the reason for this particular call, uncle terence replied, is that your mother is in jail.
is that all? you called just to tell me that? i hope she doesn’t expect me to bail her out.
there is no bail, uncle terence said.
oh. so it must be really serious this time, huh? has she been arrested for murder?
she has been arrested in connection with an investigation into a murder.
i always knew it would come to this. well, you know what? i don’t care. i don’t want to be dragged into it, and i don’t see how i can be.
abby could hear uncle terence sigh on the other end of the connection. all right, abby, if that is the way you feel, that is the way you feel. it was my idea to call you, your mother thought you might take this attitude.
and she was right. was there anything else, uncle terence?
don’t you want to know the details of what happened?
not particularly.
it might make the national news.
well then, i will see it on the national news.
all right, abby, then there is nothing else. i am sorry that it has come to this.
good-bye, uncle terence.
goodbye, abby. have a nice evening.
abby put her phone down on the counter beside her small fries. what a bummer! maybe, she thought, i should have asked him for the details. because dave would probably want to know them. she would tell dave all about the call when he showed up.
none of the four members of the gang had any secrets from the others.
abby wondered if her mother had indeed made the national news to the extent that cnn or fox would have a story online. but she was hungry, and decided to check when she finished her sandwich.
but before she finished the sandwich dave appeared.
dave had purchased his usual - the same as abby’s, but with spicier fries - and put it on the table and sat down.
you look a little upset, he said to abby. anything wrong?
abby told dave all about uncle terence’s call.
dave knew that abby did not regard her mother, or anything about her, as a fit subject for humor, so he just said , i don’t know, if it was me, i might have asked for a little more details. he said it might make the national news?
i do not think uncle terence has that clear an idea as to what might make the national news.
dave shrugged. even so - you never know.
if she does make the national news, i am sure i will see it. let’s change the subject.
all right, then. i have a question for you, maybe you can help me out.
let me guess - it is about your sociology paper.
what else?
they both laughed. of all the things they had to study, they hated sociology the most.
but abby was happy to talk about sociology, if it took her mind off her mom.
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