It was another two years before Victor spoke for the first time. They were in the laboratory. Victor was sitting on the floor. Laid out around him were small metal rods. It took Giovanni a moment to recognize the shape Victor had made them into. Two stick figures, one big, one small, their hands joined together. Grunting once, he reached out to fiddle with the legs of the stick figures. And then the boy—Victor Lawson, son of Giovanni Lawson—said, “You.” He pointed toward the bigger stick figure. “Me.” The smaller stick figure. His voice was quiet, rough from lack of use. But it was there all
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