It was already four o’clock when Ron left Anne’s house. Anne called Mr. Johnson to explain her lateness at the drugstore as due to an emergency. It was indeed an emergency, she thought, but she hated to break her promise to be there on time.
Ron was at a loss for a place to go. He had wanted to spend the afternoon with Anne, but they couldn’t talk while she was waiting on customers at Mr. Johnson’s fountain. Home wouldn’t do, either, because he didn’t want to explain to his mother about the invitation from Clonar without his father present.
He didn’t know exactly how to break the news to his parents. He would have preferred telling his father alone, first, but his mother would be hurt. There was really only one way of doing it, he supposed—tell them at the same time. Dinnertime was as go
