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I'd cook you for Sunday dinner if you weren't so tough!"
    The rooster flies up to a rafter and crows.
    "Don't be so sure of yourself," Aunt Aggie tells him. "There's always the stew pot!"
    Anna runs out of the chicken coop. The hens look

    up from the dirt and regard her with their wicked eyes. Theodore is nowhere in sight.
    Aunt Aggie puts her arm around Anna. "I should have warned you about the rooster, but I didn't dream Theodore would play such a mean trick on you. Just wait till I get my hands on that rascal!"
    Anna tries to stop crying. "Are you going to spank him?" she asks.
    Aunt Aggie scowls. "Why, I suppose I'll leave that up to George."
    Anna brushes away her tears. Although she has never had a paddling herself, she's sure that's just what Theodore deserves.
    "Come inside and sit a spell," Aunt Aggie says. "You look plum tuckered out."
    When Uncle George comes home for noontime dinner, Anna is sitting on the front porch with Aunt Aggie, sipping a glass of lemonade. By now she's almost forgotten her encounter with the rooster, but Aunt Aggie hasn't.
    "Theodore locked Anna in the chicken coop with the rooster," she tells Uncle George. "I think you should give him a spanking."
    Uncle George wipes the sweat off his forehead and takes a glass of lemonade from Aunt Aggie. "You want me to spank the rooster?"
    Anna giggles, but Aunt Aggie looks cross. "You know perfectly well what I mean, George Armiger. Theodore treated Anna very badly. That rooster scared the poor child half to death."
    Uncle George looks around. "Where is Theodore?" he asks.
    "I haven't seen hide nor hair of him all morning," Aunt Aggie says. "Which means he never finished his chores. The garden hasn't been weeded or watered and the eggs haven't been collected."
    Uncle George sighs and sips his lemonade. When he is finished, he hands the empty glass to Aunt Aggie and walks to the porch railing.
    "Theodore!" he shouts. "You come here this minute!"
    Uncle George's voice is so loud it echoes from the side of the barn, but Theodore does not appear.
    Uncle George calls again, even louder this time. The chickens pecking in the yard look up and squawk. Uncle George's dog barks. A crow caws. The rooster crows.
    Finally, Theodore comes creeping out from behind the barn. When he reaches the porch steps, Uncle George grabs his overall straps and lifts Theodore clear off the ground.
    "What is this about the rooster?" he bellows in Theodore's face. "You frightened Anna! Is that the proper way to treat a guest?"
    Giving Theodore a little shake, Uncle George whacks him on the rear end with his big hand. Clap! Theodore winces. Anna winces, too. Maybe it would have been better to spank the rooster, after all.
    "Tell Anna you're sorry," Uncle George orders.
    Theodore hesitates. Uncle George raises his hand again. Without meeting Anna's eyes, Theodore quickly says, "I'm sorry."
    He doesn't sound sorry and he doesn't look sorry, but no one notices this except Anna.
    "Where's my dinner, Aggie?" Uncle George asks. "I'm starved. Spanking a child is mighty hard work."
    After a big meal of corn and ham, Uncle George leans across the table and stares hard at Theodore. "From now on, you'll do your chores by yourself. Anna is our guest. She doesn't have to help you."
    Anna can't help smiling at Theodore. He kicks her under the table. Anna opens her mouth to tell Uncle George, but Theodore gives her such a wicked look she takes another bite of her biscuit instead. There's no telling what Theodore might do the next time she's alone with him.

SIX
Getting Even
    T HAT AFTERNOON, A NNA SITS DOWN IN THE SHADE of a big tree with a book she brought from home, but instead of reading, she watches Theodore work in the garden. The sun beats down on his blond hair. It beats down on the tomato plants and the marigolds. It beats down on the beans and the squash. Theodore looks hot and tired and grumpy.
    It serves him right, Anna thinks.
    Theodore turns his head and catches Anna watching him. He