"No. I didn't."
She was staring at me with hot eyes. Her lower lip protruded and trembled like a pink tear drop.
"Daddy, you did so." She stomped into the house, sobbing.
My God! In one afternoon, I had managed to become a palace eunuch, a murderer and a liar!
Most of the afternoon went by before I heard my son enter the house. I called to him and he came out and stood before me. I got up.
"Son, I can't tell you how sorry I am for what happened to you. It was my fault, not yours at all. I only hope you can forget the shock of finding out what sort of creature you had hit. I don't know why I didn't anticipate that such things would happen. It was just that I was so intent on mystifying the whole world that I...."
I stopped. There wasn't anything more to say.
"Are you going to make them leave the ranch?" he asked.
I was aghast. "After what has happened?"