“I thought so. Well then, I think we’ll start with you, Johnny, since you’re a year older and should know better as the host. Come along then. We might as well go downstairs right now. Billy, you wait here until I send Johnny up to bed.”
With that, Mrs Wilkins got up and took her hapless son by the arm and marched him across the room and down the stairs, this time leaving the basement door ajar. Thus it was possible for Billy to hear everything as they clumped down the stairs. He even heard the chair scrape against the floor as Mrs Wilkins sat down. And he heard every word of the long scolding which followed. Though he could see nothing, he knew Johnny’s pants were being taken down during his scolding. And while Johnny was obviously trying to be brave by avoiding any protests, Billy knew that wouldn’t last long.
