She set hers. "Mummy!"

''Mommy!''

"Mummy!''

''Oh, boy, are you ever her kid! Stubborn, argumentative-"

"What's argu-?"

"It means that nobody else ever gets the last word. She was just like that.''

And about the damnedest things, he remembered:

"Pippa, what are you doing on the floor?" Luke had asked, the night following his sleep on the floor.

"I'm trying to go to sleep."

"Then get into the bed. I'm sleeping on the floor."

"You slept on the floor last night. And according to you, it was all my fault. You said I was twitching, which was a black lie-''

"I said you kneed me in the groin, and I have the bruises to prove it. Don't expect any action from me tonight."

"So sleep well and recover, fast!"

"Think I'm a ninety-eight pound weakling, huh? Pippa, get into that bed."

"Nope. I'm sleeping on the floor."

"So am I."

"And so am I!"

"We can't both sleep on the damned floor!"

"Right! G'night Luke! I'm sleeping here. So off you go!"

"Pippa, stop that, y'hear me? I'm ticklish. No, stop it. Gerroff! Now will you stop?"

"Thought you were out of action tonight."

"Guess I'm not so bad as I thought."

"Mmm!"

A while later he asked, "Wouldn't it have been more comfortable in bed?"

"Let's find out."

"Daddy?"

"Sorry, honey. What?"

"You went into a trance with a funny smile on your face."

"I was just remembering one time-we had the craziest arguments-she just had to be the one who slept on the floor-guess I talked her out of that."

He saw his daughter giving him a puzzled look and said hastily, "Eat your supper." He poured her a glass of orange juice and re-angled the picture.

"Why do you keep a computer in the kitchen?" she asked.

"Because this is where I live. It's the center of my life."