98: Big Day

“Peter, please, sit down and eat your breakfast,” Evelyn said, catching the boy by the arm as he attempted to dart past her and away from the dining table. “You’re going to make everyone late, or you’ll be hungry at school.”

“But I forgot to put Lofty on the plants! He’ll be hungry!”

“Then you’d best sit down and eat quickly so you can remedy that.” Despite his prying fingers, she held him firmly.

“It’ll only take a second to get him,” the boy argued.

“Peter,” Andrew rose from his seat at the head of the table, giving the boy a stern look down his straight, narrow nose. “Sit down at once like your mother told you.”

“But Father—.”

Andrew shook his head. “Absolutely not. Sit and eat, or you’ll spend the weekend without Lofty. Do I make myself clear?”

It was a harsher consequence than Evelyn preferred to inflict, particularly for such a minor infraction, but she had to admit, the threat got Peter to yield.

After a fashion.

Returning to his seat, he plunked into it heavily, crossi