Betty Lee, Freshman

by Harriet Pyne Grove

  CHAPTER X: MORE FESTIVITIES

  “Thanksgiving always means turkey and mince pie to me,” frankly saidDick, as he sniffed savory odors and executed a clog dance on thekitchen floor to the detriment of its bright linoleum.

  “Scat!” said an unappreciative sister at the close of the brief effort.“This kitchen isn’t big enough for any antics.” But Betty was grinningand Janet, who was wiping dishes, tapped a toe in time. “We’re clearingthe deck for Mother’s greatest efforts,” Betty continued. “Nobody canhave the roast turkey just right as she can. Thanks, Janet. There’s theplace to hang the towel. Now you girls get ready, while I peel thepotatoes and do a few other things. Mother, shall I wash celery now?”

  “Why, that will be very nice. You are bound to leave me nothing to do, Isee.”

  “That, my dear Mother, is your imagination and a beautiful dream. Whenwe come home from church and find the turkey cooked and the potatoesready to mash and the mince pie sizzling hot–yum, yum!” Betty washanging up the dish pan and hurrying to put the celery in cold water.

  “Church!” sniffed Dick, still hanging around.

  “Just for that,” grinned Betty, “I believe I’ll urge Father to take youwith us.”

  “If you _do_,” threatened Dick, shaking a fist, though, grinning, as hedisappeared altogether from his position in the kitchen door, and theyheard him scampering down the hall.

  “Now he’ll get out a book or something,” said Betty to Janet, “andsettle down for awhile. The point is, we really think it better to haveDoris, at least, at home, to amuse Amy Lou and keep her out of Mother’sway a little; and since they didn’t want to go to church with us, it’sall right. Oh, you are going to enjoy the service, I think. One of ourvery best preachers is to give the sermon at the sort of union serviceof the churches; and it’s in one of the very prettiest churches, too,with a big vested choir and everything! There will probably be somegrand solo, or quartette, or something special, and we want to get thereearly enough to hear the chimes.”

  “Sue and I will get ready, then, right away–shall we?”

  “Please, and I’ll whisk into something and we’ll be off in a jiffy, whenFather’s ready to go.”

  In such active fashion Thanksgiving Day began for this household and itsguests, with everybody in fine spirits. The air was cold and Dick washoping for snow. “Gee, I bet the boys are skating up home,” said he ashe followed his father to the garage.

  “I doubt it,” replied his father, “but you’re not going to get as muchsnow and ice as you want here, I suppose.”

  Three happy girls, warmly clad, climbed into the machine with Mr. Leeand they were soon whirling on their way toward the church, whoseservice was almost as new to Betty as to her guests, with beautifulmusic and an impressive message. And then came the return to the warmhouse, the smiling mother with her face a little flushed from frequentbastings of the turkey, and the good old?fashioned Thanksgiving dinner,which makes every one thankful whether he was in that mood before ornot.

  As usual, Mr. Lee stopped to let his passengers enter by the front door,while he drove to the garage, and Betty was rather surprised to have hermother open the door for them, though probably the night latch was on.Mother kept things locked up as a rule, since coming to the city.

  “Hang up your wraps here in the closet, girls,” breezily directed Mrs.Lee, “and go into the living room to meet our guest.”

  “Guest!” thought Betty as she gave her mother an inquiring look. Who inthe world had come?

  “It is one of the boys that your Father knows, Betty,” replied Mrs. Lee,speaking softly in reply to Betty’s unspoken question. “It seems heasked him to come for Thanksgiving dinner and forgot to tell me–so byall means make him welcome. I think he goes to one of the high schoolsand works in between times.”

  Betty, wondering, and guessing at the cordiality which her mother musthave used to cover up her ignorance and make the boy feel at home,followed her mother from the hall to see a tall, rather heavy boy riseand stand a little awkwardly to be introduced. Dark eyes, unsure of awelcome, met Betty’s. Why–why, it was the “Don!”

  From the rather sober, polite girl who was ready to make a strangerwelcome, Betty became a wide?awake, welcoming friend. Her mother, in alow but cordial voice, was mentioning a name that Betty had heard butnever remembered, and then she was giving the girls’ names to the guest.

  “Why, Mother, _this_ is the hero of our championship game!” Betty wasstretching her hand out with a smile. “Does Father know it? And where isDick? He ought to be worshipping at your shrine!” Betty hardly knew whatshe was saying in her surprise. The other girls, following Betty’sexample, shook hands with the tall lad, who seemed to lose a little ofhis shy attitude under this complimentary greeting. It was nothing sounusual, to be sure, for the Lees to have some lonesome body to sharetheir Thanksgiving dinner, yet her father’s forgetfulness and thesurprise of his acquaintance with the “Don” were two unexpected featuresof the situation. But trust Mother to handle it!

  “Dick went off somewhere almost as soon as you went to church, Betty,”Mrs. Lee was saying. “I’m glad to know that he will find a friend in Mr.Balinsky. Please excuse us all for a few minutes. I’m going to ask thegirls to help me take up our dinner. Mr. Lee will be in shortly and AmyLou will keep you company, I suppose.”

  Amy Louise, who had reached the point of showing one of her picturebooks to the “big boy,” soberly nodded assent. Doris was nowhere to beseen, but she was found cracking nuts for the top of the salad andannounced to Betty, “We have everything ready now, I think.”

  “Well, you certainly have been a help to Mother,” said Betty warmly,“and did you know that Ramon Balinsky is the ‘Don’?”

  “Why Betty Lee! How wonderful! No, I never saw him close enough atschool; and then you couldn’t tell, on the field, in his footballclothes! My, won’t Dick be simply stunned? I’m going to see where he isand call him!”

  “His name has been in the school papers, but we’ve always called him the‘Don’, so for a minute I didn’t know him, all dressed up, too, in hisSunday clothes, I suppose. He usually looks so dingy at school, butMother says he works, so of course, poor kid!”

  “Maybe he doesn’t have enough neckties and shirts, Betty,” added Doris,in a sepulchral whisper. “Bet he’ll like our dinner all right!”

  Dick needed no rounding up, for he breezed into the back door just then,to be told by Doris to, “just go into the front room and see who’s goingto be here for dinner!” And the girls busy with trips back and forth,from kitchen to dining room and dining room to kitchen, smiled to hearthe whoop with which Dick welcomed the older boy. It was not loud, butenthusiastic, and an immediate sound of conversation in Dick’s boyishtreble and Ramon’s deeper tones indicated, so Betty whispered, that Dickwas finding out everything that they “wanted to know but wouldn’t ask.”

  Mr. Lee came in from the garage and held up his hands as he heardRamon’s voice. Then he pretended to be frightened and whipped outsideagain into the little back hallway where the refrigerator stood. “Youare forgiven, sir,” laughed his wife. “Come and carry the platter withthe turkey to the biggest place I’ve prepared, and do not drop it onpain of dire consequences!”

  “Honestly, Mother, I forgot all about it, but you don’t mind, do you?”

  “Not a bit. I supposed he was some lonesome youngster that you hadfound, but you can tell me all about it later.”

  “I knew you would have a big dinner as usual”–but Mr. Lee now acceptedthe hot platter with the turkey and reserved further remarks for thefuture. And soon both young and older heads were bowed around the longtable while Mr. Lee said grace.

  “Our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for these evidences of Thy goodnessand bounty and for all the mercies of the year–for health and strengthand work and human love and friendship. Bless us all as we offer ourgratitude. Forgive us if we have not served Thee well, strengthen us forthe future, and keep us in Thy care, for Jesus’ sake.
Amen.”

  Ramon’s solemn black eyes looked respectfully at Mr. Lee as he raisedhis head after the blessing; but Amy Lou made them all smile by a longsigh and a little leap in her high chair as her father picked up thecarving knife and fork There was plenty of conversation at once, inwhich Ramon could take part if he liked; but no one expected anything,it was evident, and the chief interest, it must be said, centered in thegood dinner, with compliments to the cook. Never was there such gooddressing, or a turkey so well done and juicy at the same time. Thecranberry jelly was a success and Betty’s mashed potato was a marvel ofwhiteness. It was fortunate that there was plenty of gravy. Janet hadbrought the spiced peaches from the home town and felt much honored thatRamon liked them better than the cranberry jelly with his turkey, notthat he said so, of course.

  As usual, there were too many things, but there would be other meals, asMrs. Lee said when her husband told her that nobody was eating “theother vegetables” and that dressing and mashed potato would have beenenough. Ramon cast a look at the great dish of grapes, oranges and otherfruit on the buffet, with a little bowl of cracked nuts and a plate offudge, and then viewed the hot mince pie before him. “You must have apiece of Mother’s pumpkin pie, too, Ramon,” said Betty. “She alwaysbakes pies for the suppers and things at home, church suppers, I mean.And do you remember, Mother, the time we had the dining hall at thefair?”

  “Do I?” smiled Mrs. Lee. “Our aid society made enough money to buy newdishes and carpet the church, but oh, how we worked!”

  “I think that it is cake where your Mother excels,” said Mr. Lee, “but Isuppose we shall not have any this noon.”

  “If you want it, Father,” said Betty.

  “We shall reserve that for our supper lunch, Betty,” said Mrs. Lee, “andwe want you to stay for that, Ramon.”

  “Thank you, madam–that would be too much, I’m sure. I expect one of theboys, I think. I–I ought to call him up, I suppose, for he was to comefor me at three?thirty or four and I may not be able to get back towhere I board by that time.”

  “Call from here, Ramon,” said Betty. “Oh, Mother, I’m glad you did putthose fat raisins in the mince meat!”

  But all the conversation did not center upon the food. Mr. Lee drew outin the course of the dinner some facts from Ramon in which the girlswere very much interested. He had, indeed, come to America directly fromSpain, but his father was Polish and Ramon had seen Paderewski inPoland. He had attended school for several years in a small eastern townwhere he studied “English and American,” he said.

  “I was so behind in everything English, you see, that I had to be put ina lower grade at first than I would have been in in my own country; butI made three grades in one year because I could do the mathematics andsuch things; and so when I learned to read and speak your languagepretty well, it was not so hard. A friend of my father’s brought mehere, but he died.”

  “Oh, do you understand all the football language now?” asked Dick.

  “He certainly must, Dicky, or he wouldn’t have done what he did,”suggested Betty, who did not think that Dick should have asked thatquestion. But Ramon only laughed a little.

  “I know most of it now, Dick,” Ramon replied, “and I can stand beingpunched or kicked without wanting to knock the player down. Is that whatyou call ‘good sport’?”

  “Yep,” said Dick. “That’s good football.”

  “Do you expect to finish high school here?” kindly asked Mrs. Lee.

  “If I can,” answered Ramon.

  After dinner all but Betty and her mother went into the living room tovisit; but the two made short work of putting away the food and makingneat piles of the soiled dishes, and soon they joined the rest. Amy Louwas sleepy but would not leave the scene without a fuss. Consequentlyshe was permitted to stay. Ramon called up the “boy,” who proved to beTed Dorrance.

  A little music and a few quiet games were all that the time affordedbefore Ted alighted from a big car and ran into the yard and up thesteps to ring the doorbell. Betty answered the ring and friendly Tedstrode in. “Can’t stay a minute,” said he, “the ‘Don’ here?”

  “Yes, come in.”

  “In a moment. Say, Betty, I’d like to have a hand in giving the girls agood time. How about a little fun tonight? Chet has an idea.”

  “I’m sure we are free for anything, Ted, and it is good of you. Fatherand Mother say that Ramon must be brought back here for supper tonight,so why can’t you come, too? Or, I tell you what–would some of you comefor a taffy pull? Come to supper, too, of course.”

  “I couldn’t do that, Betty–had such a big dinner and all the folks arearound at home. But do you give me leave to bring whom I can tonight?”

  “I _think so!_ Bring Louise and somebody else for Ramon.”

  “Great idea. Let’s see, three of you, all freshmen?”

  “Yes. The girls were in my class.”

  “All right. It’s a surprise party, then, just as Chet had the nerve tosuggest. Tell your mother and surprise the girls.”

  “Glorious. I’m delighted that he though of it. Do get Carolyn and Peggyif you can.”

  “They already know about it, in case it is decided.”

  “Oh, then you really meant to do something!”

  “She doubts my word! Listen–don’t get refreshments ready, unless youhave the stuff to make the taffy. I don’t know whether the girls couldbring that or not and the stores are closed. We were just going to orderice?cream sent around, and what else we could get.”

  “Listen, Ted, yourself. Mother has the most delicious cake, extra big,because we baked up for company, you know. Have the ice?cream if youmust, but not another thing, please.”

  What fun it was to plan something with Ted! Betty felt quite grown up.First they had a senior to dinner, now here was a junior, with probablyLouise coming and loads of fun ahead!

  The girls and Ramon were both wondering what could detain Ted and Bettyin the hall, but Ramon hesitated to rise until Ted should appear. Thathe did at once, however, with a last word to Betty. He was properlyrespectful in meeting Betty’s father and mother and bowed a friendlygreeting to the girls, Dick, Doris and little Amy Lou, who had wakenedand was sleepily arranging a row of tiny dolls on the window sill.

  “The boys have something on hand and want the ‘Don’ this afternoon. I’lldeliver him in two or three hours or so. Supper will not be too early,will it?”

  “Not after a late dinner,” Mrs. Lee assured Ted, “but it would be betterto ‘deliver’ our guest by seven at least.”

  “Before that, I promise you,” answered Ted. “Don’t forget, Betty, ourlittle scheme.”

  “How could I?” replied Betty.