Lunch Ladies

Elementary schoolers settle into the lunchroom at assigned tables. Above their chatter, lunch ladies rhythmically chant their spells “...eat your lunch before you eat you snack…” Mrs. Moose is the most popular of these mechanical chanters because she holds the power to core and slice assorted fruits. But when she isn’t wielding her apple-corer, she paces the tiled floors in her white moose-embroidered apron, reciting “...eat your lunch before you eat your snack…” At random moments, she and the others silence us by clapping two slows, then three fast claps. An announcement is made before the chatter and chanting resume.