Billy was too scared to see or speak to his Dad. What if that dirty bad thing were still inside him? What if he was like one of those crabs now? His tears were coming again, and he didn’t try to stop them. He was alone now, he could cry if he wanted to.

Billy opened his eyes, let the big hot tears spill down his face, and looked at the screen through a blur. Sonic was high above the palm trees in mid-spin and when Billy pressed ‘start’ again, he reckoned he would come down on top of that ugly spotted bug that was really a bunny or duckling.

He sat staring at it. Why had his Dad let that thing in? His Dad was bigger and stronger than anyone in the whole world. Remember how he was when that man had tried to take Mom’s pocket-book in the restaurant line? That was neat. Just like the movies. And that time when the big guys that were smoking and cursing had tried to force him and Jess off the swings in that park near Granny and Grandpappy’s in Vancouver. They sure didn’t count on Billy’s Dad then. Billy smiled through his tears at the memory of those boys scattering like scared mice, and the big safe hands of his Dad putting him back up on that swing and pushing him.

So how come he couldn’t have stopped the thing?

He sniffed and started the game again. Bam! He got the bug, just like he thought he would. It popped, and threw up a score of a hundred. Billy wished he could pop that dark thing like Sonic did. Pop it right away from his Dad. But it wasn’t like that. Billy didn’t know if there was a dark thing to pop, at least not without popping his Dad too. They were the same thing, when he had seen them, that darkness and his Dad. The exact same thing. Another wave of tears clouded his eyes. He missed a flying insect that fired a golden ball at Sonic, and knocked all his rings out with a metallic tinkle.

* * *

‘I wiped out. That’s all.’ Sam’s voice was low and sullen.