OCEAN
2t
"Who's encouraging him? I was laughing at his mistake," Saul
lied.
"The word is telepathic, darling," Mommy said icily.
"I am
not
stupid!" Stephen growled, making a bulldog face
and landing a brutal kick on his brother's shin.
"Damn you!" Roggie shouted, hurling his napkin ring at
Stephen's face.
"Roger, don't you dare curse like that in front of me!" Mommy
admonished him.
"Stephen, stop that! Put down that napkin ring!" Daddy said.
"But he threw it at
me
!"
"I saw you kick him first," Daddy said.
"He called me stupid."
"Sticks and stones will break my bones--" Roggie chanted.
"Damn you, too!" Stephen yelled, slinging back the napkin ring.
"Did everybody see that?" Roggie asked threateningly, sliding
back his chair. "No one can say I started it
this
time!"
"Mommy!" Stephen cried, as Roggie turned the corner of the
table, his fist prepared to inflict a series of eggies.
"Sit down, Roger. Roger, sit down!" Mommy shouted, leaping
up herself and grabbing Roggie's arm. "Sit down, I said!"
"Here we are," Clarry said, smiling as she pivoted her big
body through the swinging door and found herself in the middle
of the tug-of-war and spilled the platter of eggs all over the carpet.
This
made Stephen laugh hysterically, and Clarry's eyes bulged from
their sockets like a French bulldog's.
"God damn it!" Daddy roared. "Why the hell don't you watch
where you're going?"
Stephen stopped laughing and clenched his fists. "It wasn't
Clarry's fault," he said timidly.
"Who asked you? The whole thing's
your
fault in the first place!"
After the eggs were wiped up and a new batch cooked and eaten,
Daddy and Roggie retired to the front lawn to have a catch, and
Stephen went upstairs to play with his marine collection. He was
standing in front of the window holding the whelk to
his
ear, think–
ing about the destruction of
Tomorrow's Castle,
and watching Daddy
throw the hardball-projecting his arm its full length instead of
