erris wanted to ask her father if she could help him translate the manual , both to read it and to find out the secret , almost as much as she wanted to argue with boll , but before the two could get a decent argument going , erris mother rapped her on the head again , this time with her bare knuckles , as she put a plate of leftovers on the table in front of erris , the same fare as her brothers were already midway through .