i can almost hear the sound coming out of him. when he was little and before he did much talking, he had an aversion to the word *no.* if he heard that word he would start throwing things. one time, a friend of mine was sitting at the table with him. he had a bowl of food. i was in the kitchen and i asked her, "would you like some more toast." she replied, "no." the minute i heard the word, i knew that skip would fling his bowl of food. it didn't matter that the friend was not talking to him. he just heard the word and so he was going to have to throw something. i ran as fast as i could to try to catch his bowl, but i was too late. it went sailing across the room. my friend just looked at as and wondered *what just happened?* i explained that we had to be careful to not use the n-word. i don't think she really understood. but, then, i don't think anyone really understood. it would have been fun to know what he was thinking about.