Half after six
Grandma peppered the fried potatoes , sliced some wrinkled tomatoes into nests of wilting lettuce , and wiped her dripping face with the hem of her clean gingham apron . The kitchen was even hotter than the half-darkened sitting room where crippled Jimmie sprawled on the floor listlessly wheeling a toy automobile , the pale little baby on a quilt beside him . Grandma squinted through the door at the old Seth Thomas dock in the sitting room . `` Half after six ! Rose-Ellen , you run down to the shop and tell Grandpa supper 's spoiling . Why he 's got to hang round that shop till supper 's spoilt when he could fix up all the shoes he 's got in two-three hours , I do n't understand . ` Twould be different if he had anything to do ... '' Rose-Ellen said , `` O.K. , Gramma ! ''