"Why did you do this? How can you be this
cruel? These children need a father. especially Noble.
What you couldn't provide, he could have provided.
You could have warned me. You could have. Arthur!" Arthur? She's talking to Daddy, I thought, and
hurried down the hallway.
I found her sitting on the chintz sofa, looking
out the window. She had her legs drawn up and under
her. Dressed only in her robe and slippers, she was
dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief. I quickly
looked about the room. but I didn't see Daddy's spirit
anywhere. Mommy turned slowly and looked at me.
She wasn't upset that I had gotten out of bed and come
down. She just stared at me and then shook her head
and looked out the window again. It was pitch-dark
outside. What was she looking at? I wondered and
drew closer.
"Why were you shouting. Mommy?" I asked. She sighed deeply and nodded her head. Then
she took a deep breath and turned to me.
"There has been a terrible, terrible accident,"
she said. "On his way home from here tonight. Mr.
Kotes was hit head-on by a pickup truck driven by
drunken teenage boys. Nothing much happened to
them. They were too drunk to even realize what they
did," she added.
"Mr. Kotes?" I said.
"Yes. He's dead. That was his sister who called.
She was hysterical. She blamed it on me because he
was here, because he was with me. She called me all
sorts of terrible names."
"He's dead?"