MA!” Eight-year-old Jeremy Tanner ran into the dress shop where his mother was pinning up the hem on a new dress intended for the Fourth of July picnic for one of her best clients, Miss Priscilla Bishop. “Jeremy, I am not deaf! I can hear you.” Abigail smiled at her youngest child. “Please say ‘good afternoon’ to Miss Bishop.” Jeremy knew his Ma was a stickler for manners, so he took off his hat and smiled at the elderly spinster. “Good afternoon, Miss Bishop.” Priscilla smiled warmly. “Good afternoon, Master Jeremy. Now tell us what has you so excited on this fine day,” she invited. She loved bearing the latest news to all her friends, and the little redhead was just brimming with something exciting to tell Abigail. “We got real trouble, Ma!” Jeremy couldn’t restrain himself another second, even though he was pretty sure this was one of those times his Ma would call ‘personal’, and not for Miss Bishop’s ears. “What kind of trouble, Jeremy?”
