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When Dad started to follow ht Quickly he returned to the hall and picked her up

as if to take her with us

Bart pulled out a new pocketknife and began to whittle on a long tree branch It see to skin off all the tree bark and make a smooth switch Cindy couldn't take her eyes off of that knife or switch

Dad, Cindy and me looked all over our house, in the attic, in the closets, under the beds, everywhere Mom was nowhere to be found "It's just not like Cathy to do anything like this," Dad said worriedly "Especially I know she wouldn't leave Cindy alone with Bart So"

Yeah, I thought, if there was a fish in the house, it atching us and whittling away on a limb that should be used on his bare bottom

"Dad," I whispered as he stood in thearound with bleak eyes, "why don't we presuone? He's not thelately"

We set off together, Dad still carrying Cindy, and hunted now for Bart Noe couldn't find hione

Dad and I stared at each other He shook his head

I stared around, knowing Bart had to be hiding behind a chair, or was crouched do in so like an animal

But the stores wouldn't keep him dry Even Bart had more sense than to stay out in the cold and wet

My thoughts in a turmoil, I felt wild inside, like the stor to deserve all this trouble--yet I was in thewith Dad, with Mom, with Cindyand maybe Bart too

"Are you hatingatyour ht this all on ourselves and we deserve to pay the price? Are you thinking you shouldn't have to pay any price? If that's what you're thinking, I' Maybe your mother's life would have turned out better, and yours and Bart's too, if I had gone away and left her to live in Paul's home until she found another man But I still loved her I love her now, to able to think about life without her"

Dully I turned away So that hat everlasting burning love was like, destroying everything that got in its way

On my bed I lay down and sobbed

Finally, I sat up and wondered again where Moht be in danger She wouldn't leave Dad So the table as she did every Thursday when Emma had her day off Thursdays were very special to the to