Thomas looked up at her face and realized that she was serious. If he didn’t start putting away his books, he’d find himself face down across her lap with a bare bottom in the next few minutes. He cast his face downward in surrender and said obediently, “Yes, Mother.”
She watched as he picked up his books and put them back on the shelves of his bookcase, tapping her toe impatiently until he was done. When he had finished, she told him, “If you need anything from the top of your dresser, all you have to do is ask me. Okay, Tommy?”
