Seeking liquor, which the girls mistakenly believe will “eat up” fat, they go looking for Pecola, reasoning, “Her father’s always drunk. She can get us some.” They find her, far away on Lake Shore Park, where her mother, Pauline, works for a white family named Fisher. There, they witness Pauline unleashing a lifelong fury of hatred upon her daughter after Pecola accidentally drops a pan containing blueberry cobbler, burning her little legs severely. The girls are troubled when Pauline, who is bitter and rough with her own daughter, is loving and comforting with the Fishers’ daughter. They know it is Pauline’s own child who needs comforting most. In this scene, note that whereas Pecola calls her mother “Mrs. Breedlove,” the little Fisher girl, assuming a superior attitude toward an adult servant of the family, condescendingly calls Pecola’s mother “Polly.”