She turned away in thought, breaking off the silent communication between them. Kit found that he, too, was scowling against the pain, and he let out a long breath of aggravation at his own helplessness.Why is it so embarrassing to be sad  he thought, annoyed.And not just for me . Nita s overwhelming pain embarrassed her as badly as it did him, so Kit had to be careful not to  notice  it. Yet there wasn t anything he seemed able to do for her at the moment. He felt like an idiot unable to think of anything useful to say, and just as idiotic when he was tempted to keep saying the same things over and over:  It ll pass,   You ll come out of it eventually.  They all sounded heartless and stupid.And besides, how quick would Icome out of it if it were mymama who died 

Kit let out a long breath. There was nothing to do but keep letting Nita know that he was there, one day at a time. So he d taken care of today s responsibility.

The phone rang, mercifully relieving Kit of his guilt for thinking that doing the right thing for his best friend was some kind of awful burden.

 Igotitlgotitlgotit! Carmelashrieked from upstairs.  HolaMiguelque  A pause.  Oh. Sorry.Kit!. 

 What 

 TomdsEljefe.

 Oh.  Kit went to the extension phone in the kitchen. His mother, deep in the business ofdeboning a chicken, glanced at him as he passed and said nothing, but her smile had a little edge of ruefulness about it. She was still getting her head around the concept that a man she routinely saw at hospital fund-raisers, a successful writer for commercial television and a pillar of the community, was also one of twoSenior wizards for theNew York metropolitan area.Ponch , Kit s big black Labrador-cum-Border-collie-cum-whatever, was now lying on the floor with his head down on his paws, carefully watching every move Kit s mother made that had anything to do with the chicken. As Kit stepped over him, the dog spared him no more than an upward glance,then turned his attention straight back to the food.