It was a warm night, and the moon was full, and Sam unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it inside onto the chair. He took off his socks while standing, th...n undid his belt, coming back into the living room to go to sleep.In her room, Tina stared at her dresser mirror, wondering what could be wrong with Sam. He had seemed so alive during dinner, but something had happened as they had left the table, and now he seemed so out of it. Was it something she did, something she said? Confused, Tina unzipped. For the moment, from my angle, I couldn't actually see Jacob, the younger brother — then I realized why Rebecca's protests were becoming increasingly vociferous, when I caught sight of Jacob, also behind his sister, his fingers working furiously at the catches of her brassiere.Automatically, I looked at the girl's father, and realized that on his face was the same expression as that on all the other attentive masculine faces round the table — a wolfish, hungry anticipation as they watched the. Immediately his nostrils were hit with a familiar, unwelcomed smell. Stale beer. The place reeked of it. Warren took two steps into his cabin, and with each step, his workboots peeled off the sticky floor. His son obviously did not mop. Rings of spilled beer puddles could be seen all over. There were even drops on the wall at some spots. As he walked into the kitchen he came across a trash bag of empty cans and bottles that had spilled over. The bag was untied and even more liquid had leaked. ‘Drink orders, slave.’ ‘Yes, Master. Master? Mistresses?’ ‘This is truly tedious, slave. Lady Nadine is your mistress. You are to address these others as ‘Ladies’.’ Charles gave her a quick slap with Ruffnex Mizzou ’56, a wooden paddle he’d acquired (‘Would you believe it, on eBay?’). Signed by select students of the Agricultural College at the University of Missouri in 1956, it was an unusual toy. More than once, Charles had thought I wonder what any of them would think today if he saw what.