Sure, but it is a connection that made him feel a bit more human even if the reciprocation was fake. There are plenty of people who are treated or assumed to be useless. My grandfather told me my life was pointless and I was useless, even though I have a mechanical engineering degree and a physics degree with a math and chem minor. Out of 14 grandkids only my sister and I have university education. My sister and I are the only grandkids who never took money from our grandparents or family. Yet we were treated as lesser. I loved my grandpa, but his true colours showed time to time.