Despite Jo’s disappointment, they all enjoy a laugh over the meal, followed by a somber funeral for Pip, Beth's bird who was not fed all week. In addition to Laurie, Miss Crocker, an elderly neighborhood gossip, calls for dinner and experiences the entire mess. Jo attempts to manage the kitchen, but ends up with burnt bread, salty strawberries, sour cream, meager lobster, and lumpy blancmange. Meg spoils breakfast and Jo says she will make dinner and invites Laurie. The girls are relieved to have some work to do, but are surprised by how challenging the housework is. Marmee and Hannah make up for their housework, until the weekend, when Marmee gives Hannah a vacation and spends the day resting and going out. They find the days growing longer and more tiring and pervaded with ennui. The girls indulge in their activities, Meg buying and fixing up clothes new clothes, Jo reading to her heart’s delight, Beth arranging her closet and learning music, and Amy drawing. Amy and Beth wish to have a rest as well, and Marmee grants permission for a one-week experiment, warning that they will miss the balance of some work and some play. The girls decide that after their hard work, they want to spend their days in idle enjoyment. In the summer, Meg and Jo celebrate that their employers are off for three months elsewhere, so they have vacation. The post office, the narrator tells us, flourishes as well, passing trinkets and tickets as well as even a few love letters in the future. Delighted with the gift, the club enjoys a lively discussion and benefits from Laurie’s presence. Laurie apologizes for the trick, and makes amends with the presentation of a post office, a converted birdhouse to sit in the hedge between the two houses. Jo then shocks the club by revealing that Laurie was hiding in the closet all along. Jo proposes adding Laurie to the club, and Meg and Amy at first oppose, wanting to be private, but Beth speaks on Laurie’s behalf and wins the day. They create a weekly newspaper, which the narrator assures the readers is a copy of a genuine newspaper composed by four real girls. In the spring, the girls tend to their garden plots and form a secret society named the Pickwick Club, after Dickens, with each dressing and acting like a particular character.
0 kommentar(er)
