“What?” Bill frowned at his wife. “Okay, okay. Anyway, you must realize that this wasn’t a controlled situation. But recently I’d read an abstract in one of my
psychology journals by Dr. Friedbert Von Schimmelheimer in Vienna, who had some fascinating ideas on
the subject, though his experiments involved—”
“Bill . . .” Renie broke in.
“What? Oh, all right, never mind. If you understand the
problems with replication, then you’ll appreciate how—”
“Bill!” Renie looked fierce. “Layman’s language,
Bill glared at his wife. “
would have preferred to do it with monkey siblings,
but then we found the dogs. Anyway, you know how
Oscar is about experimenting with apes.”
Renie nodded while Judith gazed at the ceiling and
Mike looked puzzled. Oscar was the Joneses’ stuffed
ape and was treated like a member of the family.
“So how did it turn out?” Renie asked, her patience
restored.
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Mary Daheim
“Fascinating,” Bill replied. “I called them John and
Paul. For the pope. John’s the one wearing Archie’s
tuxedo.” He paused to look at the doll on his wife’s
nightstand. “Hi, Archie. How are you doing? You look
really cheerful.” Judith and Mike exchanged amused
glances. “Anyway,” Bill continued, “Paul has on those
Wisconsin sweats, the ones that Clarence ate most of
the badger symbol off. John got the expensive dog
food, Paul got the cheaper kind. I made a bed for John
in the bottom drawer of my desk. I put Paul in a cardboard box. John drank Evian water; Paul had to make
do with water from the tap. Sure enough, after twentyfour hours, John started to become spoiled, while Paul
sulked. Then, this morning, when I gave John a leftover rib-steak bone, Paul pounced on him. The experiment proved what I thought would be true. Even
nonhuman siblings can suffer resentment and lack of
self-esteem when one of them gets preferred treatment
over the other. They can also exhibit hostility and aggression.”
Judith stared at Renie. “What do you think?”
Renie glanced at Bill. “I think my husband’s right.
As usual.”
Judith turned to Mike. “Go upstairs and get Woody.
The time has come to call in a consulting police detective.”
Sister Jacqueline telephoned a few minutes later.
The nun still sounded dubious about revealing the information Judith had requested, but when she finally
did, another piece of the puzzle fell into place. Feeling
as if she had a solid grip on the solution to the murders,
Judith smiled grimly.
Mike and Woody had their own way of making Ju-SUTURE SELF
307
dith smile. When they entered the ward fifteen minutes later, they were pushing a wheelchair. Joe Flynn
