Elise and Granny Jobson turned away, and went back to chatting with each other. Grandmother and Grandfather Jobson resumed discussion of some fundraiser at the Minton Park Country Club. Nana went back to looking at Brian’s drawing.
Jeff shook his head, and stabbed a forkful of pancake on his plate. As he lifted it to his mouth, his eyes looked up.
There was the hand again, this time stealing a pancake. Both of them disappeared over the edge of the table.
Jeff whipped his head to the right –
There was Davey, drinking his juice.
Jeff whipped his head to the left –
There was Brian, still doodling.
Jeff whipped his head back to center –
And there was the hand again, filching a bacon strip!
Jeff flung back his chair, grabbed the tablecloth, and whooshed it up in the air as he stuck his head under the table.
Except…
There was nothing there.
No little hand, no little body for the hand to be attached to…just a bunch of old grannypeople’s legs.
Who were probably staring at him, right this second.
Jeff sl-o-o-o-o-owly pulled his head out from under the table. He knew what he was going to find.
They didn’t disappoint him: every eye at the table was fixed on him.
Through a mouthful of food, Davey asked, “See the rat again, Dad?”
“You be quiet!” Jeff smoothed out the tablecloth, then smiled calmly at the rest of the table. “I thought I, uh, lost a contact.”
Still with the food in his mouth, Davey pointed out, “You don’t wear glasses, Dad.”
“Davey! Don’t talk with your mouth full!”
Davey shrugged, leaned over his plate, and dutifully spat out his mouthful of pancakes.
“You don’t wear glasses, Dad!” Davey said again, much clearer and louder.
“That’s – ”
Jeff paused. It was true, he didn’t wear glasses. He had just needed an excuse, and that’s what they did on sitcoms: they lost contacts under tables. Obviously, he watched too much TV.
Since he didn’t have a reply, he decided to go after Davey again. Always a good diversionary tactic.
Jeff pointed at the ground-up pile of goo Davey had just spit out. “That’s disgusting! Don’t do that!”
“Make up your mind, Dad,” Davey said, and stuffed the chewed pancakes back in his mouth.
The horror of seeing that rendered Jeff speechless. Unfortunately, everyone else was looking with concern at Jeff, so his silence opened the door wide for comments.
“Jeff, are you feeling okay?” Elise asked.
“Jeffrey, you didn’t tell me you wear glasses now,” Grandmother Tanner accused.
“See? First the brain goes, then the eyes,” Grandfather Tanner pointed out.
“Eat up, Jeff, you really are getting lightheaded,” Granny Jobson said.
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Copyright © 2008 Darren Pillsbury. All rights reserved.
1 comment:
In the first paragraph, I believe it should read Grandmother and Grandfather Tanner (not Jobson) resumed discussion...etc.
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