Wednesday 15 October 2014

SHORTS: False Assumptions

The party was huge, with people crowding everywhere; a Brazilian friend of the hosts was singing Latin American popular songs and guests stood around in knots, craning their necks to see the singer. The overflow was in the hall, and others, who had no interest in the music, were talking in subdued voices, either in the rooms nearer the front of the house or blocking the entrance door.

She left halfway through the concert, having to go to her own house to see to some dishes of party food  she’d left to finish cooking, before taking them back to the hosts’; a neighbour had promised to help her carry the two large, heavy dishes. She’d asked him to follow her home in about fifteen minutes.

When he arrived he said the concert hadn’t finished and they decided to have a glass of wine while waiting for the food to continue browning. They also assumed  that they would find it impossible to push through the crowds and force their way into the kitchen. Ten minutes later they checked the food and it was fine. Taking the dishes out of the oven they realised that they were far too hot to carry, even wearing oven gloves. They decided to have another glass of wine while waiting for the dishes to cool a little. They took the bottle into the living room, sat down and started a conversation.

When they returned to the party they found they had been missed. They were greeted with cries of “where have you been?” The concert had ended just a few minutes after the neighbour had followed her to fetch the dishes and food was to be served immediately. Various assumptions had been made as to the reason for their delayed arrival. 'Had she suddenly fallen ill - she was usually so very reliable - had the food been spoiled, had they slipped on wet grass, had one of them tripped over the bars of the cattle grid in the dark, had they dropped the dishes . . . . . .'

Not aware of having done anything wrong, they didn’t apologise. Her food was gone within minutes.


27 comments:

  1. I hope they enjoyed getting to know one another. I don't like crowds. I can usually visit with a single person, though. I would want to drink the wine and forget about the party.

    Love,
    Janie

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  2. Oh, now that was fun! Sometimes it is those serendipitous moments that brings people together for a lifetime. :-)

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  3. Well, at least the food arrived! And judging from your earlier post (I'm catching up after being away), it must have been delicious.

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  4. Will there be more?



    ALOHA from Honolulu
    ComfortSpiral
    =^..^= . <3

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  5. I probably would have gotten out plates, poured more wine, and forgotten about the party.

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  6. Gee whiz, I thought you were going in a different direction with what people thought they were doing! (But then, I have a dirty mind.)

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  7. I'm thinking with all the wine drinking that there may have been something a little more spicy going on!

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  8. Better late than never, at least the food arrived.

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  9. Sure having a glass of wine time runs faster.

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  10. If I had been she, alone with a man and a bottle of wine, the party people would have wondered all evening and into the next morning.
    That was in my Bad Old Days, you understand.

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  11. I had to laugh at the comment June made. I think I could do that too. ha,ha
    Well written and we all need a little more spice in our lives if I went that route. ha,ha
    Well done.

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  12. What a lovely story.

    And June speaks for more than just herself here. :-)

    Pearl

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  13. People will talk. The question they were asking were not necessarily what they were thinking.

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  14. Oh yes, my mind would have gone in a completely different direction of wondering why they were late than having fallen or spoiled the food.

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  15. My thoughts were that after all the wine, they both fell asleep and forgot about the party....

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  16. Like June, my thoughts went in another direction. Finding a good conversationalist is often rare - I'd be tempted to forget about the party entirely!

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  17. I'd much rather be in the one-on-one conversation than at the party, too.
    Hey--they gobbled up the food, regardless--LOL! ;)

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  18. I think the moral of this story is that the best parties always end up in the kitchen.

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  19. To be welcomed so much is such a gift! What kind of wine?

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  20. Sounds fun!

    Catching up here. I love all the autumnal posts.

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  21. Funny that the first wrong assumptions belonged to the cook and her helpful carrier. One of the most useful questions in the world is, "What time do you plan to serve?"

    I must confess this brought to mind one of the more famous parties my parents threw. The Industrial Engineering department of the Maytag Company was famous for their parties -- I often was trundled off to a neighbor's house when my folks hosted one. We lived at the very edge of town, and the time came when a fellow disappeared, on foot. They had to go find him. It wasn't hard. He was happily drunk, and had wandered into the nearby corn field, where he was singing to the moon.

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  22. Hallo Friko,
    das kenne ich ein wenig, wenn wir im Sommer gegrillt haben. Vieles spielt sich direkt um den Grill herum ab, und irgendwann stehen viele Gäste direkt am Grill.

    Gruß Dieter

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  23. Really enjoyed this little slice of life.

    =)

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  24. Pretty much, my favorite thing to read on any blog is a vignette that takes the small moments of life and places them in front of us to consider. Thank you.

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