Chapter 1<br >HE BEGAN LIFE like everybody else， not knowing very much， and most<br >of his thinking was done at night-- because in the daytime he was<br >shuttled around with the other children and didn t have time to think;<br >dominated by the other children， too. Being， at two and three years<br >old， the youngest， or the youngest walking， and therefore the most<br >susceptible to domination. So he did most of his thinking in the<br >nights， which were darker than they ever were to he again. There was<br >no street lamp out on the dirt road that ran by the big white house，<br >and the leaves of the ancient oaks shut out the moon.<br > It was dark， and he would lie there， perhaps having been awakened<br >by violent noises from the other bed， where his older brother， Ed，<br >who maybe wasn t going to make it， lay wracked with whooping cough<br >and later with asthma; who would wake up gasping， lurch out of bed，<br >and stumble over the cool wood floor to the straightbacked chair to<br >sit， erect and fragile， looking out to that dark world he knew no better<br >than Sam did. Ed was two years older than Sam， the oldest son， and<br >was expected to grow up to be a lawyer like his daddy. But Sam didn t<br >know about that， and didn t know the father very well， either -- that<br >dapper， dry little man who was gone away to the mountain courts.<br > Sometimes the mother would conle in， a tall woman who spoke<br >gendy to the boy in the chair， hugged him， and went out， leaving Ed<br >