"Alice, why are you standing in the doorway?" Father asks from inside his study.
"Oh, uh, I had a question." I really hate that I'm letting my hunger control me, but I can't get the thought of food out of my head. Why didn't I just eat the oatmeal?
"Then what's keeping you from asking it?" Father asks as I imagine how good a tomato sandwich would be right now.
"Uh, I'm not sure-"
"Alice, darling, just ask your question," Father's voice sounds slightly annoyed. He must have a lot of work to do. Father can get really stressed by his work at times.
"Oh, I was just, uh, wondering…" I let my voice trail off not sure if now is exactly a good time to ask him about changing our lunch plans. He seems to be irritated, and I don't want to do anything to further disturb his work.
"Darling, don't mumble it's a bad habit to acquire."
"Sorry," I say looking down at my feet. I probably picked the worse possible time to ask father about lunch.
"What were you going to ask?" Father asks, this time he looks up from his many papers on his desk.
"Oh, can we have lunch earlier?" I really hope that I'm not disturbing father right now. But all the same I'm still really hungry.
"What was that? You need to speak up and look at the person you're talking to, Alice."
"May we have lunch earlier?" I ask, this time looking straight at Father and speaking much louder. I think I'll leave off pointing out that father hasn't looked at me for most of our conversation, I think it's kind of ridiculous that he's lecturing me on that.
"Lunch?" Father inquires in a slightly less annoyed voice. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all.
"Yes," I say, returning my gaze back down to the floor.
"Isn't it a little early for that?" Father asks glancing at the wall clock behind the door. Why does he lecture me on looking at somebody when you're talking to them, when he doesn't even follow the rule himself?
"Oh I didn't know the time," I say, nervously shuffling my feet.
"Didn't you eat breakfast?" Father asks looking back down at his papers. He still isn't looking at me. Maybe the rule about looking directly at the person you're talking to doesn't apply to him.
"Uh, I didn't have an appetite then." This wasn't exactly a lie. Lorina's oatmeal took away any kind of appetite I'd had this morning.
"Well, if you're hungry then I guess we could have lunch early."
"Thank you."
"I could defiantly use a break from all these papers. Lunch is a great idea." Father's voice has lost any kind of annoyance it held earlier. "Did you tell your mother of the new plans?"
"No, I just now asked you about it."
"Well, go tell Mother and Lorina about the new time for lunch. Then go tell Mrs. Nigbits to start fixing it," Father said, getting back to working on as many papers as he could possibly complete before lunch.
"Yes Father," I say, going out the doorway to tell everybody about the altered lunch plans.
A/N
Well, I'm now on my senior year of high school. So, updates will be less often. Sorry, but the good news is now my story can't be used as an excuse for not doing your homework.
. . .
B/N
I feel so small and insignificant compared to Carmie now. *sighs* I am only a mere 10th grader. And unfortunately, I have oodles of schoolwork pouring down upon me. *throws hand to forehead* How will I bear it? Alas, there is a light gleaming for me in the near future! (My math load will become much lighter in about 9 weeks, so my tender heart rejoices.)
But enough of that delicate talk, let's get down to business. I have been terribly neglectful and I should be tarred and feathered. But instead of the customary chicken feathers could you possibly use peacock? I want to be dignifiedly put to shame.