When Keyes was working as an editor and writer for pulp magazines and comic books in the early 1950s, this idea resurfaced and continued to germinate. However, the story never gelled and he did not want to publish it in comic book form because he thought the idea had significant potential.
Keyes eventually took a job as an English teacher and was the instructor for a class for slower students. One of Keyes's male students asked if he could be moved into a normal class if he did well and was smarter by the end of semester. Before his student asked him this question, it had never occurred to Keyes that someone who was mentally challenged might have this desire. Keyes spent extra time working with the student and helped him learn to read, but the student lost the new skill when he had to leave school for a matter of weeks due to a family situation. This incident provided Keyes with the final element he needed for his story.
Keyes, however, did not turn this idea into a novel right away.
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