A Cup of Tea

by Katherine Mansfield

“No more complaining, Jay,” Mom said. “Your grandfather needs your help, and you have the time. Walk over there now and help him paint his dining room.”

Though not happy about painting inside on a summer day, Jay listened and walked the few blocks to Grandpa Tony’s neat bungalow on Cass Street.

Jay arrived to find Grandpa Tony had already lined up the paint supplies in the dining room where the floors and furniture were covered with plastic tarps.

“Good morning, Jan—oops, that’s right, you go by ‘Jay’ now,” Grandpa Tony said. “Thanks for helping out. We can start by taping the edges near the ceiling and baseboards.”

Grandpa Tony started to get up on the step ladder, but Jay—not wanting to tell Grandpa Tony what to do but not wanting him to fall and break a bone—said: “I’ll do that, Grandpa.”

“Oh, all right.”

Once Jay taped the entire room, which was not an easy feat, they got to work on the painting part. They dipped the long poles with rollers on the end into the pans of paint and spread the color, making satisfying strips of lemony yellow over the plain white and bringing on a slow transformation to the room with each rhythmic application.

Jay liked how Grandpa Tony didn’t talk much and how he hummed a lot. When he played his old records on an even older player, Grandpa Tony bellowed low notes with the old-time songs. Sometimes he spun on the spot or pretended the paint pole was a microphone. This made Jay crack up because he acted like Jay was an audience of a thousand and not just one.

At noon Grandpa Tony said, “Lunchtime, Jay. Let’s eat our sandwiches outside.”

After putting together the best sandwiches Jay had eaten in a long while—enormous rolls filled with spicy roast beef, peppers, and cheese—and gathering chips, a box of cookies, and a fizzy lime drink Jay didn’t like all that much, but knew Grandpa Tony loved, the two headed outside and sat at the small table on the patio. Jay admired the noontime feast as they ate in silence, save for the soft music from Grandpa Tony’s record player slipping through the back door, like sun rays breaking through a patch of cloud cover.

"A Cup of Tea" by Katherine Mansfield

Question
Use the short story to answer the question.

Complete the statement about character interactions by selecting the correct word or phrase from the drop-down menus.

(1 point)
When Jay and Grandpa Tony interact, they are
each other, as seen when Grandpa Tony is
about Jay’s name and Jay takes over going on the step ladder to tape.
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