บท 16: Chapter 16

The door opened and Mr. Fenton popped his head around. “Are you going to find your mother?”

Christy nodded. “Yes. I need to make sure that she is safe.”

“Eat first.” He disappeared and Christy listened to his hesitant step as he made his way down the staircase. Christy followed and went into the shop expecting it to by busy again, but the door seemed tobe still locked.

“Are we still closed?” he said.

Mr. Fenton frowned and nodded. “Until we decide what to do, yes.”

“You can’t close two days before Christmas,” Christy said, feeling agitated.

“I can pretty well do what I like. One of the benefits of owning one’s business.”

“I know you can, but should you?” Christy was imagining all the lost sales, all because of him and grew quite agitated.

“Christy. This is a crisis. When in a crisis a man needs space to think. Now sit down, eat your pie, anddrink some tea. A man also needs a full belly to deal with a crisis otherwise his judgement may be impaired. Badly.”