It’s A Party
“It’s a party! At least it will be.” Dez and Emelina had been cooking and decorating all day. They had shooed Cook out of the kitchen. The two women pulled out their mother’s cookbook, found their grandmother’s handwritten recipes, put aprons on and set about cooking a feast for the staff. Matt and Jeremy were there. But only to help. “Go fetch this.” “Run out and get that.” “Stir mom’s Snack Mix when the alarm rings.” The two men took an extra fifteen minutes on their run to get a Christmas tree and more decorations. When they left the coffee shop, they bought coffee for their wives. It was a fight to get them to sit down and take a break. They were so caught up in their work, they hadn’t realized how exhausted they were getting. Jeremy asserted himself as he would with a recalcitrant patient. “You won’t be able to enjoy this evening if you two don’t slow down. All the food is practically ready, you’ve cleaned and polished the whole upstairs, decorated every square inch the place.”
“You’re right, Jeremy. We just want everything to be perfect. Our staff have done so much for us for so long. Worried about whether they would still have jobs after the first two years of the pandemic. Kept on with their families and never once left us.” Emelina was especially grateful. Her lifeline, well before the pandemic restrictions, she was certain she hadn’t told them how deeply grateful she was. This Christmas party was for them. Dez was hesitant about having the party upstairs, and especially hesitant about not letting Cook do the cooking, but Em had been so insistent she finally relented. And they had had fun. It was like Christmas’s when they were still in high school. Laughing at the food prep mistakes, Christmas carols lending their rhythms to the day, they were caught up in their own energy. “You know, Em, this turkey looks pretty good, you did a great job on the stuffing.” The roast turkey aroma rode high on the soaring notes of a Hallelujah chorus. Scalloped potatoes bubbled over in Cook’s oven. “Good thing you’ve got Cook a self cleaning oven, Em. We’d better take care of that after the party’s over or we’ll be in big trouble.” Dez grinned at the thought of Cook’s worries about what her kitchen would look like when all was said and done. “By the way, that dumbwaiter still works? I don’t relish carrying all the food up the stairs.”
“Yes, Dez, if it didn’t work we would have had to do something different. But I so wanted to open up the upstairs to everyone. The men have the fireplace all ready to go and the tree up. They got a start on decorating it, but it still needs work.” She stood back to look at it, went one side to the other, stepped back. Shook her head. She was about to rearrange things when Dez spoke up. “Em, let’s set out the rest of the decorations and when people come in, everyone can put a decoration on.” She saw a worried look pass across her sister’s face. “No, we’re not going to make it store window perfect. This isn’t one of your charity cocktail parties. This is family stuff. Martha and Digby will be bringing their grandchildren. And Joanie of course. Giles and his wife are bringing their kids. It will be fun for them! Did you get the board games out?”
~~~~~
“Do you suppose Sarah will bother us this evening?” Dez had just had to turn the dinner plates back over for the third time. “We don’t want the kids to be frightened ~ do we Sarah?” Dez raised her voice and looked around the room, never knowing where the little ghost girl could be. Sarah was excited! This was the first party that children were to be at for a very long time. When she got excited she did silly things, like turning over dinner plates. She really didn’t think anyone would notice and she was going to turn them back anyway before the food was on the table. When she heard Dez’s words, she got very quiet and backed into the wall across from the door. She wanted to see everyone come in and whispered that she would be quiet. All Dez heard was more of a feeling. Like a soft hand on her shoulder. The sudden sound of the door bell made her jump. “Someone’s here, Em. I’ll get the door.”
It was so blessedly different to be welcoming, Martha and Digby, their family, Samuel and Cook and Giles and his family in as guests. Dez was glad Em had insisted on having the party in the upstairs. She was afraid it would be too formal, but it wasn’t. With a crackling fire, Em’s touches of red, green and cold glitter, and the beautiful table settings with the Beaufort china and silver cutlery, her sister had set an elegant table. There was no staff and employer, just good friends who were as close as family. Of course the addition of children to the mix softened the evening that much more.
“Come in, come in!” Beating Dez to the door, Emelina beamed at her guests. They had never had a Christmas party like this before. Before the pandemic, when she was alone and without her first husband, Michael, time had passed without her knowing it. Christmas’s before that had been the formal affairs that Dez had been worried about. Staff had definitely not been included, went with their own family or friends once the food had been served. Then, Emelina had never been concerned. Tonight, she felt like the Grinch ~ her heart had grown two sizes more.
~~~~~
Cook insisted that she be called Elizabeth, everyone exclaimed at how delicious the meal was, the children finished decorating the tree, getting the men to reach the high branches for them. Supper finished all the dishes were piled in the dumbwaiter for a trip back downstairs. When the table was cleared the board games came out. Scrabble at one end and Monopoly at the other. Abby decided to read the book that Dez had gifted her. “It looks like a comic book with a big book’s cover.” Dez explained “It’s called a graphic novel.” Abby hugged her. “Thank you, Miss Dez.” She ran to the couch by the fireplace, curled up and opened her book. If she’d been watching, she would have seen a tiny dent at the other end of the couch. As quietly as she could, Sarah slid out of the walls and sat down to be with Abby. Feeling something, Abby looked up, but returned to her book. Competition at the table was fierce, laughing arguments about who’s turn it was, who was cheating, who really won. When the fire was only spitting sparks, Gile’s sons were growing restive and Abby was barely holding her eyes open. Digby spoke up. “I think it’s time to get the children off to bed, Martha.” He glanced at Joanie for approval.
“I quite agree. Such a lovely evening! Thank you Mrs Crawford and Miss Eliot. It is getting late though.” The sisters glanced at each other and smiled. “A little formal, Joanie. Please always call me Dez. I can’t speak for my sister though.” Martha broke in to the conversation. “We call her Miss Em, Joanie. Let’s get the children home.” At those words, Sarah slid off the couch and faded into the walls.
Grumbling that they still had some Monopoly moves to make, Gile’s sons got up and were out the door in a flash. A hurried ‘Thanks’ trailed behind them. Samuel and Elizabeth were the last to leave. “Good supper, ladies. Thank you.” Samuel had proved his point by enjoying more than one helping. Elizabeth leaned in to whisper to the sisters. “Excellent meal, Miss Em and Miss Dez. Hope I still have a job?” She chuckled. “Thank you Cook ~ I mean, Elizabeth. And you have another day off, Dez and I have some cleaning to do in the kitchen.
“Friends are the family you choose.”
~ Jesse C. Scott, The Other Side of Life
