Dr. Robert Terwilliger Sr. read the morning newspaper as though it did not include an article about his younger son now being incarcerated alongside his brother. He preferred to read the Health section of the Capital City Chronicle, and enjoyed being able to peruse his paper in peace, without being pestered by his petulant sons or melodramatic (ex-)wife. The doctor ignored the article about the destruction of Springfield's hydroelectric dam bursting and flooding the town, and tried to block out the memory of another time when he'd found out about his other criminal offspring...
Some time ago, Robert returned home from the hospital to find his wife hunched over on the couch, emitting loud, operatic wails and rocking back and forth.
Robert sighed. Judith often behaved like this, and he wasn't in the mood to deal with it tonight. "What is it this time?"
"It's Bob," Judith replied with heaving, undignified sobs. "He's been arrested for framing that crass clown for armed robbery."
Raising his eyebrow just slightly, Robert said, "Is that so?" From the tone of his voice, he might as well have been responding to the news of something completely mundane. From the way Judith was acting, Robert had initially thought his son had died. He'd thought it a logical conclusion, as Bob was quite accident-prone.
"And it was a mere child who exposed him," Judith added. She dabbed at her eyes and flushed cheeks with an exquisite lace handkerchief. "On live television, no less." Judith tucked away her handkerchief and cried, "Where did we go wrong?"
Robert adjusted his glasses. "We?"
Judith straightened her uncharacteristically slouched posture. "Don't pretend you're completely blameless. He's as much your son as he is mine."
"Our son's failures are his own," Robert said without changing the flat tone of his voice. "But if he took more after my side of the family, perhaps Bob would not have been driven to do such a foolish act."
"How dare you!" Judith shouted, jumping off the couch and pointing at him like a character in a poorly written and directed play. "Maybe if you had paid him more attention-"
'-he wouldn't have become so influenced by a mother who insists on making everything like the plot of a vapid, cliche-ridden play," Robert finished, still speaking without any obvious anger or other emotion.
Judith raised her hand as if to slap him, but Robert ably dodged the blow and grabbed his pager.
"Oh dear, I need to return to the hospital; there's a dire emergency."
The snarl on Judith's face was replaced by icy contempt. "And you call my acting poor?"
Robert did not speak another word to Judith as he departed. He returned only to pick up the few possessions Judith had not destroyed.