“And neither do I, apparently,” he snapped.

“Oh, honey; let’s not argue.” She reached for his arm. “All I want is what’s best for Ashley.”

Alex jerked away. “Whether she or I likes it or not; is that it?”

Rosemary grew chilly. “And I suppose you’d be happy if she fell behind and had to be home-schooled?”

“Look—I’m a tenured middle-school teacher in a public school district. That’s not gonna happen—any more than she’s going to a private school. We can’t afford it anyway, not since you decided to stop working to ride herd on her full-time.”

That wounded Rosemary. “At least one of us wants to make sure she gets everything she needs.”

“Oh, bullshit!” Alex wasn’t going to relent; not this time. “And, besides, what is it she’s going to ‘fall behind’ in? Dance? Music lessons? Karate? Or ‘structured play’ with those other little robots?”

“That’s not fair!” She crossed her arms and turned up the volume. “Every activity I have her in has demonstrable pre-collegiate value—unlike ‘soc-cer.’”

“Oh, yeah. Pointless for a little kid to run around, kicking and screaming, with a bunch of scruffy little renegades, especially after a full work week of ‘structure.’ Don’t you see, honey? All this false urgency and fear of underachievement does is rob a lot of these kids of the best parts of their childhoods—playing, imagining, discovering…thinking. For themselves. By the time I get them in Science classes, they’re defeated. They wouldn’t dream of touching anything that isn’t preprogrammed and pre-approved by adults.”

“So, I guess what you’re saying,” she sniffed, “is, all the time I spend with Ashley doesn’t count for anything?”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Melodrama aside, what I am saying is that you’re not spending her time with her, you’re spending it for her. She’s a human being. She has more than needs; she has feelings. All you’re doing, I fear, is making her resentful and rebellious. Is that what you want, for Ashley to grow to hate you?”

Before Rosemary could respond, Ashley appeared in the doorway, making fists of her tiny hands, her alabaster face in knots. “Mommy! Gimme my book back. Now!”

“Ashley!” Alex came halfway out of his chair. Rosemary set her jaw and bound the book tighter to herself. Ashley burst into sobs and fled. Rosemary wasn’t far behind.

“I can’t talk to either of you any more!” she said in the direction of the chandelier.

Alex fell back into the cushions. “I’ll talk to her, later,” he said weakly.

Rosemary sat, watching Ashley and Ryan test each other with flashcards. After dunking and draining her teabag, she sipped carefully and reached for a cookie. “They do seem to get along, don’t they?”

“Looks like it. Better, since we got rid of that little monster, Tyler!” Across the table, Ryan’s mother, Jennifer, laughed. Rosemary didn’t. Jennifer squinted at her. “You okay? You look distracted.”

“Oh, Alex and I are hammer-and-tong about Ashley, as usual.” Rosemary searched her neighbor’s face. “Do you think we push these kids too hard?”

“Who knows? Sometimes it feels like it, but things are so much different from how they used to be. Everybody has to work; everything’s so expensive. There’s so much to do; there’s no time. There’s more to learn and less time to learn it. I dunno. My father said in the Sixties the hippies on campus would laugh at ‘straights’ like him and say, ‘Work, study, get ahead, KILL!’ Makes you wonder; how on Earth do you suppose our grandparents dealt with a Depression and World War?”

“Well, thanks for answering my question!” They giggled.

Rosemary dropped her chin into her hands. “I mean, I suppose I can see Alex’s point. My Dad was away a lot, so it was Mom and me most of the time. She saw to me, but wasn’t really available emotionally—“

“Whose parents were?”

“—But, yeah, did it matter all that much, really? I’m okay; I want for Ashley and me to be close and all that, but everything I read and see on TV frightens me. I want her to be prepared. Like, did you see that thing last night about the registered sex offender? Living right on a street full of kids!”

“Oh, honey; come on — that was 20 miles and two freeways away!”

“I know, but they said there were more calls on the Megan’s Law hotline and more hits on the web site from this county than anywhere else in the state. Doesn’t that bother you?”

Jennifer munched and gulped. “I don’t even want to think about things like that. Let’s just get these kids through school and into a good college, okay?” The silence made them both restless, so Jennifer changed subjects. “So—where are you and Alex on the subject, again?”

“We’ve agreed I can go back to work in a couple months, when Ashley starts first grade. He’s determined to put her in public school and, as long as there’s only one income, he can say we can’t afford anything else. If I work, he loses that edge and we can keep our options open. Anyway, I’ll have more flexibility than he does, so I can make sure Ashley keeps up. You’ll still be available for exercises after school, right?”

In the academy, silliness broke out. Ryan and Ashley had taken an impromptu palm-slapping game to the next level, laughing and rolling around on the floor.

“Ashley!” Rosemary stood, pointing two fingers at her eyeballs. “Focus.”