The Bobbsey Twins Keeping House by Laura Lee Hope : Nan's Biscuits

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter fourteen of The Bobbsey Twins Keeping House. This is
a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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Read by Martha Heaton. The Bobbsey Twins Keeping House by
Laura Lee Hope. NaN's Biscuits. Bert Bobbsey at first thought

(00:26):
something had happened to Nan when he heard her call out,
But as he came in from the kitchen and saw
her standing by the door, he asked, what's the matter
with you? Nothing is the matter with me, answered Nan.
But the door is snowed fast. We can't get out.
We can go to another door, then, said Bert, not

(00:46):
much excited. Once last winter we couldn't get the back
door open because a lot of snow had drifted against it,
and we had to use the front door. That's nothing.
Well maybe it isn't, agreed Nan. But listen to that.
She pointed upward, and Bert heard Flossy and Freddy in
the attic screaming and shouting. Those tykes again. Bert cried

(01:09):
with a laugh as he started for the stairs. I'll
fix em, oh Bert, You'll have to be kind to them.
Pleaded Nan. If you're cross and they start crying, they'll
want daddy and mother and then we can't do a
thing with them. And there's so much snow now with
Aunt Sally in bed. Oh dear, don't worry, replied Bert.

(01:30):
I'll be kind to em, all right. I guess Freddy
is just teasing Flossy. She always yells when he teases her.
Don't worry, Nan, Everything will be all right, I hope, so,
sighed Nan. And I'll get a shovel and clear that
snow away from the door when I see what's the
matter with those two Tykes, went on Bert as he
hastened upstairs. He liked to call his small brother and

(01:54):
sister by the funny name of Tykes, which means a
mischievous little person. Up to the attic, Bert found the
cause of the trouble. Flossie and Freddy, tired of playing
picnic in the woods, had started a circus game, each
one pretending to be an animal. When Bert got up there,
he saw Flossie lying on the floor with one foot

(02:15):
and leg thrust through the lower part of a chair.
Freddie was pulling his sister by the arms, and as
her leg was caught between the chair rounds. She could
not get loose. The chair was being dragged along with Flossi.
She was crying, and Freddie was shouting, what's the matter,
what's the matter? Called Bert, stop this kind of play.

(02:37):
This isn't play. Freddie explained, we were playing, but Flossie
got her foot caught and she couldn't get it out.
And I can't pull it out and it hurts me,
sobbed Flossie. Oh, Bert, have I got to stay here forever?
Of course, not answered Bert, I'll soon have you loose.
Stop pulling, Freddie, you'll only jam her foot in tighter.

(02:59):
Let go. Freddie let go of Flossie's arms, and then
as she lay on the floor, Bert turned her foot
a little way around so that it was cross ways
with the chair rounds instead of up and down against them,
and a moment later Flossie was free. Goodness, laughed Bert
when he saw that his sister was not hurt, though
she still sobbed. It sounded like a din of wild

(03:22):
animals up here. I was a wild lion, explained Freddie.
And I was an elephant, said Flossie. Freddie said, I
must be a bad elephant, and kicked the old chair over.
So I kicked and my foot went in and I
couldn't get it out again. I pulled her and pulled her,
but it didn't do any good, explained Freddie. I should

(03:44):
say not the way you were pulling, laughed Bert. But
I guess you've had enough of playing up here. Come
on downstairs. You must have frightened Aunt Sallie out of
her wits banging around the way you did and yelling.
Could we see Aunt Sallie asked Flossie as she and
her brother followed Bert down the attic stairs. I guess

(04:04):
so if she isn't asleep, said Bert, I'll look in
her room. When he did so, he found the old
lady sitting up in bed. She smiled at Bert and said,
are there any birds up in the attic? Seems to me, Bert,
I heard birds fluttering around up there. The noise made
by Flossie and Freddy had been very loud, so loud

(04:26):
that Nan heard it away downstairs, but the deaf old
lady had thought it was only the twittering of birds.
Bert wanted to laugh, but he did not. He just said, no,
there weren't any birds, Aunt Sally. It was just Flossie
and Freddy playing with the chair. Oh you say, Flossy
cut Freddy's hair. She shouldn't do that. She might cut

(04:48):
him or herself with the scissors. Besides, she is such
a little girl, she can't cut his hair straight. Flossie
shouldn't cut hair. Moreover, I never knew that hair cutting
made so much No. No, explained Bert. Nobody's cutting hair,
I said. Flossy and Freddie were playing with a chair.

(05:09):
Oh chair, repeated missus Prye. You should speak a little
more plainly, Bert, my dear, don't mumble your words. But
how are Flossie and Freddie anyhow? I haven't seen them
all day. They're out in the hall now, explained Bert.
They'd like to see you. If you're not too sick,
bring them in, Bert, I'm feeling a little better now.

(05:30):
Nan is a good nurse. The hot flat iron she
brought me helped the lumbago in my back. Bring the
children in. Flossie and Freddie looked curiously at Aunt Sallie.
They had never before seen her in bed, and as
she sat up propped against the pillows with a blanket
around her and a cap on her head, Flossi exclaimed

(05:51):
Oh you look just like the pictures of Little Red
riding Hood's grandmother. Do I, my dear, asked the old lady. Well,
if I'm the grandmother, the lumbago in my back must
be the wolf. Not a real wolf, she added, Just
make believe you know, I know, said Freddie. I was playing.
I was a lion up in the attic, and I

(06:12):
was an elephant, explained Flossie. And I got my foot
caught in a chair and I couldn't get it out.
Well you're all right now, said the old lady with
a smile. Be good children now, for you'll have to
help Nan and Bert keep house until I get better.
It's a sad time. Oh we like it, laughed Freddie.
We can stay at home and don't have to go

(06:33):
to school. You say somebody lost his mule, asked Missus Prye.
That's too bad. The mule was lost in the storm,
I expect. Flossie and Freddy looked at each other wonderingly,
and then at Bert. They were not quite so used
to the misunderstandings of the old lady as were Bert
and Nan. So Bert before his brother and sister should

(06:57):
laugh at missus. Pride made haste to say. They didn't
say anything about a mule aunt Sally. Freddie said he
was glad there wasn't any school. Oh school, Well, yes,
there's no sense in going to school when it's such
a bad storm. But I guess it will soon stop. However,
it did not soon stop. The small Bobbsey twins went

(07:20):
downstairs from Missus Pry's room, and the snow was still
falling hard and the wind was still blowing. Not that
the little twins minded this, and they liked it all
the more, snug and warm as they were in the house.
But Nan, getting the lunch and putting another flat iron
on to heat for Missus Prize's back, shook her head

(07:41):
more than once as she looked out of the window.
What's the matter, asked Bert as he noticed how serious
his twin sister seemed. I'm beginning to get worried about
mother and Daddy, answered Nan. I don't see why we
haven't had some word from them, a letter or a postcard.
I guess the mails are laid on account of the storm.

(08:03):
Bert remarked, if we don't get any to day, and
I guess we won't, for I haven't heard the postman's whistle. Tomorrow,
I'll go down to the post office and ask if
there are any letters for us. You can't go if
it storms this way, Nan said, I will stop by tomorrow,
declared Bert. With her brother's help, Nan managed to get

(08:23):
up a nice little lunch for the family, consisting of
some baked potatoes and omelet, and some bread and preserves.
She made toast for missus Prye and took it up
to her with a cup of hot tea. Flossie and
Freddy begged to be allowed to help, so Nan let
them carry the toast. Each one had a slice wrapped
in a napkin. They can't hurt the toast even if

(08:45):
they drop it, Nan whispered to Bert. But the small
twins were very careful and the toast arrived safely in
the invalid's room. You are very good to me, Nan,
sighed Aunt Sally. I think I will try and get
around tomorrow. No, you must stay in bed until your
lumbago is all gone, insisted Nan. I'll bring you up

(09:08):
another flat iron as soon as you take your toast
and tea. Yes, heat is the best thing for lumbagos,
said missus Prye. That and my liniment will cure me,
I expect, but my liniment is nearly gone. And how
to get more I don't know. Bert will get it
for you, offered Nan kindly. The afternoon passed, Bert got

(09:31):
out on the porch in his big coat and rubber
boots and cleared away some of the snow. Flossie and
Freddy wanted to go out with him, but Nan would
not allow this. She got the smaller twins into a
room where they could not see Bert at work with
the snow shovel, and told them stories. How is it outside,
Bert asked Nan, when her brother came in, having cleared

(09:53):
the side door, against which the big drift had blown
pretty bad, He answered, it seems to snow harder than ever,
and the wind is blowing, and it's getting colder. I'm
glad we're inside with a warm fire and plenty to eat.
That's just the trouble, said Nan in a low voice.
We haven't plenty to eat, bird, not enough to eat?

(10:15):
What do you mean? I mean we haven't any bread.
I toasted the last of it for missus Prye. There's
no bread for supper. I'll go to the store and
get a loaf. Bert offered, no cried his sister quickly.
I don't want you to go out in this storm.
You might get lost. But what'll we do for supper?
Asked Bert. I've got to have bread and butter. We

(10:38):
have plenty of butter, explained Nan. I'll make a batch
of biscuits. She added, they're as good as bread better,
declared Bert. But can you make biscuits? Nan? I guess so.
Mother's told me how, and I've watched Dinah make them
lots of times. You just mix up some flour, milk,

(10:58):
baking powder, water and and roll it out, and then
cut the biscuits into round shapes and put them in
a pan and bake them in the oven. It sounds easy,
remarked Bert. I'll help you. When Flossie and Freddy heard
what Nan was going to do, they also wanted to help.
We can't all do it, laughed Nan. But you can

(11:19):
come in the kitchen and watch me. Can I have
some sugar on my bix it when it's baked, asked
Flossy ho Ho laughed Freddy. Listen to what she called
em bix it. Bix It, that's their name, insisted FLOSSI 'tisn't,
cried Freddy. It's buskit. Guess I know you're both wrong,
laughed Bert. But no matter how you call them, they're

(11:40):
going to be good when Nan bakes them. Now you
two sit down in chairs where you'll be out of
the way. Nan told Bert what to bring her from
the pantry so she could make the biscuits, and then,
putting on an apron and rolling up her sleeves, she
began as she had seen Dinah do. She mixed the
flour and large together, first kneading it with her hands.

(12:03):
It's just like making mud pies, said Freddy. Ccept it
isn't brown mud, it's white, said Flossie. I wish I
could squeeze him like that, went on Freddy as he
saw Nan working up the dough. Well you can't, so
just you sit still, Nan told him with a laugh.
Remembering what her mother had told her and what she

(12:23):
had seen Dinah do. Nan soon had rolled out the
biscuit dough on the flowered board, and then with a
shiny tin thing, she cut out little, round, flattened bits
of dough, which she put in a buttered pan ready
for the oven. I've got enough dough for two pans
of biscuits, said the little cook. So I'll set this

(12:44):
first pan down in a chair and get another pan
ready for the oven. Then they'll both bake at the
same time. We'll have lots of buscuits, said Freddy. I'm
glad because I like buskets and I'm going to have
sugar on my bixt ain't I, Nan asked FLOSSI we'll see,
said the young cook, giving all her attention to cutting

(13:05):
out the second batch. Flossie and Freddy both liked to
watch this part of the work, so they left their
chairs to stand beside the table. They stood on their tiptoes,
so eager they were. Now I'll put these in the
pan and pop them into the ovens, said Nan, when
the last of the biscuits had been cut. Sit down

(13:25):
in your chairs, Flossie and Freddy, so you won't be
in my way when I opened the oven door. Flossie
and Freddy went back to where they had been sitting.
And all would have been well if Flossie had taken
the same chair out of which she had slid a
little while before to watch Nan. But instead Flossie backed
up to the wrong chair. It was the chair on

(13:47):
which Nan had set the first span of biscuits, and
a moment later Flossie plopped herself down right on top
of the soft bits of dough. Oh oh, yelled Freddy.
But too late. Look, look, Flossie sat on the buskets.
Flossy sitting on the buskets end of Chapter fourteen, read

(14:09):
by Martha Heaton, September twenty twenty three.