ADIEU TO THE HIGH CHAIR

There were two soft blankets stacked on a chair in the kitchen. The past few nights had been extremely cold and mother had gotten out extra blankets for the beds. It was warmer now, so she had taken them off, intending to put them away soon.

Jenny tried sitting on the chair with the soft blankets. There wasn’t a more comfortable place to sit in the whole house.

When it was time to eat that noon, Jenny pulled the chair with the soft blankets over to her place at the table. She waved her arms about and let her legs dangle above the floor, experiencing a new sense of freedom. The high chair had been somewhat restricting with its arms reaching out to hold her securely, its high rungs where her feet fit, and its greater distance from the floor. In it she had been a dependent baby. Now she felt like an independent big girl, not the baby any more.

“What’s the matter with the high chair?” asked Daddy, glancing at the empty high chair standing useless against the wall. “Think you’re pretty smart, don’t you?”

“I don’t need the high chair any more,” Jenny said scornfully. “You know, I’m three and a half now. I wonder what Margaret will say when she sees me sitting in a real chair.”

That night at supper, Jenny took the blankets off the chair and sat on a bare chair like everyone else. Margaret didn’t even notice; she had something else on her mind.

“I’m going to cut up my own meat tonight, “ Jenny announced with impressive dignity. She began sawing away. No one said a word when a piece of meat slid into her lap. She picked it up with her fingers and just ate it that way.