Smiley Tie - 4

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"Where'd she go?"

"She always hides in closets when she's in trouble," Joseph told him.

"Anton!" The roar came from downstairs.

"Through there, I'll bet," Joseph pointed to the nearest open door.

"Go find her, both of you."

"Don't make me come up there!" The bellow from below made Herman stop in his tracks, but Joseph kept moving.

"Lordy, you're in trouble now, Mr. Anton. I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes for nothing."

"Well, I'm not even in my shoes am I?" Yellow smiley faces beamed up from his stocking feet. He wiggled his toes and watched Herman grin.

"She won't come out!" Joseph hissed from the doorway.

"Then we'll come in! Herman, help me grab the plates and cups."

With Herman's help, Anton erased the evidence of their presence. He quietly closed the door behind them, finding himself in one of many unused guest rooms. He'd never hidden in a closet before, and there was slim chance his father would have all the rooms searched. If they could hold out long enough for things to die down, he could get the kids out without anyone other than Gertie being the wiser that they were here. Gertie and Celia. Celia would be too petrified of losing her job, and Gertie…

Gertie would do the right thing. Which worried him just a bit. Because at the moment, Anton wasn't quite sure what was the right thing to do.

Pauline's sob changed all that.

"Joseph, tell her it's okay."

"I have. She won't listen. You'll have to talk to her."

"Okay. Back me up, boys."

Anton made his way to the back corner of the closet where Pauline was huddled behind some winter coats that shouldn't have been there.

"Sweetie, it's okay. It was an accident."

"But, but you were so nice, and it was all so perfect, and now you're in trouble and it's all my fault. I am so, so sorry." She punctuated the sentence with another sob.

"Pauline, honey, I was in trouble when I ran over Herman, remember?"

"Oh, but it was nothing like this."

"Listen, I can handle it. I know my father. He and I don't see eye to eye, but we have our words and it's done. Nothing horrible will happen, especially not to you or Joseph or Herman. I promise. But you do have to do one thing for me, okay?"

"Anything, Mr. Anton. Anything at all." There was fresh hope in her tear-filled eyes.

"You have to promise me that when you look back on tonight, and you start to think about the bad parts, you'll push those thoughts away and think about the good stuff instead."

Her face fell. "Okay."

"And…"

"And?" The hope was back. He could tell she was looking for something to do to make it right for him.

"And you'll be doing me a favor if you don't tell anyone you were here tonight. I'm going to shuttle you out through the kitchen again, and then I want the three of you to go back to doing whatever it was you had planned for tonight as though you were never here. Understood?"

"But Mr. Anton, it was my fault!"

"Pauline I need you to promise. If I accidentally spilled cake, it's one thing. If I sneaked three children in to watch and then spilled cake too, then there's more to answer for. Do you understand?"

She thought about it like she was trying, but wasn't totally convinced. In the background, Anton caught sound of the band starting up again. Things were settling back to normal apparently.

"So do you promise?" he asked Pauline.
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Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting episode of Smiley Tie.

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