Dinnertime

Sadie scrambled into the ladderback chair at the far end of the table, leaving the one closest to the door for her uncle who had not yet arrived. She wondered what Herbie ate. Chocolate covered ants? Cheap, nice protein, and who could go wrong with chocolate? Crab? Or perhaps squid. Ugg. She'd never get past the suckers.

He appeared in the doorway then, leaving her no more time to concoct what he might prefer. He looked at her from his end of the table as though she was an alien before he muttered, "Good evening." In a way, it might be true she was, at least in his world. Sadie had to wonder when he'd last had a child in the house.

Herbie pulled his chair out so he could sit down, and the stubborn screech the legs it made against the hardwood floor was nothing less irritating than a blast delivered by a poor tuba player. It seemed to fluster him, and she didn't want to make him feel worse by staring, so she began to study the place setting before her.

Sadie had never seen so many dishes and silverware at one seat in her life. There seemed enough forks and spoons to spread around, instead of having them all clumped together. She switched them around so that every fork had a spoon friend. The knives would just have to get along on their own. And then their was her napkin to fetch off the dining room rug. Being folded fancy like a bird hadn't kept it from toppling of the table. She tried to catch it with her feet, but one mocassin had stuck miserably to whatever fabric the chair seat was made of, so it fell clear to the floor where it looked like a red puddle on the tan rug. The spotless tan rug. Sadie found herself grateful it was just a napkin and not her dinner on the floor.

"If you will stop fidgeting, we can say grace and get started," Herbie said from the other end of the table. He said a quick prayer by rote before she had a chance to settle in, and soon she was watching him open a wine bottle with a true-life corkscrew. She had never seen one before. The most sophisticated tool her parents owned was a screwdriver with an interchangable tip.

Before that thought of her parents could dampen her spirits, a servant dished up a serving of roast beef, mushy peas, mashed potatoes and a puffy roll. Sadie looked down the table to see how Herbie was beginning his meal. The distance was so great it was hard to tell. If only she could move down beside him. Or maybe just half-way down the side for now, shortening the huge gap between them. But he had already tucked into his meal, as he probably always did, without a thought about anyone else being at the table with him.

From the word list for today:
screwdriver, ant, tuba, sucker, ladderback, crab, shortening, mocassin, switch, rug