"Shut up."
"Don't you say shut up to me, Lloyd. This is all your fault."
"My fault? Mine? Because you had to shove yourself in—"
"Shove myself? Father was right about you. And it is your fault. If you hadn't asked me to ride down with you—"
"Oh, shut up, damn it, that's just like a woman! If you knew your next breath was your last one you'd still have to use it for talk. You want to asphyxiate us both with your gabbling?"
She was quiet for a long while. Then he realized that she was crying.
"Lloyd, I'm scared."
"So am I." He began to laugh. "When I come to think of it, it was your father that got us both into this. I hope he sweats blood in great gory streams."
"You're a drunken ungrateful swine! If dad really did give you another chance—"
"Ah ah! Remember the oxygen! He did. And I was such a fatheaded idiot I thought it was on the level. I even reformed." He laughed again, briefly. "Overcome with gratitude, I did exactly what I was supposed not to do. I sobered up and held my tongue."