SANFORD FRIEDMAN
As
if it were Christmas or
his
birthday, on Sunday morning
Stephen awakened at 5: 55, restless with anticipation and excite–
ment: eager to get under way. His room was filled with a fugue
of
bird-sounds and, gradually, as the day began to dawn, lovely bright
sunlight; every trace of Friday night's storm was gone. But by the
time the family piled into the Chevrolet-Stephen in the back seat
next to Mommy, Roggie up front next to Daddy-it was 11: 25 and
everyone's nerves were slightly frayed. Because
it
was Sunday and
the weather so good, every car, truck, trailer, bus, motorcycle, bicycle,
beach and station wagon within a radius of two hundred miles was
on the road, heading for Asbury Park.
For a while, as the Chevy moved along unimpeded by the
traffic, the brothers played a lively game of license plates. Stephen
spotted one from Tennessee- his favorite state, not because it counted
more than any other but because
~e
plate itself was visually onomato–
poetic-and one from California which counted fifteen points, and
gave him a comfortable lead, until Roggie claimed he saw a foreign
plate from a country called British Columbia, which, according
to the rules, counted twenty-five. Since Stephen did not see the plate
himself and had never heard of the country, he accused
his
brother
of cheating, and the game ended in a fray that required the inter–
vention of both parents.
As they approached Allenhurst the traffic began to jam, making
Daddy slow down and stop and stall and start again every other
second--something which always angered him. "You and your bright
ideas," he grumbled, glaring at Mommy in the rear-view mirror.
"I said we should have left right after breakfast. I said-"
"We couldn't leave Clara stranded in church."
"Then we shouldn't've come."
"But we promised the children." Mommy smiled and petted
Stephen'S head.
"At this rate we'll
be
lucky
if
we get there in time to come
back." Daddy wrapped his right arm around Roggie's shoulder.
"Another one of your mother's brainstorms!"
Stephen studied Daddy's pinky. The straight black hairs looked
like mermaid's hair matted under
his
chunky gold signet ring.
"Sit back, darling," Mommy said, laying her hand on Stephen's
shoulder. Suddenly her fingers clamped
his
flesh
painfully and
