Now Billy was sixteen and returning for another two month summer vacation with Johnny and his mother. As he unpacked his things in their room, Billy remembered a story he had overheard Mrs Wilkins tell his mother just a year before when she had stopped by for tea. Apparently Mrs Wilkins had gone shopping an hour earlier and had told Johnny not to play stickball near the house. When she returned with the groceries, the first thing she saw was a broken window. Inside was a note from Johnny apologizing and explaining that he was off to the hardware store to get a new pane of glass. Billy remembered overhearing Mrs Wilkins tell his mother, “Imagine playing ball near the house when I expressly told him not to. And then thinking he could get away with it simply by fixing the window.
Mrs Wilkins91
