Really, as Rosie pointed out, the work for Floribel’s and Zeke’s day out began the morning before. You had to make sure then that there was enough raw material in the house for the three meals of the next day. Therefore, early Wednesday morning before they went to market, the three girls sat down at the typewriter and worked out the program of their three meals. “Rosie, you take charge of this first day,” Maida urged, “you’ve had so much more experience than Laura or me. Don’t you think she ought, Laura?” “I certainly do,” Laura agreed with conviction. “Thank goodness, breakfast is always easy. It’s fruit, and breakfast food and eggs. Thank goodness too, that fruit grows already made. Just think how much work it would be if we had to cook oranges and peaches, or if we had to shell berries. And what a blessing milk is! How nice of the cow to deliver it all cooked.” “Well, then,” Rosie began, taking the situation in hand at once, “let’s start with fruit. Let’s have oranges--” “Oh let’s!” interrupted Maida excitedly, “I know a perfectly beautiful way to prepare oranges. You cut the skins into quarters and then into eighths while they’re still on the orange. You don’t pull them off, but you turn them back, so that the orange stands in the midst of petals of its own peel--just like a gold pond-lily.” “All except Delia’s orange,” Laura put in. “I notice that Mrs. Dore gives her orange juice. And after she has squeezed it, she strains it very carefully.” “All right, Laura,” Rosie agreed again, at once, “you can attend to the oranges.” “I think we’d better have prepared breakfast-food this first breakfast,” Maida suggested. “We are bound to make a lot of mistakes in cooking; but we can’t hurt anything that just comes out of a box.” “Yes, you’re right, Maida,” Rosie agreed. “Now, shall we have an omelette? I know how to cook omelettes. No, I guess we’d better have boiled eggs. They’re the easiest, and I don’t want to make any mistakes the first day if possible.” “Well that settles breakfast,” Maida declared with satisfaction. “Now what are we going to have for dinner?” “I’d like to have a fish chowder,” Rosie suggested. “We haven’t had one this summer. Most everybody likes chowder. And then,” she added with a smile, “it’s the only thing I know how to cook.” “Then we’ll have it, Rosie,” Maida decided. “I’ll teach you to how to make chowder if you like,” Rosie offered. “Oh will you, Rosie?” Maida asked ecstatically. “I love fish chowder. I’ve never in all my life had enough. How I would enjoy making it.” “And then,” Rosie continued, “for dessert, we’ll have a bread pudding. It’s the only pudding I know how to make.” Laura drew a long breath, “What’ll we eat next Thursday?” she asked in a serious tone. “I don’t know how to cook anything but popovers and custards and cake. Maida doesn’t know how to cook anything at all. And you are cooking, this first Thursday, everything you know.”