George wasn't a bad guy. He'd had a rough life, broken home,
no Dad around for the longest time. What was he saying? "You gotta know
somebody." It was not hard to see
why he developed that philosophy. It was easy to understand George and it was
very hard to criticize anything about him to anybody. especially to George
himself.
What about Dan Haddon? Should he just be happy, complete,
with these plastic squirt bottles and rags? There was a time when playing with
things even simpler brought an unquestioned pleasure to him, but childhood was
certainly less demanding. What's the difference now? It hit him. At least an
idea hit him. "I've got it", he thought. "I'll go in with
George, I'll help him."
What Dan didn't see was that this wasn't a solution, perhaps
a step in the right direction. George was not an easy case. Dan's father would
intervene and set him straight that evening.
"What you've got in mind is what the car wash is
already doing, and they've got a lot more going for them than you do. In fact,
they've got George working his way up and out of his problems and looking at
independence. He sees you as help in getting where he wants to go. What about
you?" He looked right at his son. "Would a successful partnership
with George give you what you want?"
