Chapter Text
Batty remembered the first time that Jérôme had come to the Penderwicks’ house. It was towards the beginning of the school year on a Saturday afternoon, and Jane had rounded up each of the Penderwicks one by one. Batty had been in her room, trying the first of many unsuccessful attempts to find a book to read for one of her book reports, when Jane burst into Batty’s room and said breathlessly, “Jérôme from France is coming!” then pulled Batty, rather grateful for the book report distraction but confused on who Jérôme was and why he was coming all the way from France, down the stairs.
Once downstairs, Batty found all of the other Penderwicks, minus Rosalind, who had already left for college earlier that month, gathered in the entryway, some more confused than others. Skye barely looked fully awake, although it was 1:30 in the afternoon- Skye liked to sleep in late on the weekends. But, she did seem to be dressed, and her short, straight blond hair didn’t look too unruly.
Ben, one of the more confused ones, was looking at the door as if he expected a monster or a dragon to come through. As usual, he had a rock on him, this one clutched securely in his right hand.
Lydia, in the arms of her mother, looked tired, as she had most likely been awoken by Jane in the middle of a nap. Iantha, standing next to Mr. Penderwick, was looking at Jane for further instruction and explanation, and Mr. Penderwick did the same, although he looked slightly more suspicious than his wife.
Finally, after Batty and Jane came downstairs, Jane explained.
“My friend, Jérôme-he’s an exchange student from France, that is- he’s coming over today, and I wanted to introduce ma famille to him!”
Batty assumed that the unfamiliar words Jane had uttered were French- Jane had taken French since middle school- and judging from the way the words were pronounced, Batty thought that it must mean my family . But why would Jane want to introduce a new boy to the family? When all the teenage boys normally hanging around the house-Artie, Donovan, and the other Donovan, among others-had first come to the Penderwicks’, Jane definitely hadn’t lined them up to be introduced. So why do it like this, so formally? Jérôme wasn’t Jane’s boyfriend , was he?
Batty didn’t have any more time to wonder, for suddenly a polite knock came at the door. Jane excitedly opened it and Jérôme, who had curly brown hair and didn’t look any more French than any other boy Batty had seen, came into the hall, saying “Hello, Jane,” a little shyly, as he had seen all of the other Penderwicks standing in wait.
“ Bonjour, Jérôme!” Jane said cheerfully, then as she gestured to her family and said “ Voici ma famille, ” suddenly her motives were all too clear.
Batty’s suspicions were proved correct when Jane started to introduce them, or at least Batty assumed that was what she was doing, in halting French.
“ Voici ma mère, ” she said, pointing to Iantha, “ Madame Penderwick. ” Batty thought that Madame Penderwick sounded quite fancy and filed the words away in her mind to tell Keiko later, since both Keiko and Batty were trying to decide upon which language to take starting in middle school. Next, Jane pointed to their father and said, “Voici mon père, Monsieur Penderwick. ” Mr. Penderwick waved and said, “Hello, Jérôme.”
Next was Skye, introduced as “ ma soeur, Skye.” Then Jane said even more French, “ Elle a dix-sept ans” , which Batty didn’t understand at all except for that sept sounded kind of like seven.
Batty came next. “ Voici ma soeur, Batty.” Jane said, adding, “ Elle a dix ans .”
Then Ben-“ Voici mon frère , Ben, il a sept ans” , and Lydia- “ Voici ma soeur, Lydia, elle a deux ans ”. Jane finished up by explaining, “ J’ai une soeur, Rosalind, mais elle est dans université. Elle a dix-huit ans. ”
“Very good French, Jane,” Jérôme said admiringly. “I liked meeting your family very much.”
“ Merci, Jérôme!” Jane said, beaming. She waved hastily to the gathered Penderwicks and dragged Jérôme into the living room, grabbing some pretzels from the kitchen as she went. Batty could faintly hear Jane saying, “Artie va ici… ”- she paused, most likely searching for the correct French word without success-“...soon.”