Francis' New Clothes

Puck and Collette joined Mom and Francis on the road that morning to assist Francis in picking out a new wardrobe. Francis had grown so much, that the length of his pants could never keep up with him. To his relief, the shopping was kept brief, and he left Kohl’s with a pair of jeans, kahkis, two polos in bright blue stripes and emerald green, two short-sleeved collared shirts, two tees, and one long-sleeved collared shirt.
“Gah!” he exclaimed. “I hate tucking my shirt in!”
“Well, you’re going to have to at church from now on, young man,” Mom insisted. “Dad says you have to.”
Dad was still one of the very few men at church, other than the pastor, who continued to wear a suit to church every Sunday. Collette wished that more people dressed up for church. There was another level of respect about it.
While at Kohl’s, Collette saw a girl she had not seen in five years since her geography class at college. She was a cashier on the other aisle. The communist who had worked at Paul’s Donuts.
Meanwhile, Mom and Dad had dropped off Carrie at Starbucks that morning with Shepherd and Malaya for their ten-hour drive to Mises U.
“Why did I actually think a whole week of lectures sounded fun?” Carrie asked herself earlier that week.