‘How many people quit just when they’re on top of the answer?’
‘Quite a few.’
‘Well, I ain’t going to.’ I lay down.
He didn’t laugh and he didn’t say, ‘Good,’ and he didn’t make any fuss about it. He just picked up his phone and said, ‘Cancel everything for this afternoon,’ and went back to his chair, up there out of my sight.
It was very quiet in there. He had the place soundproofed.
I said,’ Why do you suppose Lone let me live there so long when I couldn’t do any of the things that the other kids could?’
‘Maybe you could.’
‘Oh, no,’ I said positively. ‘I used to try. I was strong for a kid my age and I knew how to keep my mouth shut, but aside from those two things I don’t think I was any different from any kid. I don’t think I’m any different right now, except what difference there might be from living with Lone and his bunch.’
‘Has this anything to do with „Baby is three”?’
I looked up at the grey ceiling. ‘Baby is three. Baby is three. I went up to a big house with a winding drive that ran under a sort of theatre-marquee thing. Baby is three. Baby…’