Page 115 (1/2)

"Oh Okay," he said and started to get out of the bed naked

"Stop!"

"Fine," he said getting back under the covers

"You can't do this," Belinda wailed "You don't live here anymore You have your own home"

"As long as Daddy is alive, this is still my home, too," I said "Is there no limit to your depravity?"

Her boyfriend started to laugh

"You should be locked up," I told her, "and I'm sure there'll come a day when you will be"

I sla so badly, I had to pause before walking across the hallway to Daddy's bedrooht my breath and knocked on his door There was no answer so I knocked harder and then I opened the door and peered in He wasn't in his bed, but there were no lights on and the curtains were still drawn I listened for the sound of running water in the bathroom I entered and saw that the bathroom door was opened

Perhaps he rose and left while I was in Belinda's roo the shouting? Confused, I stood there a moment and then I saw his feet around the corner of the bed I approached slowly,a nail through it Daddy was sprawled on the floor, face down, his right arm under his body, his left out, the hand cupped into a claw He was in his pajamas

"Daddy!" I screamed and went to him I knelt beside him and took his hand in mine It arm and when I looked at his face, I saw he had his eyes squinted shut as if trying to see some scene scorched on his brain

"Daddy!" I cried again, shaking his hand

His eyelids opened like two leaden doors on rusty hinges He gazed at me, but his mouth, horribly twisted, uttered no words, just an incoue looked swollen and extended

Without further hesitation, I went to the phone and called for an ambulance Then I ran down the hallway to the top of the stairway and shouted for Effie She hurried out of the wrecked living room, a washcloth in hand

"My father!" I cried "He's collapsed on the floor Come help me, please"

She started up the stairway and I turned as Belinda, a sheet wrapped- around her naked body like a toga, opened her door and peered out