She turned to Elizabeth and asked her to take charge of her grocery cart. Then, she placed her hand firmly on Josh’s shoulder, and led him and the second grocery cart out the automatic doors and headed towards the family station wagon.
When all the shopping bags had been loaded into the back of their car, everyone took a seat. Josh, who would normally have sat in the back with Elizabeth, found himself seated in the front, between his mom and Janet. While Mrs Johnston fumbled with her keys, Josh could hear the twins and Elizabeth whispering in the back seat. He knew they were discussing him, and were secretly pondering, among themselves, what kind of punishment Josh would get when they got home.