At noon, Mrs. Beatle dismissed the class to go eat lunch outside, except for Nellie, who had to eat inside.
"Nellie, you can go sit down and eat now."
"Yes Mrs. Beatle."
"This is the last time I'm going to speak of it today, but I hope you learned a lesson from your punishment this morning, Nellie."
"Yes Mrs. Beatle, I did."'
"Glad to hear that Nellie."
Meanwhile, Laura and Mary got the dinner pail from the storage room and headed outside to find a shady spot to eat their lunch.
"Mary, let's sit by that tree."
"Good idea Laura. It is too hot out here."
"It is hot, boy am I sweating already!"
"Me too, good idea about the tree. It won't help much, but it will keep the sun off us, so it will be five to ten degrees cooler."
Ma packed fried chicken, a pickle each, some carrots, and a cookie each.
"Ma sure packed a lot."
"She sure did, Laura."
"Fried chicken. Ma makes the best fried chicken."
"She does. I love fried chicken."
"I do too Mary."
A minute later, Mary said:
"Laura, you almost got yourself in serious trouble."
"I know", Laura replied with a sigh.
"You need to be more careful. I don't want you to be punished for something as minor as daydreaming."
"I know."
"If you know, why do you keep doing it?"
"I don't know. I just get bored. It's hard not to daydream and stare out the window. Why did you have to bring that up again?"
"Because I'm worried about you. That's what sisters do for each other. Would you rather me not worry and you get punished?"
"Mary, I'm glad you worry. I'm glad you are my older sister."
"Thank you Laura. I'm glad you are my younger sister. I don't know what I would do if you weren't here."
"Thanks Mary."
"You're welcome Laura."
"I'll be back in a couple minutes Mary. I need to use the outhouse before Mrs. Beatle calls us back inside to continue the history lesson."
"Ok Laura, be careful."
"Don't worry Mary, I'll be careful."