She herself spread one of mommie's cherished lunch cloths on Bedelia's little square table in the kitchen alcove, where she and Johnny could be alone while he ate.

She dipped generously into the newest preserves and filled a glass dish full for him.

She raided the great refrigerator, closing her eyes to the morrow's reckoning.

Johnny would be hungry, Johnny was a sort of prodigal, and the fatted calf should be killed figuratively and the ring placed upon his finger.
She told her mommie and her dad that Johnny was coming, and that everything was all right, and Johnny would be sensible and settle down now, because he was not going to enlist after all.

She kissed them both and flew back to the kitchen because she had thought of something else that Johnny would like to eat.
This, you must understand, was while Johnny was feeding Bland,--and himself,--in "Red's Quick Lunch", and worrying because Bland tactlessly chose such expensive fare as T-bone steak and French fried.