ing pulled off your own course. He was a good man. You were honored,
and I envy the man you will be if you contacted him on resonant
similarities._

The grownup looked frightened. _But you are too young. You'll block
him out and lose him. Kids have to grow and learn at their own speed._

Then he looked less afraid, but uncertain, and his thoughts struggled
against each other. _Their own speed. But there should be someone
alive with Purcell's pattern and memories. We loved him. Kids should
grow at their own speed, but.... How strong are you, Ronny? Can you
move ahead of the normal growth pattern?_

Grownups always want you to do something. Ronny stared back, clenching
his hands and moving his feet uneasily.

The thoughts were open to him. _Do you want to be the old chief again,
Ronny? Be him often, so you can learn to know what he knew? (And feel
as he felt. It would be a stiff dose for a kid.) It will be rich and
exciting, full of memories and skills. (But hard to chew. I'm doing
this for Purcell, Ronny, not for you. You have to make up your own
mind.)_

"That was a good game. Are you going to play it any more?"

* * * * *

His mother would not like it. She would feel the difference in him, as
much as if he had read one of the books she kept away from him, books
that were supposed to be for adults only. The difference would hurt
her. He was being bad, like eating between meals. But to know what
grownups knew....

He tightened his fists and looked down at the grass. "I'll play it
some more."

The young man smiled, still pale and holding half his feelings back
behind a dam. _Then mesh with me a moment. Let me in._

He was in with the thought, feeling Ronny's confused consent,
reassuring him by not thinking or looking around inside while sending
out a single call, _Purcell, Doc_, that found the combination key to
Ronny's guarded yesterdays and last nights and ten minutes agos.
_Ronny, I'll set that door, Purcell's memories, open for you. You
can't close it, but feel like this about it_--and he planted in a
strong set, _questioning, cool, open, a feeling of absorbing without
words ... it will give information when you need it, like a
dictionary._

The grownup straightened away from the fence, preparing to walk off.
Behind a dam pressed grief and anger for the death of the man he
called Purcell.

"And any time you want to _be_ the old chief, at any age he lived,
just make belie