His son sits at the end of the long oak table, eyes down, eating his rabbit stew.
Whitman turns to me. “Ever hear a rabbit scream?”
I shake my head no.
“Not pretty. Can’t blame my boy.” Whitman tips back in his chair. “Talking of pests, the deer are worse this year than ever.” He turns to Conrad. “You know what that means, don’t you, young man?”
Conrad shakes his head.
“Tomorrow night, venison.”
Conrad looks horrified. Whitman bellows.
“Conrad’s not exactly the adventurous-food type,” Leo says, tearing off another piece of bread. His beard is a nest of crumbs. “If it was up to him, he would live on fish sticks and Whoppers.”
I take a big bite of my stew. “You should try it, Conrad.”
“I did,” Conrad says. “It’s really good.”
“No, you didn’t. You’ve just been pushing it around on your plate.”
“Tattletale,” Conrad spits.
“Liar,” I spit back.
“Jerk-off.”
Tyson has gone completely still, as if he is trying to hide in plain sight.
“Not to worry.” Whitman breaks the tension. “I ate nothing but baked eggs in cream until I was twelve. I’m making spaghetti and meatballs tomorrow. And no, young man, I didn’t go out and shoot a cow. Which reminds me, if any of you want to take a walk in the woods, be sure to wear something bright red. I’ve been having a problem with deer hunters trespassing on my land off-season.”
“I hate hunters,” I say.
“Well now, I don’t have a problem with them if they’re trying to put dinner on the table,” Whitman says. “But these hunters are shooting for sport. No moral compass. Leave the damn animals lying there to bleed out. Not even a shot to the head. Shameful. My dogs find them in the woods. Come home with their mouths all crusted in blood.”
“I think I’m gonna puke,” Conrad says.
“Conrad.” Leo looks as if he’s about to boil over.
“We had a dog when I lived in Guatemala as a girl,” Mum says. “It would get into the henhouse and bite the heads off the chickens. The gardener shot it.”
“Guatemala?” Whitman raises an eyebrow, refills her glass.
“My mother moved us there when I was twelve.”
“Why Guatemala?”
“An unfortunate divorce. And the help was cheap. In those days, you could have a private cook for eight cents an hour. Nanette was used to the finer things. But she hated Guatemala with a passion. She was convinced she was going to be attacked by a villager with a machete.”
“Does she still live there?”
“She died a few years back. Not a machete. My brother Austin never left. Married a local girl. Hates the States. Thinks we’re all a bunch of savages.” She laughs, downs her glass. “He’s an ornithologist. A parrot specialist, of all pointless things.”
“I love parrots,” Tyson says quietly.
* * *
—
After dinner, Whitman leads us up an almost vertical staircase to a loftlike attic, high ceilings open all the way to the rafters. Three mattresses are made up on the floor.
“I’ll leave the bathroom light on downstairs,” he says. “Don’t want any of you tripping in the dark. Hope no one has a problem with bats.”
“What the heck, Dad,” Conrad says after Whitman has gone. “We’re all sleeping in the same room?”
“It’ll be fun. Like camping,” Mum says, though she, too, looks doubtful.
Sometime in the night I am woken by whispers in the dark. Low raspy voices. It takes a moment for my ears to adjust. Mum and Leo are arguing. My mother sounds unhappy.
“Stop it, Wallace. Enough.” I hear the rustled pull of sheets as Leo moves away from her.
“We haven’t made love in weeks.”
“Goddammit!” Leo hisses. “Not in front of the kids.”
“I’ll be quiet. I promise.”
I have to pee, but if I get up now, she’ll know I’ve heard them. She’ll be mortified. And I can’t bear that for her.
“You’re drunk.” Leo’s voice is cold.
“Please, Leo,” she begs.
I cover my ears, pull my blanket over my head so I won’t hear her pleading. She sounds so pitiful—panicked, desperate. Maybe this is what it sounds like when a rabbit screams.
* * *
—
It must be early when I wake again. The whole house is asleep. The ashen light of dawn seeps in through a small dormered window. Conrad is on top of his covers, fully dressed. He hasn’t even taken off his shoes. Leo and my mother lie with their backs to each other. I hope that, when they wake, Leo will tell her how much he loves her.