Jasmine by Kirsten Osbourne

Author:Kirsten Osbourne [Osbourne, Kirsten]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Unlimited Dreams Publishing
Published: 2014-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Jasmine spent two hours teaching the boys which letters and numbers were which before she switched to table manners. “When you eat, you will use a napkin to wipe your mouth. Not your sleeve and not your brother’s shirt. A napkin.” She held up the napkin she’d left on the table to show them what she meant. She wasn’t certain either one of them had ever used a napkin.

“Why?” Jacob asked.

It took Jasmine a moment to realize he wasn’t being insolent. He genuinely didn’t understand why she thought he should use a napkin. “Because it’s polite, and it saves your shirt from having to be washed.”

“But then you have to wash the napkin,” Joey protested.

It was all Jasmine could do not to laugh at that argument. “But napkins are smaller and easier to wash. And you don’t have to have as many clothes if you don’t get them as dirty, so then you can spend more money on toys.”

Both boys sat up straighter when she said that. “We’ll use napkins,” Joseph told her. They seemed eager to do as she asked when it came right down to it.

“Now, let’s talk about table manners. What should you have in your mouth when you talk?” she asked.

They looked at each other. “Only white food?” Joey guessed.

She shook her head. “Only meat?” Jacob was grasping at straws. Neither of them had any clue what they were doing wrong.

“You should have your tongue and your teeth in your mouth when you talk. Nothing else.” She sighed. “This morning at breakfast, you were spraying food all over each other because your mouths were so full while you were talking.”

“That’s bad?” Joey asked.

Jasmine nodded. “It’s very impolite. We need to work on keeping our mouths shut while we chew. No one should see the food in your mouths.”

Jacob looked at Joey and sighed. “Having a ma is going to be a lot of work.” Jacob said the words with a long suffering sigh. It was obvious he would do it, but he wouldn’t be terribly willing.

“That’s enough school for today. You two go and play. Lunch will be ready in a few minutes.” She’d started baking bread before sitting down with them that morning, and she had a huge pot of beans cooking on the stove.

Mrs. Banks was nowhere to be found as Jasmine went about her tasks in the kitchen. She pulled a loaf of bread from the oven and smiled at the aroma. Perfect. There was a small crock with a bit of butter left in it, but Jasmine could see that she would need to add making butter to her list. Yesterday, she’d worried there would be nothing for her to do with a housekeeper there. Now she saw she would have work to do as long as she felt up to doing it.

Lee held her hand while they ate their lunch, and the boys did their best to only use their napkins and eat with their mouths closed. When Lee lifted

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