Ruth turned back toward Mark, her eyes fixed on his face with complete clarity.

“I didn’t ask you for help, Mark,” Ruth said.

“I’m sixty-six years old and I live on my phone company pension and your father’s life insurance.”

“Mom, I wanted you to enjoy your summer without worrying about little line items,” Mark said.

“You took me to a luxury lake resort and told me you were paying the bill out of your school bonus,” Ruth said.

“You let me sit in a four-hundred-dollar-a-night hotel room while your wife was pulling sweet corn out of the mud to buy her child a pair of shoes.”