"Did you sneak off to the quarry with Mary Ellen?" I heard him snarl. Karen's reply was muffled but there followed a scuffle. "You could have drowned! Get over here!"
"Paul," I called in a panic. "Let's all talk about this." Timmy burst out of his room and I grabbed him and held him against me.
"You need a lesson you'll never forget!" Karen yelled no and there followed the sound of leather striking. I tried to open the door, still holding on to my frightened son but it was locked.
Paul, stop it! Please!" But the sounds continued.
God, I wanted him to stop! I sunk to the floor in tears, trying to console Timmy who was crying his heart out. The sound of the belt striking Karen echoed about the house, again and again. If she cried, I couldn't hear her above my own sobs. I slowly rose and crept downstairs to the living room, clutching Timmy's hand. I buried my head in the sofa pillow.
"What's happening?" Timmy wailed.
"Karen did something bad and she's being punished," I answered.
"It's scaring me!"
I took a deep breath. "It will be fine in a few minutes. Go into the kitchen and dish up some ice cream. Fix a bowl for you and one for Karen. She'll really appreciate it." He scurried out of the room. It seemed like an eternity before Paul came down the stairs. I turned away as I felt Paul's arm around my shoulder.
"She deserved it, Sarah. I'm sorry, I did it but I was so angry . . . He began to sob softly. "All I could think of was Pete drowning and how devastated I was. If I ever lost Karen, it would kill me. God, I've never done anything like that before."
We held each other a long time, saying nothing. Finally, I got up, wiped off my tear-stained face and went upstairs to my daughter's room. She lay on her stomach, her face away from the world, and me. I could see some redness below the level of her soccer shorts.
I sat on the bed and reached out and touched her. "Karen?"
She began to sob more loudly.
I heard myself saying the words. "You're a good girl, Karen. But you did a very wrong thing." She wouldn't say anything.
"He loves you and he feels very badly. But you should feel badly about what you did, too. You frightened us. We love you and don't want any harm to come to you. When you disobey us about something this important, it makes us frantic."
Paul came into the room and sat on the bed too. Karen shrugged away from him but he persisted. When he put his arm around her, she reluctantly let him. He was crying, and apologized profusely. In calm terms he explained about the death of his older brother Pete. I think seeing her father's tears shocked her nearly as much as her beating but she still wouldn't look at him. None of the three us said anything until Timmy came in, hesitantly, holding out a bowl of ice cream, now mostly melted.