Tuesday's Child

Chapter 2

Give 'Em Hell Kid

In the middle of January every year, without fail, the city of Sydney played host to a few thousand teenage witches and wizards, many of them unaccompanied. Most of the teenagers were making repeat visits, having been students at either Norfolk Island Institute, Torres Strait College or Aurora Australis Academy for a good few years already, while others were visiting for the very first time. Being as Sydney was home to the largest Australian magical community - the last magical census had placed Sydney's population at four-and-a-half hundred thousand, give or take a few hundred - so too was it home to the largest magical shopping district Down Under. It was located beneath Observatory Hill, and had been given the rather unoriginal and unimaginative name of Observatory Hill Plaza. And it was the place that, on a scorching hot Wednesday afternoon two weeks before the school year began, Gregory, Colleen and Antonia were headed.

"I never thought I'd be back here so soon," Colleen said as they stepped through the gateway to the Plaza. It was disguised as part of one of the southern pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge - while witches and wizards were naturally drawn to its presence, Muggles usually gave it a very wide berth.

"It was going to happen eventually," Gregory said. From an inside pocket of his cloak he drew out a rolled up sheet of parchment tied off with a length of dark brown leather. "Why don't you go and take Antonia to be fitted out? I need to go and see a man about a tiger." With those words he walked off, disappearing into the milling crowd.

"We should get your uniforms first," Colleen said. "Did you bring your uniform list with you?"

"Yep." Antonia dug around in her pockets until she found her uniform list. It had been shoved into and pulled out of her pocket so often that it was creased almost beyond all recognition. She unfolded it and squinted at the typed text. "I need...a summer uniform, a winter uniform, a training uniform and a formal uniform." She looked up at her aunt. "Where are we supposed to go to get all that?"

"There are a few places we could go," Colleen said as she led her niece through the Plaza. "But to be honest, there is really only one store that does any of the school uniforms properly - Aether Designs. Come on, let's get you looking like an Academy student."

Aether Designs wasn't easy to find. It was tucked in behind the Plaza's main music store, Alchemy Music, and had such an unassuming storefront that it was very easy to walk right past it.

"Hello?" Colleen called out as she and Antonia entered the shop. Like most shops in the Plaza, it was larger on the inside than it was outside. Racks of clothing filled the sales floor almost as far as the eye could see, with the latest season's fashions jostling for space with formal attire and plain, everyday work robes and cloaks. An entire third of the shop was taken up by the school uniforms for the three Australian schools of magic - Norfolk Island's dark green, Aurora Australis' royal blue, maroon and emerald green, and Torres Strait's ochre.

"Just a moment!" a voice replied. There was an almighty crash, followed by a string of what Colleen assumed were particularly foul swear words. Assumption was the order of the day, because Colleen had no idea of what had just been said. Her assumption was confirmed with her niece's next words.

"That was rude," Antonia said in a low voice. She pulled her aunt down to her level and whispered a translation in her aunt's ear. Upon hearing it, Colleen raised an eyebrow.

"Is that even physically possible?" Colleen asked, and Antonia shrugged.

A full minute passed before the store's proprietor made her appearance. "Hi, how may I help you?" she chirped out as she patted her black hair into place. The badge pinned to her robes identified her as 'Eleanor'.

"My niece has been accepted into Lower Secondary at Aurora Australis Academy," Colleen replied. "She needs to be fitted out with summer, winter, training and formal uniforms."

"Another one, eh?" Eleanor gestured for Colleen and Antonia to follow her to the back of the store. "What element, then?"

"Earth," Colleen replied. After a beat, she added, "Also, could you possibly tone down the language around my niece? She understood every word you said."

"Oh, yes, of course," Eleanor said, sounding somewhat flustered. "My apologies." She gave her customers an apologetic smile, before addressing Antonia. "Now, what size would you be?"

Quick as a flash, Colleen pulled the tag of T-shirt out into view, reading upside down. "Ten girls' in shirts, and..." The T-shirt tag went back in, and Colleen bent down and pulled the tag of her niece's cargo shorts out. "Eight girls' in skirts and pants."

"I see. That might be a little tricky." Eleanor stepped back and surveyed the nearest rack. "Well, how about this. I'll get my assistant to track down the necessities, and while she's on her treasure hunt we'll get the young miss here fitted for a few sets of robes. Sound good?"

"Well, I suppose, if it'll get us finished up quicker," Colleen agreed.

Eleanor then turned around to face the rear of the store. "Penny!" she yelled, and a teenaged Aboriginal witch dressed all in bright pink poked her head out of what could only be the stock room.

"Yeah?"

"Out here with you - I need you to track down a full set of Lower Secondary uniforms for Aurora Australis, Earth element."

"What house?" Penny asked as she moved through the racks.

"That's irrelevant at this point. They need to be girls' sizes ten for blouses, and eight for skirts. Now get to it, we don't have all day."

As Penny started her search, Eleanor led Colleen and Antonia through to the fitting area. "If you'll just hop up here, we can start getting you fitted," Eleanor directed, and Antonia climbed up on a low wooden stool. She stayed perfectly still as an enchanted dressmaker's measuring tape snaked its way around her body, fighting the temptation to swat it away as she would a particularly persistent fly or mosquito.

"Mrs. Carrington, I found the uniforms!" Penny called out just as the measuring tape finished measuring around Antonia's head.

"Excellent, thank you Penny," Eleanor called back. She clicked her fingers at the measuring tape, and it coiled itself up before zipping into her hand. "I'll have the robes made up while you're trying on the uniforms."

"Thank you," Colleen said. "Come on Nia."

Having Antonia's skirts and blouses fitted didn't take very long at all. Approximately half an hour after they had walked into Aether Designs they were leaving it again, Colleen having shrunk Antonia's uniforms down so that they could be carried easily. "Now, what do you need next?" Colleen asked.

Antonia pulled another list from the same pocket that had held her uniform list. "I need...textbooks, a cauldron, potion ingredients, a wand..." As they walked past Inertia Sports, Antonia spotted the display in the shop window. "Auntie Colleen, what's that?" she asked, pointing at the sleek, shining broomstick that seemingly floated behind the pane of glass.

"That, Nia, is a broomstick. It's one of the primary forms of travel in our world." She gently drew Antonia's attention away from the window display. "And before you ask, as far as I'm aware Lower Secondary students have to be accepted onto the broom racing or Quidditch teams before they can take them to school, so you'll have to wait."

"But I can have one when I'm older?"

"You'll have to ask your grandparents, but I'm sure they'll be okay with it."

By the time Gregory was reunited with his daughter and granddaugter, it was lunch time. He found them sitting outside Zephyr, one of the many cafés in the Plaza, shopping bags and wrapped parcels sitting at their feet.

"We haven't ordered yet," Colleen said as Gregory pulled up a chair and sat down. "But that damn waitress has been hovering for at least ten minutes." She nodded toward a young woman who looked to be barely out of her teens. "Nia, do you know what you want?"

"Yep."

"Good." Colleen nodded to the waitress, who darted over and took a small notepad and pencil out of a pocket. While Colleen and Antonia rattled off their orders, Gregory quickly scanned the menu before him.

"Ham, Swiss cheese and tomato toasted sandwich on wholemeal, and go easy on the pepper," Gregory decided as he laid his menu down on the table before him. "And a cappuccino, please." The waitress scrawled this down and headed off to the kitchens. "So what did you and Auntie Colleen buy today?" he asked his granddaughter.

"What didn't we buy?" Colleen said, laughter bubbling up in her voice. "Antonia now has almost a whole new wardrobe, and we still need to buy her wand, a new school bag and something to pack everything in. You should see her in her new uniform - she looks so grown up. We'll show you when we get back to Haven."

Their lunches arrived just then, precluding any further conversation taking place. The sounds of the Plaza surrounded them as they ate - buskers performing; ravens cawing in the pet store a few shops down; people talking to one another as they wandered between stores and stalls.

"Let me see your list, Nia," Colleen said as they left Zephyr after lunch. Antonia passed her packing list up to her aunt, and Colleen unfolded it. "Let's see...you need a wand, a backpack, and a foot locker or trunk. We can get your new backpack anywhere, but we'll need to get your wand and locker here." She folded the list back up.

Their first post-lunch destination was Ace Of Wands. It was tucked away in a back alley, and had such a run-down exterior that the Plaza's visitors tended to bypass it entirely. Inside, however, it was light and airy, with magical windows along the walls looking out onto a different scene every week. This week, as Gregory, Colleen and Antonia discovered when they walked in, the scene was that of the Great Barrier Reef.

"I'll be with you in half a tick!" the salesperson on duty called out as the bell above the door rang. They were as true as their word, and not even ten seconds later a wizard came out of a hidden storeroom. "How may I help you today?"

"My niece is in need of her first wand," Colleen replied.

"Oh, excellent! Well, lets get you fitted out then. Which is your wand hand?"

Antonia looked up at her aunt, confused, and Colleen came to the rescue. "She's left-wanded." To Antonia she said quietly, "Hold out your left hand."

Antonia did as she was told, and soon a measuring tape much like the one from that morning zipped into action. It measured almost every part of her, and was winding around her left ankle when the saleswizard crooked a finger at it. It obediently unwound itself and returned from whence it had originally come, and the saleswizard darted back into the storeroom. He returned with an armful of long, narrow boxes.

"Let's try this one first," he said as he opened one of the boxes. "Looks quite promising - twenty-five centimetres, lacebark with a core of Antipodean Opaleye heartstring."

Antonia took the wand into her left hand and looked it over curiously. "What do I do with it?"

"You wave it," Colleen told her.

"I wave it," Antonia repeated dubiously. She looked up at Colleen, one eyebrow raised. "I don't feel anything though. It just feels like a stick."

"Maybe not that one, then," the saleswizard decided. He took the wand back and stowed it back in its box. "Next one is thirty centimetres long, acacia with a unicorn hair core."

Antonia tried out what seemed like countless wands, none of them producing a result that the adult wizards considered positive. Some of the wands, like the lacewood wand, felt dead in Antonia's hand - others caused damage to the store that, while easily repaired, proved conclusively that the wand in question just wasn't suited to her.

Moments before Antonia was ready to give it up as a bad joke, the saleswizard disappeared back into the storeroom, returning with one last box. "I have a strong feeling that this wand may just be the one we're looking for," he said as he cracked it open. "This one is nineteen centimetres long, kauri with a core of thylacine claw."

The second that Antonia took the wand in hand, she felt it - a spark coiling its way lazily up her forearm. Unlike any of the other wands she had tried, this one felt alive, its wood warm beneath her fingers. She gave it an experimental wave and grinned as silver stars poured from its tip.

"That's the one, all right," Colleen said, her tone almost reverent.

Their final purchase of the day came from Equinox - in Gregory and Colleen's shared opinion, the only place to purchase luggage if one wanted it to last - in the form of a sturdy flat-topped wooden trunk reinforced with burnished steel bands. All of the day's purchases had been packed inside, with Gregory and Colleen carrying it by its handles between them. Perched atop the trunk's lid was Antonia, swinging her feet back and forth as she was borne through the milling crowd.

"All right, off you get," Gregory said when they reached the Plaza's gateway. "Unless you want me to turn you invisible as well..."

"No way!" With those words Antonia hopped down off her perch, and the trunk was set on the ground. Gregory turned it invisible, leaving the handles untouched so it could be picked up without having to search around for it, and the trio headed off for the teleportation hub that would lead them back home to Haven.

* * *

The next two weeks, between the shopping expedition and Antonia's departure for Aurora Australis, were filled with activity. There was still much to be done - the other children needed to be prepared to start school, a new chore roster needed to be drawn up, and there were still other bits and pieces that needed to be bought for Antonia so that she could be completely ready to start high school.

On the Tuesday night before Gregory and Antonia were due to leave for the trip down south, Gregory called his oldest granddaughter upstairs to his office. He was sitting on the two-seater lounge with a dark green backpack sitting next to him when Antonia knocked on the door frame.

"Come in and sit down, Nia," Gregory said when he saw Antonia standing in the hallway. "And before you ask, you're not in trouble." He moved the backpack onto his lap so that Antonia could sit next to him. "I want to show you something." From the backpack he took what looked for all intents and purposes like a laptop computer.

"Is that a laptop?"

"Right in one," Gregory confirmed. "This is what your uncles and I have been working on for the past few years." He placed the computer on his granddaughter's lap and opened the lid. "You can turn it on if you like."

"I'd better plug it in first."

"You don't need to. This computer runs off of magic. More specifically, it runs off of your magic."

Antonia looked at her grandfather. "You mean..."

Gregory nodded. "It's all yours. It has the Internet, it can play DVDs, and you can listen to music on it. But I want you to promise me something."

"What's that?"

"I want you to do your best this year. When you come home for the summer holidays, I don't care if there aren't any As on your report, and neither does your grandmother. All I want to see is your teachers telling me that you did your absolute best in all your lessons. Your parents, were they still alive, would no doubt ask the same of you. Just do the best you can, and nobody will have a thing to complain about. Okay?"

Antonia nodded. "I will, Grandpa. I promise."

"Good girl." Gregory gave her a one-armed hug. "Now off to bed with you - I want you helping Auntie Catherine in the orchard tomorrow morning before it gets too hot. Okay?"

"Okay."

Up in the bedroom she shared with her cousins Ione, Sandi and Maggie, all was quiet and dark, with only the Garfield nightlight that sat on Maggie's night table to light the way. Antonia picked her way across the floor, stepping carefully over stuffed toys and books, and found her bed - it was right next to the sliding glass doors that led the way out onto their balcony.

For a fleeting second she was tempted to take her new computer out of her new backpack and play with it until all hours. But her sense of responsibility overrode temptation, and she placed her backpack down in front of her night table before climbing into bed. Tomorrow, after she had done her share of work in the family orchard, she would be able to play with her new toy and see just what it could do, but for now she had to sleep.

The rate of activity in the Tucker household skyrocketed the next morning, and stayed steady for the next few days. Each day began at sunrise, and was filled with a myriad of chores. Fruit needed to be picked, vegetables needed to be harvested and planted, the chickens needed feeding and their eggs had to be collected, and the house had to be cleaned from top to bottom. The older kids, especially Daniel and Sandi, decided fairly early on that it was because Antonia would be leaving them to go to school at the end of the week. The truth of the matter, however, was that school would not only be beginning for Antonia, but also for quite a few of her cousins as well. And because of this, enough of the chores had to be done so there would be less work for the younger children to do after school.

On Saturday afternoon, just after lunch, Colleen and Antonia headed upstairs to begin the process of packing up Antonia's trunk for school. Antonia and Gregory were due to depart for the school at five o'clock, embarking on a trip that would take just over ten hours. An overnight stop was planned to be made in Port Macquarie, the halfway point.

"List?" Colleen said after they had taken Antonia's trunk out of the hall storage cupboard and lifted it onto Antonia's bed.

"Here!" Antonia snatched her packing list off of her night table and held it up. Colleen held her hand out for it, and Antonia passed it over.

"First off, clothes. Summer uniforms?"

Antonia darted over to the built-in wardrobe she shared with Ione and slid the doors open. "Check!" she called as she pulled open the top drawer on her side of the wardrobe and lifted her two summer uniforms out. She placed these on the floor next to her feet.

"Training uniforms?"

The top drawer was closed, and the second drawer opened. "Check!" she called as she picked up her training uniforms.

"Formal uniforms?"

This drawer was also closed, and the top drawer reopened. "Check!" was called out once more as another set of uniforms was deposited on top of Antonia's summer and training uniforms.

"All right, bring them over here, and I'll get them packed for you. And I know you could do it, but I think I could do it quicker." Colleen grinned, and Antonia carried her clothes over to her bed. "Now, watch how I do it, so you know what to do when you come home for Easter." The uniforms were separated into two piles, each pile containing a summer, formal and training uniform, and stacked on the right hand side of the trunk. "Hoodies?"

Again Antonia dashed over to her wardrobe and got her jumpers out of the drawer in which she kept her winter clothing. "Check!" she called as she took them over to her bed.

"Right, now grab your socks - you need six pairs."

And so the process continued. Over the next few hours Antonia's trunk steadily filled, until the last items - a raincoat and an umbrella - were packed in, and the trunk was closed and latched.

"Next, we need to pack your backpack," Colleen pronounced as they lifted Antonia's trunk off her bed and down on to the floor. "Everything you either know you will need, or you even just think you will need over the next two days, I want you to pack it in there. Put your laptop in first."

Into Antonia's backpack went her laptop, her journal, a wooden case that held quills and bottles of ink, a pencil case filled with gel pens, coloured pencils and coloured markers, a thick spiral-bound notebook, her favourite book, a jumper in case there was a change in the weather, her wallet, and all manner of other bits and pieces that Antonia had decided she would need during the trip down south.

"Are you sure you have everything?" Colleen asked as Antonia zipped her backpack closed.

"Yep." She picked it up and nearly dropped it. "It's heavy."

"You put enough things in it, so I don't see why you're so surprised. Have a look around and check you have everything - I doubt you'll be able to come back once you're on the road."

A quick dart around ensured that Antonia did indeed have everything she needed, and so she hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders and grabbed a handle of her trunk. Colleen grabbed the other handle, and they carried it downstairs together.

Gregory and Antonia departed for Aurora Australis after dinner. A guard of honour was formed of all the cousins, aunts and uncles along the path from the front door down toward Gregory's Nissan X-Trail, with Abigail right at the end of the line. "Behave yourself," Uncle Drew said as he hugged his niece. "Do us all proud, all right?"

"And try not to get into too much trouble, okay?" Aunt Kelly added.

The other aunts and uncles added in their farewells and warnings as Gregory and Antonia walked down the front path - do your best, try not to raise too much hell, be nice to your roommates, and do the Tucker name proud.

"We are so proud of you, Nia," Abigail said as she hugged her granddaughter tightly. "It's time for you to blaze a new trail - show your cousins what it means to be a Tucker, all right? Even if those cousins don't have the same last name as you-"

"They are still Tuckers, and are still my family," Antonia finished. "I promise, Grandma."

"And if any of the other kids give you any trouble, make sure you tell them that your Grandpa has a big stick in his truck, and he'll come down to Wentworth Heights and beat the stuffing out of them if they bother you again," Gregory said.

"Gregory, please don't encourage her," Abigail said. "Have a safe trip, and email us when you get settled in."

The final farewell came from Uncle Adam, and was short and to the point.

"Give 'em hell, kid!" he yelled as grandfather and granddaughter began the long drive away from Haven.

* * *

At ten o'clock in the morning of January twenty-eighth, the Blue Mountains town of Wentworth Heights, home to Aurora Australis Academy, came into view. As if sensing the journey was nearly at an end, Antonia had packed her computer away as they had passed through Lithgow, and had spent the rest of the drive staring out of the windows of the X-Trail. Gregory had had to hold back his laughter - in the time since she had come to live in Nimbin, his granddaughter had never been any further from home than Sydney, so he understood why she was so enthralled.

"Is this where my mum and dad grew up?" Antonia asked, her nose pressed against the front passenger window, as Gregory drove down the main street of Wentworth Heights, past the tavern. The residents of the town who lived there year-round, as opposed to only calling the town home during school terms, were already out and about, going about their daily business.

"No, they went to a different school," Gregory replied.

"So I'm the first?"

"That's right. Which is another reason why I'm proud of you - you're the first Tucker to go to Aurora Australis. It's the best magical high school in Australia - Norfolk Island Institute and Torres Strait College don't even come close."

Holroyd Estate, the sprawling property that Aurora Australis Academy's Junior Secondary students called home during the school year, was located west of the town centre, three-and-a-half kilometres from the Academy. Gregory turned the X-Trail into the Estate's driveway and parked in the visitors' carpark.

"Well, here we are," Gregory said. They weren't the first to arrive - other students and their families were making their way up through the carpark to the main part of the Estate, carrying backpacks, trunks, duffle bags and instrument cases. Most, if not all of them, wore their royal blue uniforms. Upon seeing how her soon to be fellow students were dressed, Antonia turned to look at her grandfather.

"I think I'm supposed to wear my uniform," she said, sounding worried.

"Let's not worry about that just yet," Gregory said. "We'll get your things out of the back, and when we've got you settled in you can get changed."

They got out of the X-Trail and unloaded Antonia's trunk from the back, and carried it up through the gates into the Estate grounds. Most of the new arrivals were headed toward a low brick building not far from the carpark, so Gregory and Antonia joined the crowd. As they got nearer, they saw a man dressed in semi-formal clothing and a royal blue cloak holding a clipboard, looking for all the world as if he was checking names off on a list. And sure enough, as soon as they got close enough they saw that it was exactly what he was doing. He wore a nametag that read Prof. Thaddeus Milton - Head of Campus, Holroyd Estate.

"Name, please," he asked as Gregory and Antonia reached the head of the line.

"Antonia Tucker," Gregory replied.

Excelsior House's Head started muttering to himself. "Antonia Tucker...Antonia Tucker...ah, here we are," he said before checking Antonia's name off. "The buses will be leaving for the Academy at twenty to eleven, so please be ready to leave by then." He raised his eyes from his clipboard. "You would be well advised to change into full summer uniform before doing so," he added with a small smile.

"I didn't know I was supposed to wear my uniform," Antonia said in a small voice.

"New student, are you?" Professor Milton asked, and Antonia nodded. "Oh, you weren't to know. The dormitory building is unlocked" here Professor nodded toward a building off in the near distance "so feel free to change anytime within the next half hour. You can leave your luggage inside the building."

"Thank you," Gregory said as he and Antonia headed off toward where the dormitories were housed.

They entered the dormitory building and put Antonia's trunk down in the foyer. There was already a massive pile of luggage piled against a wall. Antonia unlatched and opened her trunk and started digging through it in search of her summer uniform.

"All right, you go and get yourself changed, and come back here when you're done," Gregory said to his granddaughter once she had pulled her summer skirt, blouse, tie, cloak and sandals out from the bottommost layer of clothes. As Antonia dashed off in search of a bathroom he yelled, "And do try not to take forever!"

A short burst of laughter followed Gregory's parting shot, and he turned in the direction of the sound. Leaning against one of the walls of the foyer, attired in much the same way as the Head of Campus, was a tall man with closely-cropped dark brown hair.

"Something amuse you?" Gregory asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Sounds like something I'd yell after my kid if I had one," the man replied. He smirked, straightened up, and came towards Gregory, a hand outstretched. "Name's Professor Ashton Estrada - I teach Junior Secondary Tactics and Self Defence."

Gregory shook the professor's offered hand. "Gregory Tucker. My granddaughter Antonia starts school today."

Antonia came running up a minute or so later, her robes flying out behind her and her tie hanging unknotted around her neck. She carried her shorts, T-shirt and thongs under her arm. "Can you help me do up my tie?" she asked Gregory. "And can you put my hair in plaits?" She held up her hairbrush, two elastic bands and two blue ribbons.

"Wasn't your hair already plaited?" Gregory asked his daughter, who shook her head. To Professor Estrada, he said, "Duty calls."

Professor Estrada laughed again. "I know how that is. Good to meet you, Gregory." He gave a small salute and headed off.

"Right, we'll do your tie first, so put your other things down." Antonia did so, and Gregory flipped her collar up before looping the tie around her neck over the blouse. "All right, are you watching?" he asked. "You'll need to know this for tomorrow morning - I won't be here to tie it for you, so you'll need to do it yourself." He then proceeded to do up Antonia's tie in a half-Windsor knot, pausing at each stage to make sure Antonia was watching. Once it was tied, he flipped the collar back down again.

After Antonia had bundled her street clothes into her trunk and closed it, Gregory had her sit on it so he could do her hair. "How many plaits do you want?" he asked, and Antonia held up two fingers.

At ten-thirty, the speakers on the wall of the foyer above the entrance crackled into life. "Would all students and staff please begin to make their way to the carpark," a disembodied voice said. "Parents are requested to wait until the buses have departed before leaving."

"Well, this is it," Gregory said. He crouched down to his granddaughter's level. "Remember what you promised me," he said. "Make sure you do your absolute best this year. You do that, and nobody will have a thing to complain about."

"I will," Antonia promised, and Gregory hugged her tightly.

"You be good this term, okay?" Gregory said, and she nodded against his shoulder. "If you need anything at all, email me." He sighed. "Your mother and father would be so incredibly proud of you, Nia, just as much as I am."

The four buses containing Aurora Australis Academy's junior students departed Holroyd Estate at ten-forty sharp, heading west. Gregory sat on the bonnet of the X-Trail, watching as the convoy travelled down the road. As the last bus turned out of the driveway, he smiled.

His granddaughter was growing up. And Gregory knew that, as much as he had wanted her to follow in the footsteps of all Tuckers and become a student of the Norfolk Island Institute, Aurora Australis really was the best school for her. Here, she had a new slate upon which to make her individual mark, rather than tracing the footsteps of her parents and grandparents.

"Give 'em hell, kid," he said softly, echoing his son's parting shot from the previous afternoon.