After breakfast, his wife followed him into the laundry room.
She closed the door.
"This has gone far enough."
He turned.
"What has?"
"Your little performance."
The father stared at her.
"Breakfast?"
"Don't insult my intelligence. You deliberately gave her the same amount as everyone else to make me look cruel."
He said nothing for a moment.
Then he asked, "Do you hear yourself?"
She glared.
"I'm trying to raise disciplined children."
"Then use reasonable discipline."
"I do."
"Taking food away isn't reasonable."
She sighed.
"Again with the food."
He looked at her.
"Yes. Again with the food."
The woman crossed her arms.
"You're acting like she was starving."
He took a breath.
"She told me she sometimes goes to sleep hungry."
His wife's expression flickered.
"Children exaggerate."
"She has food hidden in her bedroom."
The woman looked startled.
Then angry.
"She's not supposed to keep food in there!"
The father stared at her.
His wife continued.
"That's exactly the kind of sneaky behavior I've been trying to stop."
He spoke quietly.
"She was hiding food because she was afraid she wouldn't get enough to eat."
"That's ridiculous."
"She told me."
"Of course she did. She's playing you."
He shook his head.
"Stop."
The woman stepped closer.
"You need to decide whether you're going to be my husband or let that child run this marriage."
For a moment, the father simply looked at her.
Then he answered.
"My daughter is not competing with you."
His wife opened her mouth.
He continued.
"She is a child. I'm her father. Those aren't positions we negotiate."
The woman stared.
He picked up the laundry basket he'd been carrying.
"We'll talk after I've made arrangements for the children."
He walked out.
Behind him, his wife stood motionless.
He had never spoken to her like that before.
And for the first time, she seemed uncertain whether the arguments that had worked for eighteen months would still work.
At ten-thirty, the children climbed into the truck.
The boy carried a backpack containing two action figures and a change of clothes.