By seven-thirty she had breakfasted them, provided each with a packed lunch and Thermoses of coffee and tea

Terse and perspirate, Murphy's wife takes a swipe at the pistol, but Michael moves out of her reach, and keeping it trained on the back of his father's skull, he repeats his question: Why don't you come back daddy?

a violin with gut strings

Shakespeare, of course, called life a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage... and James Thurber continued: It's a tale told in an idiom, full of unsoundness and fury, signifying nonism.