“Agnes, please don’t raise your voice,” Norman warned. “Let’s stay calm just like Collin suggested.”
“Quite right, Norman,” Uncle Collin echoed. He pointed his index finger at Agnes. “Niece, you must do a better job of controlling your temper. Siobhan, remember our promise. I spoke out of line and I apologized. Now I expect the two of you to apologize. Do as I say.”
Yes, that’s right, Agnes thought. If we do as Uncle Collin commands, all will be calm and peaceful, but the very instant one of us does something he doesn’t approve of, he threatens us with thunderbolts.
Her head was swimming. Life had been so much better when Daddy was alive. Everyone laughed, even Mama, when he repeated patients’ jokes. They took happy summer excursions up the Delaware, and Daddy brought friends home for Sunday dinner – interesting friends, writers, artists, and other physicians. When Uncle Collin took over, all that came to a crashing end. The jokes and excursions ended, the visits stopped. And Mama stopped laughing.
Agnes gave her uncle a look she hoped would turn him to stone. She’d had enough of living their lives on the surface.
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