“It was just a joke,” his father said.
“That’s all it was, Mary,” Uncle Ted said.
“He just meant it for a joke,” his father and Aunt Kate said together.
“Well, its a pretty poor kind of a joke, if you ask me,” his mother said, “violating a little boy’s trust.”
“Why, Mary, he’s got to learn what to believe and what not to,” Uncle Ted said, and Aunt Kate nodded and put her hand on Uncle Ted’s knee. “Gotta learn common sense.”
“He’s got plenty of comon sense,” his mother flashed. “He’s a very bright child indeed, if you must know. But he’s been brought up to trust older people when they tell him something. Not be suspicious of everybody. And so he trusted you. Because he likes you, Ted. Doesn’t that make you ashamed?”
“Come on, Mary, cut it out,” his father said.
“But Mary, you wouldn’t think anybody’d believe what I said about the cheese,” Uncle Ted said.
“Well you certainly expected him to believe it,” she said, with fury, “otherwise why’d you ever say it?”
Uncle Ted looked puzzled, and his father said, trying to laugh, “Reckon she cornered you there, Ted,” and Uncle Ted smiled uncomfortably and said, “I guess that’s so.”
“Of course it’s so,” his mother blazed, though his father frowned at her and said “Ssh!”
