“The fish tank looks nice,” she said. “How are they doing—the fish, I mean?”

He shrugged. “All right.”

“Listen, you can sleep in if you want. I’ll set aside a plate for you. We can heat it up in the oven whenever you want, okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” he said, and he drew up his legs and got back under the covers.

“All right, then.” She made her way back across the room, pausing with one hand on the door before turning round as if she’d just remembered something. “Oh, I wanted to say we’re having a session tonight. Just us. No visitors coming up from the city, as far as I know.”

He said nothing, just stared at her, his head propped up on the pillow with its beige pillowcase that could have been cleaner.

“We—we’ve all been discussing it,” she said, fumbling over the words. “And everybody thought it was time you kids joined in—all of you except Bobby, that is.”

“Yeah,” he said, “I know.” She must have looked surprised because he added, “Everybody knows. Lori told us.”

“Good,” she said, “fine,” trying to cover herself though she felt a jolt of anger. Lori. What business was it of hers? “I just wanted to tell you, that’s all, because it’s going to be special, you’ll see, and there’s nothing to worry about, because your father and I’ll be right there the whole time.”

The room held its odor. The tank gurgled. His voice, when he finally spoke, was so soft she barely heard him. “You’re not going to do it?”

“No,” she said. “Not this time. This time is for you.”

They had their big meal in the afternoon, a pair of overstuffed tom turkeys with all the trimmings—it might have been two weeks yet till Thanksgiving, but who could resist the sale price, turkey flesh so cheap they were practically giving it away? Afterward they all went outside to take advantage of what turned out to be a fine clear high-toned day with barely a trace of a breeze. Nearly everybody, herself included, participated in a touch football game that went on, with various substitutions and a wildly fluctuating score that had one team up by three touchdowns only to end in a tie or a draw or whatever you wanted to call it, until it was too dark to see the ball, after which they showered, changed clothes, stoked up the fireplace and settled in with martinis while the kids had hot chocolate and turkey sandwiches and Tim put on the MJQ to get everybody in the mood for what was to come.