As he gets older, Robison develops a new coping mechanism: humor. He becomes the class clown because his peers “laughed with me, not at me” (35). He is also a voracious reader, and he retains much of what he reads. Adults begin to view him with respect, almost seeing him as a kind of prodigy. He discovers he can use this respect as a ploy. He begins concocting elaborate lies to fool his family, seeing each successful con job as an excuse to take the next one a step further. He starts innocently: pointing to a star in the night sky and telling his grandfather, “And that one there, that’s Bovinius, the Cow Star” (36). He’s earned a degree of trust because of his studious habits, and he finds that adults usually take him at his word.

Over time the pranks become more elaborate. While at a petting zoo with his younger brother, Robison convinces him to hide from their mother while she’s in the bathroom. When she returns and asks, “John Elder, where is your brother?” (37), he feigns ignorance and eventually makes up a story about his brother going off with a fictional person named Paul. Panicked, his mother calls the police.