"Stop!" he yelled. "Do you want to knock your mother out?"
Pearl froze in his grasp, and complete silence settled over the kitchen. Except for Jimmy. He was eyeing the young man brandishing the crucifix. "Daddy was right," he said. "You don't have red horns, Mister."
He turned to his grandmother. "But Grandma does!" he said triumphantly.
Pearl moaned and slumped to the floor in a faint.
"Yes, son," said the young man, advancing toward the older woman. "He's got horns, all right! He's the Devil. But I won't have any Devil in my house!"
He advanced upon Pearl's mother, thrust out the crucifix and said in loud tones, "Get thee behind me, Satan!"
The old lady smiled, walked around the young man, and stood behind him. "Anything you wish," she said.
"Now, just a minute," said Dad, his bewilderment complete. "What in thunderation's going on here? Mother, I don't know what you think you're doing, but you're much too old to carry on like this with a strange young man. And don't banter with the Devil's name after all these years!"
The young man stood horror-stricken, staring at the crucifix in his hand, and then he uttered a cry of despair and slumped to the floor in a dead faint.
"Pick her up and put her on the bed!" yelled Joe. "Get her out of here, and stay out yourself. This is something for Pearl and I to handle...."