Secret Someone

"I didn't go hungry. Hot lunch at school cost a quarter, and we could usually afford that. When we couldn't and I told Mrs. Ellis, my forth-grade teacher, that I had forgotten my quarter, she said her records indicated that someone had already paid for me. Even though it seemed awfully coincidental, I didn't want to push my luck by asking too many questions about who this someone was. I ate the hot lunch. Sometimes that lunch was all I had to eat all day, but I could get by just fine on one meal."
I like this passage. It is cute how she doesn't think about who could be paying for her. She looks so innocent and vaurnerable. I think that most forth-grader think like that. My forth-grade sister ususally tries to find out where certain things come from but i think if it were somthing like her lunch she would be embarressed and then she wouldn't try to figure it out. And I think, even though Jeannette didn' mention it, embarressment was a part of why she didn't ask who paid for it. In 4th grade, everyone is judging you on everything so knowing who is paying for her and knowing she doesn't have the money for lunch would be embarressing to her. It would be someone in on her secret that she doesn't want people to know.
Also it is sad to think about how she only gets one meal, yet we get home from school and immediately go to the pantry for something to eat.