May 22, 2022:
"Children are to be seen, not heard." Hillbilly manifesto of family values.
She abandoned him to boredom deliberately. Proof to her Cinderella family that she wished to be included.
There are no libraries in Montana? They and she could have provided resources. If nothing else she could have pre-mailed a week's worth of Hardy Boys.
Instead she told him, very seriously, in one of those adult-to-offspring straight-in-the-eye moments of stagey sincerity: "These people believe that children are to be seen, not heard. No-one will pay attention to you while we're there. You'll have to be patient, and you'll have to behave. It's only one week. Things will go back to normal when we're home."