Hello, forum.
I'm looking for help finding a story. Whenever I ask people in person, I get blank looks. When I've asked on other forums, I get the cyber equivalent of blank looks. You, the EscapePod forum users, are my last hope (until I think of somewhere else to ask). Anyway, here's what I can tell you about it:
I read it many years ago (20? 25?). I don't remember the publication, the author or the title. What I do remember is this: It centered around a young boy who, to all appearances, was . . . well, I don't know what the politically correct term would be, and I don't like to be insensitive, so let's say that his mental capacity was not aligned with accepted norms. He didn't seem capable of speech, he didn't seem capable of learning. Perhaps something akin to severe autism.
His parents, of course, did the best they could for him, and one day, the boy started collecting junk Old bicycles, old chairs, scrap metal. But he was very picky about which items he would take. He used them to build something in the back yard. The way the story described it, every piece he added, even though it was just a piece of junk to anyone else, seemed to have a perfect fit in the thing the kid was building, as if, against all previous appearances, the kid knew what he was doing, and was being very purposeful in finishing it, despite his choice of apparently random junk.
Then, when he got the final piece, and it fit just so, the whole contraption levitated.
This part, I'm not so sure about, but I think I recall that he dismantled it just as meticulously as he had built it, leaving everyone completely dumbfounded.
Does any of this sound at all familiar to any of you? If so, I would appreciate a nudge in the right direction to help find a title or author's name.
Thanks.
