The Middle Moffat (7 page)

Jane watched Nancy paint the paper-doll horse. Yes, she thought, there were two things she wanted to do like Nancy. One was to be brave the way she was, and the other was to laugh the way she did. Of course, once she learned to laugh that way she would have to be careful not to do so in front of Mrs. Stokes, because she didn't seem to like it.

"How's that?" Nancy asked, holding her horse up again.

"It's good," said Jane.

Mrs. Stokes came into Nancy's room again, looking for the scissors.

"Mother," Nancy said, "may Jane stay to dinner?"

Jane squirmed her toes around in her shoes again. Maybe Mrs. Stokes wouldn't want her to stay for dinner. She might not have bought enough dinner for an extra person. But how could she say no with Jane sitting right there? She wished Nancy had arranged this when she was not around.

However, Mrs. Stokes said "Of course" so cordially she must really want her to stay.

"And perhaps Janey will spend the evening with you, because Father and I are going to the concert at Woolsey Hall," she added.

"I'll ask Mama," said Jane. And she ran home.

Mama said it was all right and Jane put on a clean guimpe under her suspender dress. She wondered how the other Moffats liked it when she went away to dinner. Just three of them and Mama at the table. Jane remembered when Sylvie was away at Camp Lincoln it was very lonely. But then, when she, Janey, was at the Stokeses', she was only over the back fence, no distance at all.

She climbed up on the back fence now to wait a little while, for it was not yet six o'clock. She was glad she was going to have dinner with the Stokeses, and she hoped that they would have Iamb chops. She hoped they would have lamb chops, because she saw that Olga, the maid, was there today. The Stokeses did not have a maid all the time. Just once in a while. Jane had been to dinner once when they had had lamb chops, but Olga had not been there. Another time when Olga had been there, they had not had lamb chops. They had had fish. Today Jane prayed there would be both lamb chops and Olga. Why? Because she wanted to show Mrs. Stokes she knew a lot about manners.

Mama had taught all the Moffats a lot about manners. For instance, always let the older people speak first. Jane did that. Also, if you were having dinner in a house where there was a maid, and there were lamb chops for dinner, you should not accept a second lamb chop if it were the last one left on the platter after everybody had had one. Because that chop was for the maid, and if you took it and ate it, the maid would have none.

So far this had not happened to Jane. She did hope that tonight they would have Iamb chops so she could show them she knew about not eating the last chop.

The way Mama had found out about the last lamb chop was this. When she was about the size of Jane, she was visiting a friend in the Berkshires. In this house there was a maid. One night there were lamb chops for dinner. Everybody had a chop and ate it. On the platter there was one chop left. Everybody was offered this chop and refused. Then it was offered to Mama. Mama was still hungry, for the Berkshires made you very hungry. So she had accepted the chop and had eaten it.

Afterward her friend's mother had told her that when there is one chop left on the plate, it is for the maid. Otherwise what would the maid have to eat? Didn't Mama want the maid to have a lamb chop, too? Naturally, Mama felt very badly. So she had always told all her four children never to eat the last lamb chop if there were a maid in the kitchen.

Olga was there tonight, in the Stokeses' kitchen. Jane could see her head in the little window over the kitchen sink. Well, Olga needn't worry. Janey was coming to dinner. But Jane would not eat Olga's chop.

The six o'clock whistle blew. Janey jumped off the fence. She went into the Stokeses' house. If only they had chops!

Everybody sat down around the shiny round table in the dining room. Mrs. Stokes sat opposite Mr. Stokes. Beatrice sat on one side. And Nancy and Jane, best friends, sat on the other side.

First they had vegetable soup. They ate this all right. There probably was a big kettle of soup on the stove, plenty for Olga and everybody. Even so, when Mrs. Stokes asked Jane if she would like some more soup, she said, "No, thank you," because she knew the real dinner had not commenced yet. When there was vegetable soup at home, the Moffats always had a second plateful, because there the vegetable soup was the real dinner.

So then Olga brought in the warm dinner plates. And next she brought in a steaming platter. She stood beside Mrs. Stokes to serve her first. Of course, Jane did not look at the platter immediately lest she give the impression that she was greedy or too hungry. After a second or two she permitted her eyes to fall upon the platter.
Oh, I do hope it's lamb chops,
she thought.

It was lamb chops!

Olga and lamb chops!

Both!

However, Janey's first feeling of pleasure gave way immediately to one of perplexity.

There were only five chops on the platter. The four Stokeses and Olga made five. And she made six. If this were like the time Mama ate the second lamb chop in the Berkshires, there should be six chops on the platter.

But there were only five. Of course, four of them were for the four Stokeses. That would leave just one on the platter. Should she take it or leave it for Olga? Mrs. Stokes had taken hers and now there were four. Olga moved around the table and stood beside Beatrice.

When Mama took the last chop that time, she had already eaten one. Now Jane had not eaten one so far. Goodness! What was she going to do? Beatrice helped herself to one without batting an eyelash.
Maybe Mr. Stokes does not like chops,
thought Jane, as Olga moved around to his side of the table. But this was not the case. He took his chop without any urging from anybody. And that left two chops. Nancy quickly helped herself to one of these, and then Olga stood beside Jane with the big platter, all empty now except for one big juicy lamb chop.

For her? Or for Olga?

Olga stood there. Janey glued her eyes on the chop. All the four Stokeses sat with their hands in their laps while Janey thought. For her? Or for Olga?

If she took the chop and ate it, Mrs. Stokes might say to her, the way Mama's friend had when she was little, "When there is only one chop on the plate, it is for the maid."

But then Mama had already had one.

She and Olga might divide this one. Share and share alike, the way the Moffats did. But it is hard to cut a Iamb chop in two.

Everybody was very quiet. They must be wondering what she was going to do. She wished she knew. Perhaps Olga had kept hers in the kitchen. Maybe she wasn't going to take any chances with a girl like Janey, thinking she might be like Mama in the Berkshires and eat two.

She wished she could say right out, "Is this my chop or Olga's?"

Pooh! Of course this was her chop, and she reached her hand toward the platter.... But then ... and she drew her hand back ... maybe this was a test of her manners. That thought persisted.

But wait ... here was another thought. If Nancy came to dinner in the Moffats' house, of course they would make

sure she had a chop. It was different in the Moffats' house, though. There they would all be sitting around the kitchen table ... too cold in the dining room ... and everybody could see at a glance exactly how many chops there were in the house. Moreover, there wasn't any Olga to think about. But the way the Moffats would feel would be this: "Let the best chop be for Nancy, because she is company."

Why, that's what Janey was! Company! If she was company, she should have a chop. All right, then. She reached for the fork and at the same time Mrs. Stokes spoke.

She said, "Olga, I don't know what kind of manners Janey will think we have. Not to serve Janey her chop before Nancy and Beatrice! I am ashamed of you, Olga. You must remember always to serve the company first."

"Yes, Mrs. Stokes," said Olga.

Jane heaved a sigh of relief. Her chop. Those were Mrs. Stokes's own words. Jane took her chop.

"Oh, that's all right," said Jane. "I knew it was for me," and she smiled graciously at Olga to show her that her feelings had not been hurt at all by being served last.

Then everybody ate their dinner and talked and laughed; and they had chocolate pudding for dessert.

After dinner was over, Nancy's mother and father had to hurry to the city to get to the concert on time. Jane went into the kitchen for a glass of water. There was Olga, eating her dinner. She had a nice juicy chop of her own!
Phew!
thought Jane.
It certainly was lucky I knew enough manners to take that chop.

When she got home she told Mama that in the Stokeses' house, when they had a maid and lamb chops, they did not put the maid's chop on the table at all. Every chop on the table was supposed to be for the people at the table. This was different from the Berkshires.

"And much more sensible," said Mama. "Why dangle a chop in front of somebody's nose, if it is not to be eaten?"

Jane took the shortcut across the huge empty lot to the library. She was in a hurry because she had just gotten the idea that it would be fine to read every book in the library. Of course, not all at once; just one at a time. She arrived there hot and panting. The best way to go about reading every book in the library, she thought, was to go to a certain section, take down the first book on the first shelf, get it stamped, take it home, read it, bring it back, and take out the very next book. In this way she would not miss one single book. She tiptoed over to one of the sections, took down the first book without looking to see what it was, and had it stamped at the desk. As she was about to leave she noticed Mr. Buckle in an armchair by the window.