But those problems, as bad as they seemed, weren’t the worst. Mr. and Mrs. Jones finally had to admit that Flatboy just didn’t know how to love people very much. Part of the problem probably was his flatness. Being flat, he couldn’t turn his head to listen. His eyes were always focused straight ahead. It seemed that all the flat children were very selfish. They hardly looked at each other, except when they were right in each others’ faces. Their minds were just on their own activities.
Worst of all, though, Flatboy’s parents had to admit that they had no real relationship with their son. It just seemed like he felt it was too hard. It was too hard to look at them. It was too hard to listen to them. It was too hard to get his mind off of soccer and onto others whom he really couldn’t see.
One day, Mr. Jones read a newspaper story about a Great Doctor who had had some amazing success helping flat children. The Joneses decided to take Flatboy to see the Great Doctor.