December 20, 1968

Scully Residence

Outskirts of Murrells Inlet, South Carolina

11:02 a.m.

A silence followed her words. The loudest silence he had ever heard.

Bill Jr. was red in the face, speechless with indignation, shaking with suppressed rage.

''She's lying,'' he told his friends curtly, gruffly, as if daring them to suggest differently. The silence was broken, and a few scattered sniggers rippled through the group of muddy, damp boys.

''She's lying!'' Bill Jr. shouted again; angry, desperate now.

There was no answer, but he could see the suppressed smirks on their faces. See the doubt.

Furious, he turned to the small redheaded girl standing in front of him. If he went at her now, it was as good as a confession. But it would make him feel so much better...

With a tremendous effort he suppressed the urge and said in a sweet voice, as befits addressing a small child: ''Dana, you know you're not supposed to lie. Tell them the truth.''

The small girl scowled at him, her thin arms crossed defiantly over her brown winter coat. He saw a flicker of the tiniest of smiles cross her face and his heart sank. She was going to stick to it.

''I am telling the truth, you know I am,'' she said innocently, addressing the group of boys standing behind him, rather than her brother, ''You wet the bed today, I saw Mom cleaning it up, not yesterday, but the day before-''

She didn't get any further, for at that point he had seen red. With a furious roar, he launched himself at his sister, not caring what happened to him afterwards, as long as he could hurt her. He just wanted to make her pay.

She managed to dodge him, and ran to the house behind them, her little ponytail bobbing in the wind. With a muttered oath, he tore after her. He could hear his friends howling with laughter behind him, and knew it must be a comical sight: a seven-year-old boy accused of bedwetting, running after his four-year-old sister. And failing to catch her too.. although he could have outstripped her easily, she kept on veering to either side of her, flitting through the trees of the forrest by their house, and his superior speed was no advantage.

''You come here, you little-''

How he wished that he knew a few more swearwords.

He'd nearly caught up to her now. Nearly, nearly-

''Daddy!'' she cried, spotting the stout man walking towards them, and she ran up to him, using his bulk as a shield between herself and her brother.

''What's the matter, Dana?'' he asked, frowning at Bill Jr. suspiciously. Bill felt angry tears in his eyes, as he looked up at his father. Dana would get her way now, the little snitch. Just because he was older and she was a girl. If she had hidden behind their mother, Bill Jr. would have probably lunged for her anyway. But their father was a different matter entirely.

It took a while for him to speak through his rage and exhaustion.

''She..she told lies about me.. in front...of my friends,'' he finally gasped, still panting from the chase, ''Sir,'' he added as an afterthought.

''They weren't lies!'' she said defensively, from behind her bulky shield, ''You did wet your bed today!''

''Shut up!'' Now his father knew! He was going to kill her!

''They weren't lies,'' she repeated stoutly.

''You said that I wet my bed every other week,'' he cried, almost beyond himself with rage and embarrassment, taking one step towards her in spite of himself.

William Scully turned to his daughter, with a look of surprise on his face.

''But Dana, that isn't a nice thing to do, you should know better.''

Bill Jr. blinked. Was she actually going to be blamed?

She shuffled her feet, and sniffed self-consciously. The tip of her nose had turned red from the cool air.

''They were having a snowball fight and I wanted to join and Bill said no.''

Their father raised his eyebrows. ''And that's why you humiliated your brother in front of his friends? Dana, you have to learn to take these things more calmly..''

''But it was the way he said it, Dad,'' she mumbled, ''He said that they didn't want little girls who mess everything up.. so I told him it wasn't just little girls who mess stuff up.''

''Bill Jr.,'' William Scully said, turning to his son, who was outraged that he was going to be blamed for not wanting his small sister around when he played with his friends. And after his humiliation, too..

''Yes, sir?'' he asked, trying to keep the bitterness in his voice to a minimum.

''I doubt I'll have to tell you not to insult your sister in the future,'' his lips twitched, as if he were trying not to smile, ''Now you know that she won't let it rest that easily. And next time, come to me or Mom, don't fly at your sister. You're her older brother.''

Bill Jr. felt his cheeks burn, but he knew there was no use in arguing. He nodded silently. He hadn't insulted her half as much as she had insulted him. In front of all his friends! But younger kids always got away with anything..

''And Dana,'' their father went on, ''You know it's wrong to make up stories about people-''

Bill Jr. almost scoffed. Of course she knew!

''-and you really hurt people that way. I know you wouldn't like that-''

Of course she would!

''-so I'm going to ask you to apologize to your brother.''

''Yes, sir,'' she whispered, ''Sorry, Bill.'' Awkwardly.

''Bill Jr.?''

''Yeah,'' Bill mumbled, ''I'm sorry too.''

The lie only came so easily, because he had already thought of a way to get back at her.

As their father led the way back to the house, Bill Jr. nudged his little sister, and leant close to her ear to hiss: ''Better keep an eye on that rabbit of yours, Dana. We don't want anything to happen to him, do we?''