“Mom!”
“Well, I don’t feel that way. Really, Linda, I’m glad you and Tony are back together. Ruthie told me everything. I wanted to call you every day ...”
“It’s okay. Things are going great. I know Daddy ...”
“He’s checked—how do I say this?—he’s checked with his attorney for you.”
“Checked what?”
“About divorce. If you divorce him you can come home. Henry agreed—”
“That’s enough! How can you even say that?”
“Now Linda, you are our daughter first ...”
They talk on, Norma sympathetic to Linda’s plight, Linda not wishing to say anything the least negative that Tony might overhear, unable to detail or defend her situation.
For the twins it is late and they are cranky. Tony, before the optical tranquilizer, is oblivious, as stupefied by the commercials as he is by the programs. There
