"Maybe you think it isn't grinding me and humiliating me properly.

Maybe you think Father and Mother haven't warned me.

Maybe you think Mary Louise isn't secretly ashamed of me.

How can I beat him, Linda ?" Linda's eyes were narrowed to a mere line.

She was staring at the wall back of Donald as if she hoped that Heaven would intercede in her favor and write thereon a line that she might translate to the boy's benefit.
"I have been watching pretty sharply," she said.