Snack time following nap time on Wednesday afternoon, the usual pattern for Mabel Watson Payne. She likes her routines – their predictability and reliability – but exactly because the rituals of daily life are secure and pleasing, she also finds pleasure in sabotaging them from time to time. Part of her wants to be a reasonable-acting big girl and part of her wants to remain the carefree, mess-making baby of yesteryear. Mabel is much more inclined than her mother was (at the same age) to stand up for her perceived claim on infant anarchy.