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"That's why they say 'Live and learn,'" she told him

They both watched while Toby finally leaned toward his bowl and began to eat the dry dog food

"You know that dog food that comes in cans?" John asked suddenly "It smells horrible And it looks like throw-up"

"Well, it probably ss But Toby can't eat that kind It upsets his stouy who ate it"

"A hu up the dishtowel and sat down at the table where her"Why would a person do that?"

"It was a kid He was just little"

"Oh Poor little thing He didn't realize it was dog food, I suppose Parents have to be so careful They have to keep a close eye on very little ones I saw in a catalogue that there is a special latch that you can put on the cupboard under the sink You knohere I keep the cleaning things?" She pointed "If a toddler got into that cupboard, he ht try to take a nibble of Comet, or a sip of ammonia!"

"That's dumb It would taste terrible"

She chuckled "But you said you knew of a little one who tasted dog food! I wouldn't think that would be so delicious!"

John didn't laugh "His father made him do it," he said

"His father? I don't understand"

"He was bad"

"Who was bad, the father?"

"No, the boy, stupid!" John glared at her

"But--?"

"He was running around the house naked, see He was just out of the bathtub He was only little Three, maybe"

The woman smiled "That doesn't sound bad It sounds very sweet"

"Shut up!"

"John," she said to hi around with no clothes on and he peed on the floor! Like a dog! Like a stupid dog! It was bad! And so the father rubbed his face in it, because that's what you do with dogs!"

"John?"

"I said SHUT UP!"

The boy's face was contorted "It hurt him When the father rubbed his face on the floor, it really hurt hiet hit"

The wo hi like a dog, he had to eat dog food And that's what they gave him for dinner That canned stuff They put it in a bowl on the floor and told hiht you were talking about a father"

"Well, there was a mother too, stupid! She put the bowl on the floor He told her to! The father told her to, and she did!"

The woman nodded "The poor little boy," she said

"No, the dumb little boy! And bad! It was his own fault! And then he wouldn't eat the dog food"

"Of course he wouldn't"

"So he didn't get anything to eat that night And in the , when it was ti?"

"No I think I knohat happened"

"He was so stupid he thought there would be Cheerios! But it was the sa food, and for dinner, sary, and finally he ate it! And his father laughed at hihter He rocked back and forth in his chair and kicked his legs against it

"And hissubsided and he leaned forward "No She cried, and got hit," he said in a low voice "She always got hit"

Finished with his breakfast, Toby padded over to the table where the tere sitting He gazed up at John

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT, STUPID?" The boy juainst the wall and knocked a seranium from the sill onto the floor Then he ran froht about the co holiday weekend, Labor Day, and what she had planned to tell the boy: that school was about to start

24

"It's coht I can feel it" Littlest shuddered and looked up at Thin Elderly They had just slid in under the door

Thin Elderly stood poised, listening and feeling "Yes," he told her "The air is tainted They're on the way"

"They?" Littlest asked in a worried voice

"Yes More than one Shhh" Thin Elderly tilted his head and she could feel that he was holding his breath After a moment he turned to her "Smell that?" he asked