“We were alone in the dining room—me and Boom. I dangled my legs under the table, and Boom lightly bit my bare heels. I was tickled and fun. There was a large card of my father’s hanging above the table; my mother and I had only recently given it to him to enlarge. On this card, dad had such a cheerful, kind face. But when, while playing with Boom, I, holding the edge of the table, began to swing on the chair, it seemed to me that dad was shaking his head...”