Joshua sat back as he saw Adam stop Sally's tantrum with a few words.

"I don't know what to do, Ben. I don't know how to do what Adam does."

"Joshua, did you notice how well behaved Sally was at the table tonight?"

"Of course she was well behaved." He said in an exasperated voice. "She was spanked this afternoon and was afraid that I was going to spank her again."

"Regardless of the reason, she ate her dinner without complaints about the size or shape things were cut into. She even finished everything on her plate. That was a huge improvement from yesterday when we had lunch and she wanted triangular pieces and it was even an improvement over today's lunch when she would only eat chocolate cake." Ben explained patiently.

"Granted," Joshua said hesitantly.

"So, Adam would have noticed and commented on that if it had been Lizzie. He would have made a special point of it if she had just been punished. I suspect that if he is true to form, he will mention to Lizzie all the things she did right today. You and I had fathers who felt it was their job to point out when we had misbehaved and bring us up short. I brought my boys up that way too. I felt my job was to keep them on the straight and narrow. When they did as they should, I didn't feel that any comment was necessary, they were just supposed to know that I was pleased. Adam makes sure Lizzie knows that he has noticed her behaving well by telling her." Ben paused. He didn't want his friend to feel like he was lecturing him. He smiled an embarrassed smile, shrugged and asked, "If I may be so bold as to go on?"

"Yes, Ben. I would appreciate any advice that you can give me." Joshua folded his arms across his chest. He found himself getting a bit defensive, but he reminded himself that he had asked for the advice.

"He also tells her how he wants her to behave. He just did that with Sally. He told her no tantrums if she doesn't win and got her to agree. I think you'll get a lot farther with Sally if you do the same thing. Compliment her when she behaves and tell her ahead of time how you hope she'll act, without the threat of punishment. Like I said earlier in the store, all of this is new to her. She doesn't know what you expect from her since you are treating her differently than she is used to being treated. Give her a little bit of time to mind you; she has eight years of having her own way to overcome." He paused. "Talk to Adam, I think he can probably give you some idea of things that have worked with Lizzie."

Joshua nodded. "I'll try…so what do I do now?"

"Tonight when you tuck her into bed, tell her you forgive her for stealing and that you love her and right now, I think you need to go in the house and try to beat everyone at Chinese checkers." Ben pointed in the house.

"I don't usually get involved at bedtime. Ruth does all that."

"Well, tonight you should start. Read her a story, rock her to sleep, do something that will let her know that she's forgiven and you are starting fresh; you don't hold grudges. She's been punished. Let her know it's over. Now, go sit next to her and play."

Joshua stared out into the yard for a long moment, then stood up and walked into the house.

"What does a grandpa have to do to get in on a Chinese checkers game?" He asked in an overly cheerful voice.

Ben peered in the window and watched Joshua grab a pillow. He winced as he watched Joshua settle slowly and painfully down on the floor next to Sally. He nodded to himself. It was a good start.

"Well, Mr. Brown, if you are in the mood for a sound trouncing, I'll be finished with these two in just a minute." Adam teased, gesturing at the girls.

"You haven't won yet, Papa. Sally and I both have only one more marble to move. You have two."

"You doubt my abilities?" He clutched his chest dramatically.

Everyone laughed and in the end, Lizzie won the game.

Adam sent a quick glance towards Sally before saying, "Well, I can be a gracious loser. How about you, Sally?" He reached over and rubbed her back.

Congratulations, Lizzie," said Sally and looked up at Adam. He met her eyes warmly, nodded and smiled. "Well, I demand a rematch and Mr. Brown wants to play."

Joshua could hardly believe what had just happened: Sally had lost a game and not thrown a fit. She had even congratulated Lizzie. He would hardly hold back all the questions that were forming in his mind to ask Adam.

Two games later with a win for both Adam and Sally, Adam announced it was bedtime. Lizzie stood up and reached for Adam's hand.

Ruth also stood and took Sally's hand, "Bedtime for you too, Sally," she said.

"I wanna stay up," she whined.

"Sally," Joshua growled, but after meeting a slight frown from Adam he softened his voice and said, "Go upstairs and I'll be up in a bit to read you a story." He reached onto the table and picked up Lizzie's book of fairy tales.

"But…" Lizzie started.

I'm sorry, Lizzie, were you reading this book?" He held it out to her.

"It's fine, Joshua. Lizzie has lots of other books we can read from, isn't that true, Lizzie?" Adam looked down at her sternly.

Recognizing the look that Adam was giving her, she replied sadly, "Yes."

Joshua sat on the couch as Ruth and Adam took the girls upstairs. He leafed through the book trying to find a story that both he and Sally would enjoy. Many of them he didn't recognize. He couldn't remember ever having read to Ruth when she was a child. He thought maybe he should be grateful he was getting a second chance with Sally. After finding just the right story, he walked up the stairs, leafing through the book and wondering about maybe trying different voices for the characters.

As he was passing Lizzie's room he heard her say, "I shouldn't have gone down to the river today." Joshua stopped to listen through the cracked door.

"You're right, you shouldn't have."

"I really just wanted to see the flood."

"Then why didn't you ask? I probably could have found a way to show you the river safely." Joshua watched Adam through the crack in the door as Adam smoothed Lizzie's hair.

"I didn't mean to be bad. I'm sorry I disobeyed you and you had to spank me. I don't like being spanked." Lizzie said in an embarrassed voice.

"Well, we did hit a bit of a rough patch, that's true, but you weren't bad, just naughty. You're a smart girl. You'll learn from the spanking. You aren't going to make those same mistakes again, right? You'll tell someone where you are going and you'll mind me when I say no."

"I'll be a good girl," Lizzie promised, nodding.

"You are already a good girl. You did lots of things I was really proud of today. You apologized to Sally and you accepted her apology. You helped Hop Sing can the vegetables. You didn't give me a hard time about riding Beauty into town instead of taking Blaze. You tried gumbo. You didn't fight with Sally over the candy and tonight you even let her play Chinese checkers with us."

"I felt sorry for her," Lizzie said. "I think her grandpa spanked her," she whispered, putting her hand up to her mouth like she was telling a secret.

"Maybe," Adam said thoughtfully. "It was still very kind of you to let her play considering how she has acted towards you. You were forgiving and compassionate. Those are both very good qualities to have and I am proud that you are my daughter. Now let's see what kind of story we can find for tonight." Joshua heard Adam stand and not wanting to be caught listening in the hallway, he went to Sally's room. Ben was right, he thought. He made a mental list of the things Sally had done right today.

"Ready for a story?" He asked finding Sally in bed. "Ruth, why don't you say goodnight now and I'll read Sally a story and put out the light."

"Alright, Pa." Ruth said hesitantly. "Good night, Sally. See you in the morning." She leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.

"Night, Mama," Sally said quietly. She looked up at her grandpa with some trepidation. She wasn't sure if he was still angry at her. She was afraid that he might spank her for not wanting to go to bed.

Ruth shared Sally's concerns, but slowly left the room, looking over her shoulder.

Joshua sat on the bed and then used his hip to slide Sally over. Leaving the book in his lap he put an arm around her shoulders.

"You did a good job at dinner tonight," he said, keeping his eyes focused on the book in his lap.

"Huh?" Asked Sally, looking up at him.

"Tonight," he said lamely. "You ate everything on your plate and didn't complain. Good girl," Joshua patted her arm stiffly twice before taking his arm from around her and reaching for the book.

"I thought I would read you the story of the Two Sisters. Lizzie is letting us use her fairy tale book tonight." He launched into the story quickly to cover his uncomfortableness and decided against trying any voices tonight.

TBC