Us kids were brought up right. When we didn’t know what to do, we looked to a higher power. All our eyes now turned from the direction the screaming, well on his way to naked man had dashed off in, and lighted on Ma.

Ma chewed her lip for a moment, and then she turned her eyes upon the ultimate authority.

Da stood up, walked to the old washing machine, reached in and pulled out two bottles of beer, and headed in the same direction as the screaming, naked man. Ma stood up, declared, “You kids don’t move a muscle,” and went into the house.

As soon as the door shut behind her, all seven of us took off after Da.

We didn’t go any further than the garden fence, though. Didn’t need to, the naked man and Da were standing about a hundred yards away, down by the old oak.

Da used the tail of his shirt to pop the top off one of the beers and handed it to the naked man. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

A few minutes later, Da and the man came back up. “This is Uncle Ted,” he informed us. “Say hello.”