Our game of defend and attack moved into the Dining room, where the maid served a delectable fish dish. Before she left the room, my mother began another audacious attack. This time I excused myself from the table, stepped out onto the veranda and counted to a hundred as I gazed upon a perfect Maxwell Parrish sunset and toyed with the idea of rudely leaving. But decided against it, besides, she had not mentioned yet what it was she needed to discuss with me. Light heartily, I returned for more verbal abuse. At first it didn’t register that my mother had also left the dining room. Driven by curiosity, I decided to seek her out and that’s when I discovered her lying unconscious under the dining room table. When I knelt down to check her pulse,
