it was raining, and the first telegram came, saying that McKinley was worse.

"Why haven't the other guests come into the parlor?" I asked.

"They could if they wished to," Mother said.

"Respect," my oldest brother, Ted, said. "Privacy."

"They weren't worried about privacy before," I said. On the first day Father got here, all the guests and staff lined up to shake his hand. He told them the story of the cougar he killed on his last hunting trip to the Badlands, and they applauded. It was a good story, but I thought they would have applauded a bad one too. Everywhere we went, people wanted to talk to Father.

Kermit, who was almost twelve, put down his book of poetry and looked at me.

"What?" I said.

"Think," he said.

I frowned. "Does everyoneThe Obama administration approved the first permit for deep-water drilling in nine months, a move that some interpret as a reaction to the instability in North Africa and the greater Middle East and its combined effect on foreign oil prices.

The permit is the first issued since the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 people and released 4.9 million barrels (205 million gallons) of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

In May the Obama administration issued a moratorium on all new permits to drill in waters greater than 500 feet, a controversial measure that lasted until Oct. 12, when the administration announced a new set of drilling standards it said was designed to safeguard against future blowouts and, should one occur, ensure companies had