12
SANFORD FRIEDMAN
those treasures that he had been collecting now for three successive
summers-his great marine collection that was resting right
this
minute safe and sound at home on the radiator box in front of
his
bedroom window ...
"Stevie, kitten," Mommy called.
Quickly, not in answer to his mother's call but in order to
escape it, Stephen submerged, swam under water and came up on the
other side of the pool. Holding onto the tiled conduit, Stephen
hugged the side of the pool and held his breath, hidden from
sight--Dr so he thought-listening to Mommy and the girls playing
Mah Jong.
" . .. Two bam. One crack. Six dots. Pung! Flower. East wind.
Soap. Kong!"
"Come on, kitten," Mommy called again. "I can see you there.
You've been in for over an hour."
"Green. Four bam. Four dots. South. Red. Flower. Five crack.
Mah Jong!"
Stephen peeked over the side of the pool and saw Mrs. Tishman
press her jeweled fingers down and move the rest of her row of
tiles up like linotype onto the top of her rack.
"I tell you she's been to the stable today," Aunt Ida remarked.
"She stepped in it good!" Aunt Fanny corroborated.
"Dp to her knees!" Mrs. Kanig added.
As
always, this puzzling commentary was followed by a din
as familiar to Stephen as the sound of the milkman loading the
empties into his wagon: the ladies were mixing the Mah Jong tiles.
"Excuse me, girls," Harriet said. "I'm going to get that child out
of the water before he turns into a fish ." Hearing this, Stephen
pushed off from the side and swam toward the center of the pool.
"Come on, Stevie, come out now. I'm not fooling with you anymore."
"Oh, Mommy," Stephen pleaded.
"Come on now."
"Just five more minutes?"
"No! You heard me: out!"
"But Roggie's-"
"I don't want to hear about Roger.
If
you expect to go in
the ocean with Daddy later on, you'll come out
now- right
this
minute !"
