Shades of Gray

Will is about to take a midday nap because he does not feel well, but when he goes into his room, he sees Meg and believes she has been reading his letter. He yells at Meg, and Aunt Ella explains to him that Meg had been in his room cleaning and could not have read his letter because she does not know how to read. She reminds him that there has been no school there in years, but he says he assumed Ella taught them how to read like his mother did for his sisters. Aunt Ella explains that Will’s mom had a lot more time than she does, and she had books, which Aunt Ella does not have. He assumes Ella will be relieved to see him leave because she will have less work to do. As Aunt Ella goes out to do Will’s chores, he thinks about how she will also realize—after he leaves—how much work he did. Meg refuses to go into Will’s room to bring him his dinner, so his uncle does. Will is bothered when his uncle tells him to apologize because he was already planning on doing so. Will burns his letter, and his uncle tells him that everyone, except possibly Will, will have forgotten about the incident by the next day.