and if he screwed up-if the baby shat her didies after the sitter went home and the mess was still in them when mom got home ... if he forgot to cross megan on the broad street corner after her nursery school got out and that nosy mrs gant saw ... if he happened to be watching american bandstand while joey made a mess in the kitchen ... if any of those things or a thousand others happened ... then , after the smaller children were in bed , the spanking stick would come out and she would call the invocation : come here , tommy .