I am awakening or going to sleep, at my parents' house in the pool room, and I am admiring my very round fat black pet, something like a seal. It is so cute the way he looks after his two favorite toys - a stuffed animal and a small portable stereo. He picks them up in his mouth and moves them to exactly where he wants them, always together.

I awaken later and he is nowhere to be found. I go out to the kitchen and ask around, and from Minda and especially Billy I get evasive answers. The implication is that he is out in the barn with a bullet in him, for some reason, he was put down.

I get angry about the evasiveness and start yelling at Billy to tell me the straight story. "If it was your cat that was missing or was killed", I yell, "you'd just want the goddam straight story!"