Prudence heard the front door and then the automobile door slam, but she couldn't rouse herself from the breakfast table. What had happened to Samantha? She looked so different. Her face, her skin, her hair, everything about her had changed. Prudence didn't understand it.

The boy, she thought. After Samantha ran off yesterday she must have run into Mr. Pryde's son and come back here. Prudence remembered her conversation with Joseph through the door and Samantha's muted giggling. Now this morning Samantha ran off with Joseph. She doesn't need me anymore.

Prudence dropped the remains of her toast onto the table. After nine years of growing up, from little girls to teenagers, Samantha had finally replaced her. Cast her aside for someone older and better looking. In her heart, Prudence had long known this day would come. She knew one day Samantha would no longer need her, would find a friend more worthy of her.

While Prudence mangled her toast, Wendell slipped into the bathroom, collapsing onto the toilet. He couldn't get the image of Samantha standing in the doorway out of his mind. Never could he have imagined her so beautiful, every part of her flawless as a painting or statue. She had looked so beautiful he had to shield his pants with his plate and slink into a far corner of the kitchen before she ran off with Joseph Pryde.

He should have seen this coming, of course. All this time he'd been waiting to express his feelings, he should have known she would find someone better. If only he'd gotten up the courage to tell her earlier. Then what? She would have rejected him. She would have patted him on the head and said how flattered she was, but she wasn't interested. She was holding out for someone strong and handsome.

Wendell left the bathroom to find Prudence gorging herself on handfuls of some confection named Cap'n Crunch. "Is that all you're going to do? Get fatter?" he asked with a sneer.

She threw a handful of the yellow rectangles at him. "Don't start with me! I'm not in the mood for you, Wendy."

"Don't call me that!" Wendell picked a piece of bread off the table to hurl at Prudence's head. She ducked and threw another handful of Cap'n Crunch at him. Before long, yellow rectangles and shards of toast lay all over the kitchen. When they ran out of ammunition, they glared at each other. "You're cleaning this up," Wendell said.

"You're helping me."

"No I'm not. You started it."

"I did not!"

"You did so!" Wendell lunged forward to tackle Prudence, but she weighed too much for him to topple. She seized him by the shoulders and rolled over to pin him to the floor, her thighs and stomach crushing him. "Get off."




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