"What it amounted to," Duran said, "was that you wanted to do something spectacular like building a rocket and firing it at something. Only to be fun it had to be illegal, if not immoral. And Melvin Skinner's place seemed like the least objectionable target. Isn't that about it?"
"Yeah, I guess so. Only we had just about finished the rocket before we started wondering about a target. That was the trouble. Once we'd built it, we had to do something with it."
"How do you think that's going to sound in court?"
"I don't know, Dad. You're the lawyer."
Duran cringed, but tried not to show it.
"Roger," he said slowly. "Flippancy is the easiest defense, and the least effective. I hope you won't feel you have to resort to it too often."
The boy said nothing.
"Well, tell me about it," his father suggested, sensing his son's isolation.
"About what?"
"The rocket. Wouldn't a jet have been easier to make?"