Harry and John are cowering in Harry's bedroom. For the last two hours, their parents have been arguing and every so often there's a crash or a crunch as some other object is destroyed. The children have decided to stay out of their way to avoid flying shards of crockery.
The shouting and the crashing finally die down and John thinks that maybe it's over, maybe they'll make up now and things will go back to normal, as they always do after these fights. He pokes his head into the hallway just in time to see Mum storm into the master bedroom. Dad is still in the living room, shoulders squared and arms folded defiantly. Mum emerges from the bedroom a few minutes later with a suitcase. She stops at Harry's room and tells the children that she's going away for awhile and that they should be good. John asks Mum when she'll be back. Mum smiles and says nothing.
John's greatest fear is that he'll never see his mother again.