nd after supper we all went
for a walk, even though it was cold outside and snowing again. Then
daddy said well, I think things will be all right, and mommy said I hope
so, but I could tell that she didn't really think so, and she was more
afraid of me than ever.

* * * * *

For a while I thought mommy was really going to be nice to me and Bobby
then. She was especially nice when daddy was home but when daddy was
away at work sometimes mommy jumped when she saw me looking at her and
then sent me outdoors to play and told me not to come in until lunch. I
liked that because I knew if I weren't near mommy everything would be
all right. When I was with mommy I tried hard not to look at her and I
tried not to hear what she was thinking, but lots of times I would see
her looking first at me and then at Bobby, and those times I couldn't
help hearing what she was thinking because it seemed so loud inside my
head that it made my eyes hurt. But I knew mommy would be angry so I
pretended I couldn't hear what she was thinking at all.

One day when we were out in the barn playing with Bobby the panda we saw
mommy coming down through the snow from the kitchen and Bobby said look
out Jimmy mommy is coming and I quick told Bobby the panda to go hide
under the hay so mommy couldn't see him. But the panda was so big his
whole top and his little pink nose stuck out of the hay. Mommy came in
and looked around the barn and said you've been out here for a long
time, what have you been doing? I said nothing, and Bobby said nothing
too, only in think-talk. And mommy said you are too, you've been doing
something naughty, and I said no mommy we haven't done _anything_, and
then the panda sneezed and I looked at him and he looked so funny with
his nose sticking out of the hay that I laughed out loud.

Mommy looked angry and said well what's so funny, what are you laughing
at? I said nothing, because I knew mommy couldn't see the panda, but I
couldn't stop laughing because he looked so funny sticking out of the
hay. Then mommy got mad and grabbed my ear and shook me until it hurt
and said you naughty boy, _don't you lie to me_, what have you been
doing out here? She hurt me so much I started to cry and then Bobby
snarled at mommy loud and low and curled his lips back over his teeth
and snarled some more. And mommy got real white in the face and let go
of me and she said get out of here you nasty dog and Bobby snar