he hasn’t spoken once.”
“No.”
“…And do you think that this is a beneficial environment?”
“Well…yes! It’s full of intelligent, interesting people who treat him like a human being! We all love him!”
“That’s interesting, because what I see is a bunch of lush layabouts with no sense of personal responsibility or daily structure.”
“But we’re doing fine! All of us! So what if it’s unstructured — it’s better than an orphanage!”
“No. I’m sorry. We know what’s best. You’ll have to give him to us.”
“He won’t go with you! He doesn’t want to leave!”
“How would you know? He’s mute. Nothing you do — nothing you’ve ever done — has ever been enough to change anything.”