Big Dinner

Big Dinner

OK, I have the food under control. I’ll start cooking at noon. The table and chairs are all in place, I put on the tablecloths. All the dishes are there, silverware, condiments, our best linens. Each place has a plate, two glasses, and of course a name tag… Nobody will end up sitting next to someone they wouldn’t want to be sitting next to…

“What?”

“What, what? I just told you everything is ready.”

“I was talking about the name tags. Who do you think shouldn’t be sitting next to whom?”

“No, I meant to say everybody will be sitting next to people they can talk to easily…”

“Who do we have that has to watched?”

“Nobody! I just wanted to be sure everyone had people they could talk to available!”

“Like Jan and Cynthia here?”

“Exactly, they are best friends after all.”

“Were…”

“What?”

“Cynthia stole Jan’s boyfriend last week… Tell me Frank isn’t invited!”

“He’s not, he’s away…”

“I can’t believe you did that. Don’t you listen to the kids?”

“Listen to the kids? Of course I listen to the kids!”

“I don’t mean that, I mean listen when they’re talking to each other.”

“Oh… isn’t that being sneaky?”

“No, it’s being a parent!”

“I’m a great parent!”

“I know, Honey, but now that they’re older you need to remember they aren’t kids anymore, they’re little adults.”

“When did you get so smart?”

“Before you did, I guess…”

“Well, did your spying bring about any other things I should know ahead of time?”

“Well, Mom and Dad Kemps are not speaking to each other. Jeremy has a new tattoo he’ll want to show everybody, but shouldn’t. And Janet is probably pregnant, she’s been playing with the kids a lot this week…”

“I need to sit down…”