Identify this story...Follow

So, I read this short story when I was in 8th grade and every few years I think of it but I can't remember the name or the author. I've tried searching the web for it, but no luck.

Here is what I think I remember about it:

It starts with some people having a ritual or something and a kid falls through a hole

The kid ends up on earth (apprently he is not from earth)

He can hear people's thoughts, but this is common where he is from and he doesn't think anything of it. When the earth people figure out he can do this, they get scared, he can hear them being scared, vicious cycle ensues.

I think his mind reading ability also allows him to communicate with animals

I have no idea what this story is, but I'd like to read it again. Are any of you guys familiar with it? I could be remembering some parts of it incorrectly, but I think I have the basic premise correct.


I hope it wasn't just some weird dream I had...

No idea. I think I was busy with The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew.

Purloined copies of Playboy

I read the Bible and a ten-book encyclopedia cover-to-cover when I was six. My mother didn't appreciate having to explain the end of the world, the nature of sin, why silk was so overpriced and the Lewis and Clark expedition in the span of about a month. After that, my parents got me books and made sure I kept to lighter subjects.