Caught in the Act Read Online Free Page A

him, shouting, "Papa! Come quickly! Mike threw the pie on the floor!"
    Mr. and Mrs. Friedrich rushed back into the room. Marta appeared in the door to the kitchen, her eyes wide and startled.
    Mike glared at Gunter, but he wasn't going to be a snitch. "It was an accident," Mike said. "Gunter saw what happened. I—I dropped the plate. I didn't mean to."
    "It wasn't an accident!" Gunter said. "Mike thought that I had left the room, but I was watching. He threw the pie on the floor on purpose!"
    "No, I didn't!" Mike cried. "Why would I?"
    "He's a bad boy. Papa. Now he's calling me a liar," Gunter complained.
    Mr. Friedrich shook his head sadly. "You have made a bad start here, Michael, and I had such hopes for you. I see that turning you from your former evil ways is going to be much harder than I had thought."
    This was more than Mike could stand. "I'm not evil!" he shouted. "I didn't throw the pie plate on the floor. I'm sorry that I dropped it, and I'm sorry the plate is broken, but I didn't do what Gunter said I did."
    Mr. Friedrich took a firm grip on Mike's arm. "We will go out to the bam, where I keep a leather strap," he said.
    "Oh, Hans! No!" Mrs. Friedrich whimpered. "This is

    only his first day!" Behind her back, where only Mike could see him, Gunter's smirk turned into a broad grin.
    "A good beating will help Michael to learn how to behave," Mr. Friedrich said to his wife. *Trust me, Irma. I know now how to handle a boy like Michael."
    Mike, his arm aching from Mr. FYiedrich's tight grip, had to run to keep up with the man's long stride. He was sick with fear, and hot, angry tears ran down his cheeks. "Oh, Ma," he sobbed, "Ma!" even though he knew there was no way that his mother could hear or help him.

    Mike woke with a start the next morning to a loud thump on his door. "Out of bed! Quickly now! We will have no lazy boys lying about when there's work to be done!" Mr. Friedrich called.
    Mike tried to jump out of bed, but he grabbed the bedstead for support, groaning as pain throbbed through the raised welts on his back and legs. The memory of the beating returned with a rush, and his eyes blurred with tears. He'd never been hit like that before. Occasionally he'd felt the sharp tap of a swell's walking stick or the flick of a cabbie's whip when he'd darted in someone's way, and he was used to the threats of bullies, but he'd always been able to outsmart them.
    What was he going to do now?
    He raised his head and brushed the tears from his face. **Mike, my lad," he said to himself, "you'll have to think sharp and fast, because it's sure that

    you'll not be accepting another beating like that ever again."
    The moon had gone down, but it was still far too early for the sun to rise. Darkness pressed against the window. Mike, his eyes accustomed to the dimness, did not light the lamp. He poured water from the pitcher to the basin and splashed his eyes well. He didn't want them to know that he'd been crying. Wincing with each movement, he managed to dry his hands and face and pull on his clothes. He ran his comb through his hair, and in just a few minutes clattered down the stairs.
    He ran toward the lights in the dining room, stopping abruptly just inside the door. Already the Friedrichs were eating.
    Mrs. Friedrich patted at her mouth with her napkin and gave Mike a timid smile, but Mr. Friedrich, without raising his head, said, "After this, if you are late, you will eat in the kitchen with Marta and Reuben. For now, sit down quickly.''
    Mike hurried to his chair and put his napkin on his lap. Marta bustled into the room and placed in front of him a plate of sausages, ham slices, biscuits, hot fried apples, and two eggs, which stared at him like a pair of golden eyes.
    *Thanks," Mike whispered to Marta and eagerly reached for his fork. The soreness in his body didn't keep him from being hungry.
    But a large hand came down over his, and Mr. Friedrich glowered. "That one word was your prayer?"
    "No, sir," Mike said. "I