When Tyler is talking to Mr. Hector, the gardener, on page 73, Mr. Hector employs an unusual use of repetition. Mr. Hector is speaking about his younger brother who his mother sent away when they were both young due to his father’s reaction to his sexuality. He repeats words twice when speaking about his brother, “his voice was soft-soft… quiet and sing-song sing-song… I could hear it plain-plain… Pappy used to beat him bad-bad…” (pg 73). Previously, Mr. Hector had had conversations with Tyler about other topics, never mentioning his brother, and never using double-wording. The repetition of words could be written off as a nervous tick employed when talking about something personal. But, I believe that this is him reverting to his younger self during the course of the conversation. When teaching first grade I noticed that when children want to emphasize a point, they often repeat one word or a cluster of words in quick succession (Ms. Zoe I want the green pencil: green-green). The last time that the gardener saw his brother was when he was a child. After his brother was sent away he was not allowed to speak of or ask about him to his parents. He was forced to forget about a beloved family member and move on. Because he was not allowed (by his parents) to wrangle with his emotions and was in turn forced to ignore/subdue them, I think that whenever he speaks about his brother, the younger version of him comes out.