Then he poured pancake batter into the grease to form four perfectly round pancakes. Nothing better than pancakes flavored with bacon grease. He set the orange juice and bacon on the table and stepped back to admire his handiwork. Two crisp white plates sat on yellow placemats with a knife, fork, and spoon resting in their proper places. At home this morning, Mamm had helped him fold four yellow cloth napkins into the shape of flowers. He set two of them on the plates and the other two sat at the empty places at the table, in case Toby was extra messy. Toby’s high chair sat between the two chairs at the table, and his plastic cup and plate waited on the tray. Girls liked to be a little fancy now and then. He hoped his table decorations would send Beth into fits of delight. He quickly turned back to his pancakes and flipped them over one by one, each perfectly golden-brown and saturated with bacon grease. It had taken quite a bit of finagling to get Anna and Felty out of the house without Beth knowing about it.
