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Show Moon - 220 The shock was palpable. The killing of the father had begun, the first swordstroke delivered. Lee stood there, his face blanched with the realization of what he'd done. A great sadness rippled across James' face as if a stone had been dropped into him. Then his eyes grew cold. He leaned forward, snatched the beer from his son. "That's all I wanted. Now, shut up." Lee stayed where he was. They all stayed where they were, as if they had a cramp in their intestines of the sort that clutches you into yourself so you can't move for a while. Then Lee sat down and they withdrew into themselves, still unable to move from the porch. Joy tried to think how it might have gone had the argument been allowed to happen, as if in doing this she could restore something to them. She thought that if her father had obliged them, it probably would have come down to the question about what if your sister were being raped and would you defend her. The boys would have fumbled that one, because everyone does, and he would have sat back, satisfied that he had won. He would have said, "So you'd just hand your sister over to the man?" Joy stood up, breaking the frieze. She said, "I'm not here to be handed to anyone." Her father and the boys looked up at her, puzzled. "I am a little out of control," she thought. She went into the house to sit beside her mother and be there when she woke up. She hoped that people like her brothers would find a few men of authority who would argue, even listen, and get involved, because it would be nice if the world changed that way. The boys went out somewhere together. James took Joy through the ritual of putting Anne to bed, an ordeal which caused him to sigh loudly and often. During all this, his wife smiled vaguely, as if she'd decided not to notice. Then he sat in his chair, drinking beer and weeping. He reached for Joy's hand, |