He said: "Well… it's not very… not very nice."

Carl smiled reassuringly and Cindy touched his arm with the tips of her fingers. "You'll feel better if you tell us," she said.

"I… I guess so," Eddie said. "All right then. I…" He stopped, and then continued in a rush of words, "I came home from school one afternoon last week with this sore throat, and I just walked into the house without making any noise and he was there, my father, on the couch in the living room, with this woman I'd never seen before. They were naked… and, well, they were doing it, right there on the couch with my father on top and this crazy look on his face… and the woman, her… her breasts were bouncing up and down as she… as she…" Eddie's face burned furiously and his voice trailed off; he shuddered with the very real shock of the memory of what he had witnessed, how he had stood frozen watching the lewd tableau with his father and the woman unaware of his presence, and then finally he had turned and fled from the house…

Cindy and Carl wanted to burst out laughing. So the old boy was a Goddamn hypocrite! Pretending to be so high and mighty holy while the whole time he was fucking around like Casanova – and not allowing his wife or son any expression of their sexuality. Crazy nut! But they kept their faces impassive, and Cindy managed to put a look of shocked hurt in her eyes. She patted the boy's arm again, this time letting her long fingers linger on the smooth skin of his neck. "It must have been terrible for you, Eddie," she intoned.

"It… it was," Eddie said. "Just awful! I ran out and they never knew I was there. I just walked around for a real long time, trying to think and I finally made up my mind to run away. I thought of going to Canada and even Mexico, but then I thought of my mother and how she maybe really needed me… I mean, we really love each other. So I decided to hitchhike out here and stay with her. I know my dad will probably guess that's where I am… but I just hope that Mom can think of something for us to do – some way to get me living with her instead of him, you know?"