The dinner table was set with expectations and disappointments. Elodie ladled from the tureen into each bowl, careful to divide equally among her guests. Service was not a time to show favoritism. It was a time to show competence, precision even. Ronald, her sister's boyfriend, began to eat without waiting for the others. He was aggressive with his spoon. He took too much too fast and began to choke on a provocation. Small-Time James, her other sister's boyfriend, started to chant something about brickbats and how they should call him Big-Time James if they called him anything at all. Elodie took the tureen back into the kitchen and began to weep. It was so hard to be a hostess, she thought. It was so hard to be anything at all.
©2021 Ben Greenman/Stupid Ideas
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