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Show -124 "How about your dad?" This seemed to me like an important question. "Didn't he tell you any of this stuff?" "His name was Jacob," Adam said. "He went off to the First World War and was killed before I had a chance to know him. " "That's only an excuse," I said. "What about his_ dad, then? And the one before that? Did they die too soon too?" I was shouting. I scared myself and I think I scared Adam too, or at least startled him. He jumped up; his face was pale. "What are you saying? What do you mean?" "Damn! Damn! Damn! Nobody knows anything in this damn family! What's the matter with us? Where did my mother go? Why do we all hide from each other? What are we scared of?" "Hide?" Adam said. He stood very still, staring down into the bathtub. I stared back. "Hide," I said. A crazy look came over his face and he dropped to his knees. "It's not as if there was anything else to do." He opened his eyes wide and spread out his arms in despair. We were almost nose to nose, shouting at each other. "What else is there?" he said. "What else? Ah if I knew." Life had us both on the ropes that night and we were too punch-drunk and dizzy to keep our guard up. We both shouted; Adam beat on the rounded edge of the old tub with |