Chapter 22

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Crisis averted, Peter thought. He wouldn’t have wanted Lewis to hear his mother described in such demeaning terms, although Dick likely would have liked learning some of the interesting use of words that Ned seemed to know so well.

“Let’s go finish the tunnel,” Dick said.

“But—”

“Really! We’ll put it all the way under the rock wall behind the garage, all right?” Dick was wonderful, sometimes. Peter made a note to do something nice for his brother some time.

“Well, okay, come on, Truffles!”

Truffles gobbled up the eggs that had fallen on the floor and dashed back out the door with his boy.

“Why is he calling that damn dog Truffles?” Peter asked nobody. “It’s a damn Jack Russell terrier, isn’t it? He should be called Jack.

“Where’s his penis?” he went on, thinking of Todd the Terrific from the carousel as he realized Truffles was a girl. “Tamara would have been a nice name.”