She’d formed a tent of sorts, with pillows and blankets and hoped no one could spy her beneath it. Her mother had forbidden her to get out of her bed, but she never said a word about her drawing beneath the covers. She was sent to bed early, just after supper, as a punishment for her behavior this afternoon—all because Sophie had gone out to play with the boys, had dirtied her dress, and had, in her mother’s estimation, ruined the entire picnic. But Sophie didn’t understand why it should ruin everyone else’s day just because her dress was dirty. Jonny and Harlan had both been dirty too, but no one seemed to care. Anyway, she didn’t like to have to sit on a blanket at every picnic just so her dress would stay clean. It made her feel like one of those tarts in a baker’s window, getting stale and yucky while waiting for someone to come eat them! Her mother’s friends had no little girls, and Sophie always sat alone. She didn’t like it one bit! She wanted to run and play like the boys did.
