Landmine. Anthony had the same sort of feeling he imagined a soldier might have upon discovering he had just landed on one.

"I'm sorry."

These few words didn't sound adequate enough, they never did. Even if the sympathy was genuine and he regretted bringing up anything to upset the kid, two words weren't quite enough to prevent the bomb from exploding.
Fortunately cats were better at such things. The explosion could happen in the muffled softness Cheddar's fur while he watched on awkwardly from the flower bed, trying to ignore that it had happened at all. He could at least try not to make things more uncomfortable for Clarence by pointing out the tears.

"Basically, yeah... Standard adult cop-out. Do as I say, not as I do."