“No time like the present,” suggested Nancy a bit absently, her eyes roving about the dining room.
“But I shouldn’t know how to eat them,” said Jeanette, wavering between her desire to taste a new food, and reluctance to appear awkward in such a public place.
“I’ll show you,” offered Martha.
“Do you really know how?” asked Jeanette, a bit doubtfully.
“Of course I do. I went to a couple of clam bakes last summer.”
When a cup of melted butter, another of hot water, and a big dish of steaming clams were set before her, Jeanette looked really frightened.
“Oh, I shouldn’t have ordered them. I don’t know what to do first.”
“You open them this way,” said Martha, demonstrating them as she talked; “pull off this piece, which I always called its ear——”
“Why?” asked Jeanette, watching anxiously.
“Because that part is not good. Then dip the clam into water, to wash the sand out, then in the melted butter, and then swallow it.”