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Show Grinning devilishly, Francis X inched forward. "Me and you is brother-in-laws now, huh, Karl?" "So you did open it, you bugger!" With a bellow of rage, Karl chased Francis X the rest of the way up Center Street and Pine Alley, but his rage was so weighted with despair that he couldn't catch the punk before Francis X escaped through the Culley back gate. Outside his own gate, Karl stood for a long time, dreading what he had to do. "Don't blame Karl," Kathleen had written in the note, but who else were his parents to blame? It was with Karl's compliance that Kathleen and Jame had met night after night for the past two months. Karl had deceived his mother just as much as Kathleen had. His steps dragged across the back porch. Maggie Rose must have heard them, because when he opened the door, she yelled, "Surprise!" She was bent over the kitchen table, smiling broadly as she lit candles on a birthday cake. "Happy Birthday to you," Maggie Rose sang in her strident voice. "Happy Birthday...." She stopped when she realized Kathleen wasn't behind Karl. "Where's your sister?" The note was still balled in his hand. Reluctantly, he gave it to his mother. Her cry was so anguished it brought Hugo running from the parlor. Maggie Rose collapsed on the floor, hugging her knees and rocking as she wept in harsh, tortured wails. "What's the matter?" Hugo yelled, still holding a box tied in bright green ribbon -- Kathleen's birthday gift from her parents. Karl took the box from his father before handing him the note. When Hugo read the note, he winced as though he'd been struck. |
