〃Yeah；〃 Danny said。
Scott leaned forward。 〃His dad LOST HIS MARBLES last night。 They took him
away。〃
〃Yeah？ Just for losing some marbles？〃
Scotty looked disgusted。 〃He went crazy。 You know。〃 Scott crossed his eyes；
flopped out his tongue； and twirled his index fingers in large elliptical orbits
around his ears。 〃They took him to THE BUGHOUSE。〃
〃Wow；〃 Danny said。 〃When will they let him e back？〃
〃Never…never…never；〃 Scotty said darkly。
In the course of that day and the next； Danny heard that
a。） Mr。 Stenger had tried to kill everybody in his family； including Robin；
with his World War II souvenir pistol；
b。） Mr。 Stenger ripped the house to pieces while he was STINKO；
c。） Mr。 Stenger had been discovered eating a bowl of dead bugs and grass like
they were cereal and milk and crying while he did it；
d。） Mr。 Stenger had tried to strangle his wife with a stocking when the Red
Sox lost a big ball game。
Finally； too troubled to keep it to himself； he had asked Daddy about Mr。
Stenger。 His daddy had taken him on his lap and had explained that Mr。 Stenger
had been under a great deal of strain； some of it about his family and some
about his job and some of it about things that nobody but doctors could
understand。 He had been having crying fits； and three nights ago he had gotten
crying and couldn't stop it and had broken a lot of things in the Stenger home。
It wasn't LOSING YOUR MARBLES； Daddy said； it was HAVING A BREAKDOWN； and Mr。
Stenger wasn't in a BUGHOUSE but in a SANNY…TARIUM。 But despite Daddy's careful
explanations； Danny was scared。 There didn't seem to be any difference at all
between L