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Show Peppermint Monday We didn't have the jam finished until quite late. Pa called to see what the trouble was. Grandma handled the phone call. She told him she was helping me finish up my project and I' d be right home. Anything to do with homework pleased pa, so everything was fine. Even the jam. It didn't smell the best while it cooked, or when it was finished, but it didn't taste bad at all. Grandma Ruby had added a little orange extract for flavor, along with a lot of sugar. I added enough drops of yellow food coloring to make it a pretty, yellow color. It wasn't near as mustard-colored as my hands were. It was just a bright, sunshine color. We poured wax in the jars to seal the bottles, all twelve pints of them. For my special jar that would have to be on display, we added lace and ribbon around the neck of the jar. No matter what it was made of or how it tasted on bread, it was pretty to look at. I'm sure things like that mattered to judges. I left half of the jam at Grandma's because I couldn't carry them all. Grandma had never learned how to drive, so I had to walk. It wasn't far though, only a few blocks, and besides I was so pleased with the jam it didn't matter. Even after all the walking I had done that afternoon, I didn't feel tired. I was hungry though. We'd been so busy we forgot about the pizza. I was sure ma would have plenty of leftovers if I got that hungry. I wasn't that hungry yet. "It's dandelion jam." I told pa when he asked to see my project. "It certainly is a novel item." Pa was saying he hated my idea. Novel was a nicer word than weird, but I knew what he meant. I put my fancy jar back in the box with the rest of the jars. "Billy Crowley says you're going to flunk'him in literature." I really didn't |