Ruthy kept one book as her real notebook, and one that would be her test one. She found a loose panel in her wardrobe she could put the real one in and left the test one under her pillow. At first in the pretend one she wrote just ordinary accounts of what was happening. This was to set the scene of the crime and to give us time to work out our strategy for the trap.

We invited Anne King to join us behind the store shed between the Memorial Meeting and Sunday school to work out what Ruthy should write as bait. Each of us agreed to think hard about it all week and to come up with at least three good ideas. Here are the ideas we pooled.

Caleb’s list:

– Brother Hodgeson smells like poo

– Brother Hodgeson breaks wind all the time

– Brother Hodgeson is a big burper

We said thank you very much to Caleb, because he had tried very hard, but we didn’t think any of these would get the reaction we were seeking. Caleb said he didn’t mind. But he was pretty sure his points would be right anyway because Brother Hodgeson had the look of a burper.

Anne’s list:

– Sister Hodgeson’s cooking is making Ruthy ill

– There are hundreds of cockroaches living under the bathroom carpet

– Ruthy would like to watch Bandstand with Mr Brian Henderson

We agreed that the Bandstand idea should be on the short list, because they seemed so eager to please Ruthy. They didn’t watch it, and if they suddenly turned it on or asked if she’d like to see it, we knew we’d be on to something.

Ruthy’s list:

– Aunty Maisie says Sister Hodgeson is vain and a terrible cook

– Aunty Maisie says she wants to pick Ruthy up from the Hodgesons’ and keep her at Aunty Maisie’s place because the Hodgesons are spoiling her

– Aunty Maisie is going to make Ruthy leave behind all the clothes and presents the Hodgesons have given her when it’s time to go home

We congratulated Ruthy for this set. It was clever to use Aunty Maisie, who was like a Christadelphian army general, to lure the Hodgesons into a trap. The trouble was, even if they were brave enough to mention any of these ideas to Aunty Maisie, it might all be kept from us, so we might not know what effect we had had.

I waited patiently until we’d worked through all the other lists because, as Dad used to say, you’re not a leader if there’s no one following you. In the past, when the others had refused to participate in my plays, or to do marching drills to the records in the backyard, Dad had said my problem was that I just ran very fast in front of people rather than taking them with me. He said I had to work more on my psychology. I had to walk back to where people were, take them by the hand and lead them to the new place, listening to them first to work out what story would work for them, instead of just imposing my view.