"He has some head if you can only keep him on the right track," said Stern's mother.
After a while, Stern arose and said, "I can't listen to anybody any more. I've come home today with an ulcer."
Stern's mother said, "I don't believe it."
Stern said, "I've got one, all right. With a large crater. In two days I have to go to a rest place for it. It hurts right now."
"That's what I needed," Stern's mother said, puffing at a cigarette. "I don't have enough. That's the perfect extra thing I need to carry."
Stern's father, standing small and round-shouldered, shook his head gravely and said, "You've got to take care of yourself. That's what happens. I've told you that and I've told you that."
Uncle Babe leaned forward, staring widely, and said, "I like a piece of fish on a night like this, but I don't like the way it smells."
"I'm going to have a drink," said Stern's mother. "And I don't need any comments either. Do you know where I'd be if I wasn't able to take a little drink?" She swallowed some Scotch from a shot glass and said, "I don't have any reason to drink, do I? No reason in the world."
"Maybe I'll just go upstairs and lie down," Stern said. "It hurts plenty inside me."
"I'm not going to worry about it," Stern's mother said. "I can't kill myself. I've had disappointments in my life, too. Plenty of them. I could tell you plenty."