During the summertime my mother would lock us boys outside.
Who could blame her, there were four of us (sometimes more with cousins) and we had a bad habit of running in and out of the house at every youthful whim.
So she locked us out, smart move on her part, we had a tremendous amount of space with more things to do than most kids. We had barns, fields, ponds, horses, pastures, and groves of trees. The list goes on and on and boredom was only a problem when we let it be.
Our day always started with chores and then breakfast, up early and well fed. There would be a list of tasks that Dad left for us (we usually got them mostly done). After breakfast out of the house we went, rain or shine go find someplace to play or read or build or something. Ring the doorbell if you need Mom and ring the bell if there was an emergency.
Well the bell was really an iron triangle hanging on the porch, it had an iron striker and would put up quite an aural calamity.
This triangle also served as the Dinner Bell.
Now dinner was the mid-day meal and it was usually a proper meal designed to fuel growing young boys who worked and played hard all day. Dinner came around mid-day and was not to be confused with Lunch.
Lunch was basically a hearty snack; a sandwich with an apple and maybe some chips. Lunch's were packed for you in a bag, Dinner was served on a plate and you sat at the table to eat it. We were usually handed a lunch bag when we were kicked out of the house every morning to eat when we got hungry during the day
It may sound like we were overfed but that would be a misconception, we were all extremely active and skinny as a rail; strong but slender. That's what happens when you are in almost constant motion. Add in the fact that sugar was basically banned from our house (again four young boys) and couch potato was not a term you would use for us.
Back on topic.
The dinner bell was rung when she had dinner ready for us, the time would vary depending on her tasks for the day but it rang every day. We usually ate outside at the picnic table.
At the height of the long days of summer we'd get another lunch bag after dinner and out we went until Dad came home and she rang the bell for supper. Chores had best be done when that supper bell rang if you wanted to eat with everybody else.
For the purpose of my story "Ten Pound Bag", I'll be ordering the the meals as: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Supper
There was often an afternoon snack thrown in there at "Tea Time" as the Brits know it and supper was always the last meal of the day.
This was important in my area of the world for multiple reasons but if you were invited to Sunday Dinner at the Kuchera's house you knew to show up around noon for a big afternoon meal. By the same token if you were invited for supper you would show up just before sunset.
So if my uses of the meal terminology confuse you refer back to this for guidance. There may have been some errors made by me in the first draft but when I start reposting those should all be straightened out.
-Emmeran