The waiter came in with Dad’s chicken, which he served Dad while he called for the boy from the kitchen to come out and clean up the broken plate and food off the floor. He never asked how Moms plate got there, but a lot of people at other tables, who had started to watch us when Mom was praying the long prayer so our soup got cold, now stopped eating altogether and turned their chairs around so they could make sure they would not miss whatever we did next. I sat very still hoping they would not notice that I was part of this family. Janet didn’t seem to mind the attention. She jumped up and threw her napkin down on her plate and started to cry and sob and her face got red and she yelled out between sobs, “I have feelings too!” Then she knocked over her chair and stomped off the terrace, pushing right between the potted palm trees that separated the terrace from the public square. Mom looked at Dad and said, “Oh, Ralph!” very accusingly, and Dad just ate bigger and bigger pieces of chicken until his mouth was so full food fell out of it every time he tried to shove more chicken in. Rachael started to cry too because Dad seemed to have really gone off his rocker. Not like Janet but all silent with her shoulders shaking quietly. You couldn’t even hear her sniff, she cried so discreetly.

Mom put her arm around Rachaels shoulders and said, “It’s all right, dear, Mommy and Daddy are just having a little fight.”

Dad looked up at Rachael and said with his mouth full of chicken and rosemary potatoes, “Yeth, we’re thine! Canth youth thee every-thinth ith thine?” But he said it sarcastically and chicken fell out of his mouth when he said, “thine.”

Mom said, “Oh, Ralph, can’t you see she’s really upset.”

“Ith thee?”

He spit out his huge mouthful of chicken and rosemary and yelled, “Well, maybe this’ll make her feel better!” And he swept all the dishes crashing onto the tiled floor with his arm and stood up.

Then we all got up too, since our food was all gone now and a lot of the other guests jumped up as well so they could move faster if we started coming toward them or in case Dad made any sudden moves.

The manager ran over and asked if we didn’t like the food and he wrung his hands together so much his knuckles cracked.

Mom said to him, “No the food is wonderful. Its really delicious!”