A Northern Light Chapter 30 Summary

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  • As Mattie starts working at the hotel and cleans a table, she sees a dime left by a woman, and Weaver, who also works at the hotel, says it's a tip for Mattie to keep for good service.
  • Mattie enters the chaotic kitchen; she's having a hard time adjusting to the pace of the work and the way the hotel operates.
  • She and Weaver are still dueling with words, mostly because Mattie is put out that Weaver earns more than she does; she's a little awed how Weaver can make the world work in his favor.
  • It's Mattie's first full day of work, and she takes in everything: the tourists, the work she has to do, and the differences between her life at home and life at the hotel.
  • When table seven asks Mattie where they can find Indians, she feels stupid and ignorant, but Weaver comes along and tells the table about Mose LaVoie, who is Indian but liable to get really angry at the tourists when they arrive at his cabin.
  • Table six is the worst, though, because he exposes himself (yes, that kind of exposure… ew) to Mattie as she reads the menu to him.
  • When Mattie walks red-faced into the kitchen, Fran recognizes why she's blushing and tells Mattie that the man did the same thing to her the day before.
  • But before anything else can happen, an explosion occurs, smashing lamps and ruining food. Henry, the chef, has put whole cans of milk on the stove without opening them; furious, Cook chases Henry away and the girls get busy cleaning the kitchen.
  • Weaver appears with a dollar from table six, which Mattie grudgingly takes. Then they get back to work.