?


    "Didn''t I tell you before we left? Behave yourself, don''t go grabbing stuff that isn''t yours. Goes in one ear and out the other, doesn''t it?! Hand it over, now! You must be sick of living, itching for a taste of juvie, huh? You disobedient little brat-"


    Martha was swift in her reprimand, scolding right after the p.


    Everyone was too stunned to react.


    The kid was dazed.


    The woman and the man were dumbfounded.


    Even Roseanne stood frozen in ce.


    "Wahh-Grandma hit me! Waaaaah-"


    The troublemaker finally reacted, bursting into real, undiluted tears.


    "I didn''t take it! I don''t even know where the stuff is!"


    "Say that one more time? See if I don''t tan your hide!" Martha was both angry and scared.


    "I won''t say! I won''t!"


    "That''ll teach you to disobey! That''ll teach you to take things! Hand it over, right now!" Martha got serious, aiming a flurry of ps at the kid''s rear.


    The man and the woman tried to intervene, with persuasion and pulling, but to no avail.


    "You old witch-how dare you hit me why aren''t you dead yet?!"


    Martha was so incensed she nearly passed out.


    Finally, a police officer stepped in, and Martha stopped her punishment.


    But the child was subdued, sniffling and fishing out a stack of documents from under the couch.


    Officer: "Miss Roseanne, could you check these?"


    Roseanne confirmed the documents were correct and nodded: "Yes, this is the report."


    "That''s good then."


    Roseanne secured the files and turned to the child''s parents: "My door was locked. He climbed in through the window. We''re talking a drop from the second floor, at least thirty feet, right? Did you ever stop to think what could happen if such a small child fell? We wouldn''t be talking about documents then, but a life!"


    The parents went pale.


    And the child, too ashamed to lift his head.


    That evening, Martha and her family packed up to leave for their vige.


    Considering it waste, Norris even offered to let them stay the night and leave in the morning.


    Martha just sighed: "Norris, your family are all good people, not like your mother... Better watch out from now on..."


    With that, she led her family away.Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    Norris scrunched his eyebrows, trying to figure out who he should be watching out for.


    ...


    That night, Roseanne and her family finally got a good night''s sleep.


    The next morning, Madge hired three cleaners to help tidy up the house. After a morning''s work, the ce was spotless, inside and out.


    After breakfast, Roseanne decided


    to take a stroll and remembered private bookstore on West Street where she found a rare, first-edition book rted to her field.


    Unfortunately, the owner wouldn''t sell it; she could only read it there but had to leave before she finished.


    Today was the perfect day to finish what she started.


    However, after searching the store twice, the book was nowhere to be found.


    She asked the store manager.


    Manager: "Oh, that book? It was sold yesterday."


    Roseanne: "But wasn''t it part of the owner''s private collection, not for sale?"


    The manager nodded: "It was, but the buyer was a friend of the owner, someone he owed his life to. The owner personally decided to sell it to him. I''m sorry."


    Roseanne waved off the apology, but her disappointment was palpable.


    Unbeknownst to her, it had started to rain outside.


    l


    After browsing a while longer without finding another rare gem, she sighed and prepared to leave. But as she nced through the floor-to-ceiling windows, she noticed the rain hadn''t let up, trapping her inside.


    n


    Great.


    Just then, her gazended on a man taking shelter from the rain outside the bookstore.