Birds chirping. Roderick awakes.
It's Saturday morning, and Roderick is at home in his bed. Molly invited Anna home with her, and they all drove home with Megan in her bright red Mustang. Anna stays with Molly at the Blooms, and Megan sleeps in the guest room with the Smiths.
Roderick tentatively reaches out with his foot and touches the floor. Eek, it's cold. Naked, he pads across the room to the closet and dons his bathrobe.
Knock, knock. It's Megan at the door, also in a bathrobe, a textbook in her hand. "Good morning, Roderick," she purrs. "Can I come in? I thought this would be a good time to go over Rhetoric."
Roderick thinks it's an excellent time to go over Rhetoric. He relaxes on the bed with his notebook and pencil. Megan starts to join him, pauses, looks up at the bookshelf and exclaims "Oh! What an interesting book! I want to look at it."
Megan reaches up to the top shelf for the coveted book; while doing so, her bathrobe falls open momentarily so that her unrestrained breasts are in full view, and also confirming something that Roderick has always wondered about, that redheads have red hair everywhere.
"Oops!" she says, giggling. "Wardrobe malfunction."
"I can see that," says Roderick dryly.
Meanwhile, at the Blooms, Mary Bloom wakes up early and makes pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast. The other Blooms -- Mr. and Mrs. Bloom, Molly, Margaret and Catherine (plus Mr. Fuzzums and Miss Kitty), plus Anna Zemlinsky gather at the breakfast table and chit chat while Mary places two big platters of food on the table. As Mary takes her seat, Mr. Bloom reaches for the bacon with his fork.
"Daddy, wait a minute!", says Mary sternly. She reaches out her hands to either side, beckoning everyone at the table to join hands in a circle. Closing her eyes, she recites: "Bless this food, which we bought with our own money, and I cooked with my own hands, and let us eat so we can fill our bellies and sustain our daily work to make ourselves happy and have fun. Amen."
"Amen!" says everyone.
Mr. Bloom winks at Anna, who sits to his immediate right. "She's very religious", he whispers.
Mary beams. "I learned that at Young Virgins group." She glances at Anna. "Are you a virgin?"
Anna, her mouth full of pancakes, isn't sure how to respond. She still is, for the record, but is not accustomed to speaking about it openly at the breakfast table with the families of people she just met.
Mrs. Bloom saves her. "There is a Zemlinsky family here in Beauneville, are you related?"
Anna swallows, and smiles shyly. "I don't know. It's a common name."
Mr. Bloom chimes in. "Personally, I know of hundreds of Zemlinskys." He doesn't really, but he likes to agree with people, especially his eldest daughter's young blond friends.
"Daddy, can you set up some dates for me next week?" Last night Mary checked her cash flow and she is a little concerned. Miss Agassiz seems to be moving on -- Mary is seventeen now, and "Mistress Renee" prefers her fem subs to be underage. That cash cow looks to be tapped out, and Mary needs to diversify. Another reason: with Roderick off to college, Mary actually has to pay Willard Fenstermacher to write her History papers. It's shocking what the world has come to -- you have to pay people to do things that should be done in the spirit of love and generosity.
"Sure, honey, no problem." Henry Bloom is proud to pimp for his daughter, for a couple of reasons. For one thing, it teaches her the value of money, and the work ethic. Also, it's great for business, as the client list of Bloom and Co. has doubled in the past year. It's amazing, really. Advertising clients sign up in flocks when they can put a session with Mary the Schoolgirl on the expense account.
"Just make sure you're getting your homework done," says Mrs. Bloom.
"I will, Mommy."
After breakfast, Molly is anxious to hit the Bosendorfer. She's working with Anna on a recital of art songs based on texts by Goethe, and the first one -- Ach, um deine feuchten Schwingen, by Fanny Mendelssohn -- has a difficult piano part. Molly wants to be ready tomorrow when they rehearse together.
Anna wants to walk over to see Roderick, but doesn't know the way. Catherine offers to walk with her, and Anna gratefully accepts. Catherine grabs her backpack (with Mr. Fuzzums and Miss Kitty), and they depart.
As they turn the corner from Cherry to Twelfth, Anna asks: "Who is that in your backpack?" Earlier, she saw Catherine furtively place her friends inside.
Catherine stops, pulls off her backpack, reaches in and offers Mr. Fuzzums to Anna. "It's Mr. Fuzzums!"
Anna takes Mr. Fuzzums and hugs him. "Oh what a lovely bear! But I believe that someone else is in your bag."
Furtively, Catherine shows the bag to Anna. "It's Miss Kitty. She doesn't like to come out of the bag around people she doesn't know."
"I have a friend back at college, too. Would you like to know his name?" Catherine nods. "It's a secret, so I'll whisper."
Anna whispers something in Catherine's ear. Catherine beams, and taking Anna's hand leads her new best friend to Roderick's house.
