Friday January 14th, 2011

The exercise:

Four lines of prose about: the dinner guests.

The couple who ran the stall next to us for a portion of the Penticton farmers market this year are around our age and extremely nice, so we got along with them really well. We had been talking about getting together for a visit for a while now, but the timing finally worked out tonight.

We made the half hour drive to their place to check out their farm and have dinner and it was really lovely. We're looking forward to having them over here after we get back from Jamaica.

Mine:

They arrived late. They ate all our food and drank all our alcohol. They left late.

We're never having The Abominable Snowman and his wife over for dinner ever again.

7 comments:

Watermark said...

Marc: The Abominable Snowman and his wife! That really cracked me up :)

Here's mine:

Dinner guests

The table has been set and we sit waiting for the guests to arrive while I try to think of ways to alleviate my boredom; another dinner party with grown ups and no kids my age. An hour has already gone by and it is quite unlike any of them to be late, yet we wait and I think back to the plan I had devised and acted on to cancel the party. When the phone rings, my eyes light up and I sneak into the kitchen, ready for the signal to start devouring the profiteroles that I had been eyeing all morning. I hear my mother’s voice from the living room, irate and I know that they are not coming – none of them – much to my amusement as I stuff a profiterole in my mouth; my plan had worked.

Anonymous said...

Marc - like this exercise, writing with brevity is such an important skill to learn. So much fun too.

Sounds like the party I went to last night. I think I was the Snowman.

Watermark - good intro here - makes me want to know your devious plan.

Here's my thoughts:

“More coffee?” asked Angela, attempting to prolong our time at the table.

Dinner consumed, we were expected to join the games. We heard the moans. I blushed and took a sip from my cup.

Greg said...

@Watermark: as dumbricht has said, I'm intrigued to know what the plan was now! I'd have done the same thing for the profiteroles though... now I'll have to consider making some this weekend!

@dumbricht: After-dinner games? I consider you lucky, I seem to know too many people with SingStar type games who want after-dinner karaoke. You've conveyed a lot nicely in such few words.

@Marc: I actually thought (as I was reading this on my phone first) that your description of the other couple was your piece, so I was pleasantly surprised by Mr and Mrs Snowman. I feel I should point out though that they complained you had the heating up the whole time and they thought you were trying to melt them.

the dinner guests
Amelia had set thirteen places at the table, but then Karen had called to say that she couldn't make it. Amelia had sniffed dismissively and hung up; Karen always seemed to have some excuse these days. So now that everyone else was here and served, voices were raised and the wine bottles were emptying as though they were holed, Amelia was puzzled.
As far as she could tell, every place at the table was occupied.

Heather said...

My sister-in-law had her baby boy yesterday so I don't have time for comments as my husband is already packing the kids into the car.

-----
Faith sat prim and proper, her white blonde hair falling against her pale pink sweater. John sat at the edge of his chair, listening to every set of footsteps that came down the hall. They'd been over for dinner when Mary spilled her water during appetizers. It was in the waiting room that John spilled his secret: the baby was his.

Zhongming said...

Marc - haha. That was funny!

Watermark - ah, i wonder whats the plan?

Dumbricht - haha, moaning sound?

The dinner you had yesterday sounds fun! :)

Greg - haha, who's that extra? Interesting!

Heather - aww, makes me want to find out more.

The dinner guest

Its already past 7:30pm but the guest stayed on even when it's time for dinner and they're even seated in the dining table together with the family, waiting for dinner to be served.

When dinner is all ready, Jason's father asked Jason "Why you didn't pray when everyone of us is praying (Christian family)?"

"You must pray before dinner, be good and just follow my prayers."

So Jason with his praying hands, said his prayer aloud: "My father said, what an annoying guest - they should've go home for dinner!"

summerfield said...

Elizabeth wakes up from her long nap on the sofa; she must have been really tired to have had napped for more than three hours and had it not been for the doorbell, she probably would have slept until morning. She looks at the clock, walks towards the door, stretches her arms as she lets out a big yawn at the same time as she opens the door. It is her good friend Leah, holding a bottle of wine, and her husband Bobby, holding a bunch of store-bought flowers.

As the two visitors say "Hi", Elizabeth suddenly remembers that this is the night she's having them for dinner and that there's virtually nothing in the fridge.

Marc said...

Watermark - I, too, would love to know the plan. But at the same time it's kinda fun not knowing :)

Dumbricht - yeah, this is one of my favorites because it really is harder than it looks. Plus so much good writing seems to come out of it!

That was so wonderfully subtle, I had to re-read it to make sure I caught it :)

Greg - delightfully mysterious, that. Almost want it continued, but leaning towards thinking it's nicely complete as is.

Heather - congrats to your sister-in-law! I hope everything is going well so far.

Great final line! Wasn't expecting that at all.

Zhongming - haha, a very unexpected prayer - and one that just might lead his father to not being quite so insistent that he join in :D

Summerfield - that would be a very rough thing to wake up to. You just have to hope they're very close, understanding friends!