My father’s joke that he and my mother were separating was in very bad taste given that TPR had just left me.

Perhaps he thought I had a chance of winning TPR back with the lumps of chocolate that I had left scattered about the house? When even JC resisted them, this seemed unlikely.

Then, after climbing the ladder to the upper floor, I found TPR lying in a makeshift bed next to my youngest sister. This dashed all my hopes for a reconciliation.