Erin was getting increasingly desperate. She was in time-out, which meant sitting in the laundry room, a room her mother had picked because there was nothing interesting in it, and the door squeaked, so she couldn’t sneak out. The length of the time out varied depending on whatever her stepmother thought she had done. Sometimes Mary didn’t even give a reason for her to sit in time out; she apparently just decided that “the girl” needed to understand her place. This particular sentence was one of those, and she’d been given three hours.
She checked the watch she’d previously hidden behind the dryer. She had half an hour to go. If nothing else she couldn’t complain that Mary wasn’t punctual; if the punishment was for three hours, she would be let out in exactly three hours.