As for Cal, his response was more profane, when I finally called him from up in Schenectady. “No motherfucking way.”
“It would mostly just be us, Cal. The Webbers—”
“Kiss my black ass!”
Though Devon had begged to come, my parents talked him out of it. Honestly, I’d been somewhat relieved. As much as I dug Mathias, I still got a rather cold reception from his parents. Then again, so did he. I met Mister during my second stayover, and he was no friendlier than Missus. I imagined them both losing their grace very easily, if not their temper. If either one had done something to hurt Devon, who was always a font of inquisitiveness—“Which guys are Americans?” “Does the water taste different in England?”—I wouldn’t have been able to hold my temper.
My brother had also developed a condition th
