I absolutely loved Mrs. Johnson berating her son when Vicki screamed. "What did you do to her?" Now does that bring back memories or what? When I was in grade school back then, and the nuns slapped us, we did not dare go home and tell our parents, especially our mothers. They would have the same reaction as Mrs. J: "Well, what did you do that Sister had to slap you?" Our mothers would then give us the business about embarrassing them, making them appear as bad mothers, and then THEY would slap us. Today, if a teacher dared to slap a kid, even if the kid was burning down the school, the parents would do some slapping: they'd slap the teacher, the school, the school district and the entire Department of Education with a lawsuit.
Gerard