“Daddy,” Margo says and I say “What? — whew! you scared me, I was so into — involved with my own thoughts — that I…anyway, saved by the girl,” and she says “What’s that?” and I say “Bell, as in prizefight, boxing, saved by it, the timer’s bell, like a boxer who was almost going to be counted out — referee over him; you know, or maybe you don’t,” and I hold the wheel with my left hand while the right one with the forefinger out wags like a referee’s when he’s calling off the seconds a boxer’s been knocked down, “‘One…two…three…’ But the bell ended the round, meaning the girl did, you, ended my confused thinking, before the boxer on the ground was counted out of the fight at ten,” and she says “I don’t—” and I say “Ten seconds, I mean; that’s how long they give the knocked-down boxer to get up if the round’s still going on — they’re three minutes each,” and she says “I don’t know boxing, not the smaller things in it, and I don’t know what the bell means to the girl,” and I say “Good, you don’t have to, it’s a stupid savage sport — you know, part of our culture so who am I to say and so on. With millions of fiends—
fans—loving it…that wasn’t a joke by the way, I actually said ‘fiends’ for ‘fans’ by mistake. And some of the boxers make fortunes from it, when they might earn peanuts for their lives otherwise and maybe become street hoods. But like bullfighting in Spain and southern France or wherever they still kill the bull at the end of the fight, Portugal, or maybe it’s the reverse — no, never in France — it’s antiquated, out of date, too brutal and too much like gladiators killing off each other in coliseums; that was two thousand years ago. Animals — humans, bulls, fighting cocks, anything — tarantulas — shouldn’t be killed for money or sport,” and Margo says “Even the meat we eat? For we have to pay for it,” and I say “Hamburgers and grilled tuna steaks are another thing. I’m talking of…anyway, I forgot I was driving with you kids before, I was so engrossed in my own thoughts. But what were you going to ask me when I said