This story followed one of the basic patterns in the Little Lulu comics:
1: Something is missing or damaged.
2: Lulu is blamed and spanked, usually by her mother.
3: Lulu's innocence is proven, too late, most often by her friend Tubby as The Spider. (It is almost always Lulu's father who is the culprit.)
4: The parent apologizes; Lulu forgives.
Now, in this particular story, which I haven't read in years, and whose name I don't remember, Mrs. Moppet (Lulu's mother) and Tubby are in the Moppets' kitchen; Lulu is not at home. A cake which Mrs. Moppet had baked for a cake sale is missing, and, of course, Mrs. Moppet blames Lulu, and says that she doesn't spank Lulu very often (excuse me?) but this time she really deserves it.
Meanwhile, she makes another cake.
Lulu comes in, and her mother asks what happened to the cake; Lulu says, "I took it, Mother."
"Come here!" orders Mrs. Moppet."
"But, Mother..."
"I won't listen to a single word. Come here!"
This, in my opinion, was a mistake on Mrs. Moppet's part, a mistake which parents make all too often in real life.
Mrs. Moppet spanks Lulu.
Lulu: "BAW!!!!!"
Tubby: "G-gosh"
After the spanking, Mrs. Moppet scolds Lulu, "You knew good and well that cake was for the Ladies' Bake Sale."
"I know, Mother. That's where I took it."
Lulu explains that someone had called and told her that they had a customer who wanted Mrs. Moppet's cake, so Lulu took it over. Of course, Mrs. Moppet is sorry that she spanked Lulu unjustly, and, of course, the customer turns out to be Lulu's father.
In other words, the usual pattern. So why does this particular story annoy me?
Because all Lulu would have had to do would be to write a note telling her mother where she had taken the cake, and why. Then, in keeping with the unfair-spanking pattern, the note could have fallen someplace and not have been seen until too late.
Sorry, Lulu, but it WAS partly your own fault for not leaving a note.
