But you've got
your mind made up. Now I'm going to tell you something: when you cross
that threshold, don't come back. I don't ever want to see you again.'"
"No!" said Ozma with a start. "No way! No father would say such a thing
to his own son!"
"That was just what my father said to me," said Rube sadly. "He didn't
want me to come home again. I was excommunicated from the family."
"That's awful!" said Lisa. "Parents do have a certain responsibility
toward any children that they brought into the world! He was a skinflint
and a creep!"
"Yes," agreed Rube. "His actions that day were like those of a regular
skunk!"
"I've known some very nice skunks in my day," said Hootsey.
"In any case," said the shadow, not wanting to get into a debate about
his use of the word _skunk_, "I was as shocked as you all seem to be.
"'You don't mean that, Dad!" I said.
"'Yes, I do.'
"'Well,' I replied. 'I'm going. And some day you'll be proud of me.'
"'Proud!' he said. 'You're breaking my heart, and I don't ever want to
see you again.'
"'I will not break your heart,' I said. 'I'll add more years to your
life. You wait and see.'
"And so it was that I went to Indianapolis. They optioned me out to
Canton in the Central League for the rest of the 1907 season, and I won
twenty-three games with them, which was one-third of all the games the
Canton Club won that year.
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