Chloe added, "And the best part is, Sis slapped that woman, and she didn't even dare to raise a hand!"
Vera chuckled softly, while Mrs. Xavier started shooing the others away. "Your sister's back. Aren't you two going to go make dinner?"
As Drew and Chloe grinned and started to leave, Mrs. Xavier added, "Remember to slaughter a chicken!"
"Got it!" Drew called back, and then he and Chloe went into the kitchen to cook.
The Xavier family wasn't well-off. They couldn't bring themselves to use coal for daily cooking, so they always used firewood chopped from the mountains. This made cooking particularly troublesome, as it required one person to stoke the fire while another did the cooking.
Vera had wanted to follow Drew and Chloe to join in the fun, but Mrs. Xavier pulled her back. "Let those two little rascals do it. You don't need to go."
