Once she observed her nephew luring ants from their nest between the square stones of their patio using a melting ice cream bar. When several hundred had swarmed the irresistible treat, he grabbed a brick that had broken in half and proceeded to crush the ants, dozens at a time. It was then she started to worry that the boy was in for a life of trouble. She kept her distance, however, because she knew intervention would have made Malcolm and Joan, Dustin’s parents, resentful, and she could not risk losing them.
For some reason Dustin answered the phone when Fiona called her younger sister Joan, as she usually did on Friday evening. Some might have considered the timing awkward, since Friday was dining out night for many families she knew. Malcolm and Joan rarely patronized restaurants, ho
