"Yo!"

"Is ... ah ... Stony there?"

Tommy frowned. A familiar voice, but he couldn't place it. "Uh ... hold on ... hey, Stones! Pick up."

Stony picked up the extension in his bedroom. "Yeah?"

"Stony? This is Doctor Harris."

"Hey, how ya doin'?"

"Good ... how's Albert?"

Stony glanced at Albert sitting on the floor, mesmerized by the television. "He's pretty good."

"Is he taking the Valiums?"

"The what?"

"The pills I gave your mother."

"You gave her pills?"

"For Albert." Harris found himself getting into a rage.

"She never said nothin' about no pills." Stony raised his voice, turning with a frown to Albert.

"Listen ... can you come in and see me tomorrow?"

"Me?"

"Yeah ... I need to talk to you ... it's very important."

"Sure ... what time?"

"How about one, we can have some lunch."

"Sure thing."

"And listen, don't tell anybody you're coming in, O.K.?"

"Sure. What's goin' on?"

"Nothin', I just wanna talk to you about your brother. One o'clock, O.K.?"

"Right." Stony slowly replaced the receiver. Albert briefly looked up, then returned his gaze to the TV.

Tommy came into the bedroom. "Hey, Stones? Who was that?" His hand on the doorknob.

Stony sat down next to Albert, leaning back against the bed. "Who was that? A friend from the Mount." Stony tried to concentrate on the Flintstones.

***

"Doctor Harris?"

Harris smiled when he saw Stony standing in the doorway. "C'mon in." He rose and shook Stony's hand. "Grab a seat." Stony pulled up a chair to Harris' desk. "So how's it goin' at home?" Harris filled a pipe and crossed his legs.

"O.K., I guess, uh, what did you wanna talk about?"

"Albert. I still don't know what the hell happened to him, although I have my suspicions." He sucked at his unlit pipe, watching Stony's face for a reaction.

Stony snorted. "I know what you mean. I think my old lady did some kinda number, but I don't know what. You hear what happened that night?"

"What night?"

"The night when Albert was brought in. I flipped and I punched her out."

"Your mother?"

"Yeah." Stony looked down at his shoes. "I clocked her pretty bad. I thought they were gonna put me inna room next to Albert after that."

"Hmph." Harris reached for the matches on the desk. "What do you think she did?"

"Who knows. She gets into these tirades aroun' him not eating. I seen him wig out once or twice. Coulda been something like that."

Harris lit his pipe, sending up cherry-scented smoke signals. "Well, let me give you a little advice." Harris held his pipe close to his mouth. "Any time she starts in on him, you clock her again."

Stony sat up as if he had received a small shock.

"You heard me." Harris nodded. "If a big kid was tormenting Albert, you wouldn't hesitate to cold-deck him, right?"

"Yeah, but it's my mother!" Stony laughed incredulously.