The womenfolk had spent all day paring apples, threading them on strings preparing to dry them for the winter. Even Mrs. Lapham looked tired. The lazy apprentice bursting in, happy for the first time in two months, irritated her. Then she saw his new shoes.
'Johnny Tremain,' she cried, 'what have you been up to?'
'What?'
'You wicked, wicked boy! Oh, I declare, you are going to bring disgrace on us all.'
He did not understand.
'Them shoes!' she roared. 'You never got them honestly. You've taken to thieving. I'm going to tell your master. He'll call a constable and then see if you darest not tell where you stole them. You've just gone from worse to worse. Your going to get whipped for this - set in the stocks. Your going to jail. You'll end up on the gallows.'
This passage reminds me of an incident that included my brother losing his retainer. He blamed me, though I never even touched the case. When my mother started to believe him, I began to get irritated. I'd had a retainer before; they're no fun. So why would I want another one? That's right... I wouldn't want another one.
And the ending to that story is that he pushed it off the top of his dresser and it landed in a drawer, which he closed later. Problem solved. Basically, I was blamed for something I did not do, just as Johnny was.
That's all for now, folks!
~Cassie
