He thinks nothing of improving himself or being creative. He’s a fraud and a phony, and worst of all, he is a snob.”

Ragen smiled. “I did not know being snob is reason for being undesirable.”

“My dear chap,” Arthur said coolly, knowing what Ragen was alluding to, “no one has the right to be a snob unless he is very intelligent. I have that right; Martin doesn’t.”

Arthur finished the last four holes in par.

On October 27, 1973, almost ten years from the day she had married Chalmer Milligan, Dorothy married her fourth husband—Delmos A. Moore.

He tried to be like a father to Billy and the girls, but they resented him. When he started to lay down rules, Arthur scorned him.

One of the things Dorothy forbade her younger son was to ride a motorcycle. Tommy knew it was because of Stuart, but he didn’t think it was right to deprive him because of what had happened to someone else.

One day he borrowed a friend’s Yamaha 350 and drove it right past the house. As he headed back along Spring Street, Tommy looked down and saw the tailpipe was coming loose. If it hit the ground …

Ragen threw himself off the cycle.

He picked himself up, brushed off his jeans and wheeled the cycle back to the yard. Then he went into the house to wash the blood off his forehead.

When he came out of the bathroom, Dorothy began screaming at him. “I told you I didn’t want you on a motorcycle! You’re doing this to torment me!”

Del came in from the yard and shouted, “You did that on purpose! You know how I’ve felt about cycles, ever since ...” Ragen shook his head and left the spot. He’d let Tommy explain about the tailpipe.

Tommy looked up to see Dorothy and Del glaring at him. “It was on purpose,” Del said, “wasn’t it?”

“That’s crazy,” Tommy said, checking his bruises. “The tailpipe came down and—”

“That’s another lie,” Del said. “I went out and looked at that cycle. Ain’t no way that tailpipe could have come down and flipped that cycle without bending in two. That tailpipe ain’t bent.”

“Don’t you ever call me a liar!” Tommy shouted.

“You’re a goddamned liar!” Del shouted back.

Tommy stormed out of the room. What good would it do to tell them the reason it wasn’t bent was that Ragen had seen the thing coming down and had thrown the bike just in time to prevent a worse crack-up? No matter how he explained it, they were going to call it a lie.

Feeling the anger building up, too strong for him to handle, Tommy gave up the spot …

Dorothy, sensing the fury in her son, followed him as he went into the garage. She stood outside and watched him, unseen, through the window. She saw the look of murderous rage as he went to the lumber pile, picked up a two-by-four and snapped it in half. Again and again he broke the boards, venting a deep and violent anger.