“It’s not a forfeit if we get interrupted.” She tugged on his ear and tossed out the word cheater again as she got up from the bed.

He put on his robe, brushed his teeth, combed his hair. He smoked a cigarette. When he stepped into the living room, Joseph ran toward him and grabbed hold of his legs. The boy barely came up to the middle of his thigh. “Morning,” Roy said. He looked over at Frankie, already tucked into his high chair. “Morning to you, too.”

Frankie raised his sip cup as if he meant to throw it, but then just held it there, suspended over his head.

Staring up at Roy’s face, Joseph announced, “I use Brylcreem because it makes my hair look natural.”

“Bingo,” Matt said from the dining room table, where he and Katherine were waiting for breakfast. “And what kind of bra do you wear?”

“Cross Your Heart,” Joseph replied.

Roy rubbed the top of the boy’s bed head as if smoothing down feathers. “Can’t you teach him to say something he actually needs to know?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. How about, ‘The world is round.’ ”

Matt snapped his fingers to get Joseph’s attention. “Joseph. Hey, Joe. Say, ‘The world is flat.’ ”

“The world is fat,” Joseph said.

Both Matt and Katherine burst out laughing, and Joseph jumped up and down, chanting, “The world is fat! The world is fat!”

Roy bent over and scooped the boy into his arms. “Has your older brother taught you how to say ‘Happy Birthday’?”

“He already knows that one,” Matt said.

“Does he know ‘Happy Birthday, smart aleck’?”

“Joseph’s not a parrot,” Teresa reminded them all from the kitchen.

“That’s exactly right,” Roy said, “he’s not a parrot.” He lowered Joseph onto his booster seat on one of the dining room chairs. Joseph looked across the table at Matt and said in a voice so soft it was almost a whisper, “Not a parrot.”

“What am I getting for my birthday?” Matt asked.

“That’s for us to know,” Roy said, sitting down at the head of the table.

“A new bike? That’s what I asked for.”

“Well, we can’t always get everything we ask for, so let’s just wait and see.”

“Sounds like I’m getting a new bike. Maybe a Sting-Ray.”

“I didn’t say that.” Roy glanced at Teresa, who was carrying in a large bowl of scrambled eggs and a plate of bacon.

“Grandpop asked me if I wanted a puppy.”

“He asked you? Or you told him that’s what you wanted?”

“I told him I wanted a Sting-Ray.”

“Well, I know you’re not getting a puppy, so forget about that one.”

“But I don’t have to do any chores today, right?”

“That’s right,” Teresa said. “No chores for Matt. You don’t even have to make your bed.”