"Eight is Enough" - "Dear Ms. Dinah" Quiz

Answer: He was next on the list

The normal author was going on vacation and Tom ended up being next on the list (it was by rotation). Donna, Tom's secretary, told him to look at this as an opportunity, a phrase that Tom used to explain how he looked at it when telling the family.

Answer: grocery shopping

Abby was busy working part-time and studying part-time for her PhD. The family complained that she was never home, and the family was running low on groceries. Abby had the list in her purse, but kept forgetting to do the shopping.

One morning, she decided to do the shopping and came home to find the children had already done it. (The kids were running low on food and didn't know when Abby would finally get around to doing the shopping.)

Answer: They'd talk about it

Elizabeth had been trying to talk to Abby about getting on birth control, but Abby never had the time. She tried talking to Nancy, who said that she couldn't help. Elizabeth finally asked Tom, who said (in no uncertain terms) no. Later that night, Abby came to bed late and Tom tried to talk to her about Elizabeth, but Abby was too tired.

When Elizabeth finally got a chance to talk to Abby, Abby said that Elizabeth would have to go to a gynecologist first to see if it would even be a good idea. Then, Abby said, the two would have to have a talk about responsibilities, morals, etc. Abby never really said yes or no to Elizabeth's question.

Answer: She countermanded his order

Tom answered the phone and found out Elizabeth had a gynecologist appointment. After he confronted Elizabeth, he confronted Abby and said that Abby had countermanded his orders. Abby took offense to this, saying he'd never even told her of his orders. The fight started spiraling to the point where Tom told Abby that there was so much starch in his shirts it felt like a guillotine. (Abby replied she'd rather have the guillotine.) Abby told Tom that he never told her about this side of him before they were married. Then Tom made a flippant remark about how he hadn't have time with her trying to trap him.

Abby responded that she heard that and wouldn't forget it. That was the last the pair spoke to each other for a while.

Answer: oranges

When Abby finally did get the groceries, she wasn't able to carry them all into the house on one trip and ended up spilling all the oranges onto the driveway. When she went into the house, she saw that the kids had already done the grocery shopping and bought a lot of food.

Abby started feeling a bit useless then, and that she was told she wasn't putting the groceries away properly didn't help. What did help was Elizabeth asking Abby for advice on birth control. Abby said that this was the first person who'd come to her for advice on that topic and she was happy it was one of her step-daughters.

Tom also went to the grocery store that day. The family had so many bananas that Nicholas wondered if the family was getting a monkey.

Answer: David

We don't actually see what happened, only the aftermath of David towing Abby's car to the Bradford house with his van. Abby came out of the house, in her robe, and thanked David for coming to her aid, adding something about a freeway. Tom then came out of the house also in his robe, and asked someone to tell Abby that these things called phones had been invented for when someone is out in the middle of the night and their car breaks down. He also mentioned that it wouldn't have happened had she took care of her car. Abby then asked someone to tell Tom that someone who wasn't able to master an old fashioned flipped over H shouldn't talk.

So, putting together everyone's comments, it seems as though Abby was out late again and her car broke down on the freeway. Instead of calling Tom to come get her, she called David. Somehow, Abby got home in the middle of the night and David brought her car over the following morning.

Answer: she felt left out

Elizabeth tried asking her father for permission by framing her question as though everyone else was doing something, so (naturally) Elizabeth was left out. When Tom found out what everyone else was doing, he refused.

Elizabeth never really told Abby why she wanted to be on birth control. (I assume that would be part of the 'talk' they'd have after Elizabeth went to the doctor.)

The best evidence we have is that her boyfriend, Ronnie, kept calling her 'little girl.' In the end, Elizabeth gets scared while in the doctor's waiting room and runs out. Ronnie didn't seem too pleased when she told him what she did. Elizabeth then decided to 'show' Ronnie that she wasn't a little girl by dressing up in a 'sexy' outfit and going over to Ronnie's house.

Answer: she felt she was needed at home

Tom didn't tell her to leave her job. He did, however, say that her wedding ring should be a homing device reminding her of her husband and eight children. After being successful (or at least feeling needed) after giving Elizabeth advice, she decided to take a leave of absence from her job.

She tried to tell all the children that if they had any questions or problems, to come to her and she'd be there. She also went a little crazy with the starch in the shirts - even starching Tom's golf shirt. (Previously, Tom was sneaking his shirts out of the closet to take them to the laundry to be de-starched.)

Answer: angel food

While spending more time at home, Abby made her first cake ever. She told Tommy not to slam the door to the fridge so the cake wouldn't fall. When Joanie came in, she told Joanie to whisper. (Joanie mentioned she thought it was the vibrations, not sound, that made cakes fall to which Abby replied she was just being careful.) Tom eventually came into the kitchen as she was taking the cake out of the oven and placing it on the kitchen table. Tom took that moment to slam his hand on the table and shout - but the cake didn't fall. So Abby decided to slam the refrigerator - and still, the cake didn't fall. But when Tom started to speak (in a whisper) the cake fell.

Tom then asked what kind of cake she'd made. Abby responded that it was a garbage cake now, but Tom reassured her that the kids would still eat it. He then pretended, as a way of apologising, to put the cake on her finger like they were getting married again.

Answer: Nancy

Nancy thought that Elizabeth was going to go over to Ronnie's house and have sex with him. Both the sedan and station wagon were being used, but just at the right time, David came in and Nancy stole his keys to his van. (David protested that he had a date...) By the time Nancy got over to Ronnie's house, Elizabeth was coming out - with the cassette tape she had lent Ronnie in hand. (It turns out to be Nancy's cassette that she had lent Elizabeth.) Elizabeth then told Nancy that she taught Ronnie that she (Elizabeth) wasn't a little girl anymore and not to treat women like objects.