The Group Dinner

A friend looks over and sees her friend’s empty plate of chicken, and thinks “I should have ordered the chicken”.

The woman is having dinner at a well-known restaurant. She belongs to a monthly book club, and one of the responsibilities of the person who hosts the meeting is to make reservations at a restaurant to go to after the meeting.

This month’s restaurant is known for its great-tasting food and choosing what item to select from the large menu can be challenging. Before they ordered, they discussed what dishes they were considering.

One of the group members, asks another group member, “What are you going to have?”

The group member answers, “I’m not sure. I’m trying to decide between the ‘Salmon Havon’ and one of their low-calories dishes ‘Quesadilla for the Diva’”.

One of the other group members says, “They have low-calorie dishes?”

The group member answers, “Yes, they are located on page eight.”

They all begin turning to page eight in the menu book to look at the items.

The host of this month’s book club turns to the woman and asks her, “What are you going to have?”

The woman answers, “I think I’m going to have the shrimp scampi dish “Shrimp, but not Skimpy”.

The host of this month’s book club takes a moment to read the description of the menu item and says, “It sounds good. I think I’m going to have that as well.”

Another group member says, “I’m going to have one of their house specialties “The Rooster’s Envy”. The “Rooster’s Envy” is chicken kabobs.

Another group member says, “I’m going to have that as well. I’ve ordered that before. They are really good.”

Another group member says, “Does anyone want to share “The Big Roast” with me.

A group member sitting next to her says, “I will. I love roast beef.”

Another group member says, “I’m thinking of ordering the ‘Chef’s Supreme Salad’, but I know the portion size is really big.

The host of the book club says, “You could order it and have half of it, and take the rest home.”

The group member says, “That’s a good idea. I could have the rest for lunch tomorrow.”

The server arrives at their table and takes their order. They order a few appetizers for the group to share and then each member orders their dish.

As they wait for their food to be prepared, they begin discussing this month’s book. A few minutes later, the lights in the restaurant go out. It is completely dark. The servers carrying flashlights to help guide them quickly begin placing a few candles on each table.

A few servers begin placing candles around their table. One of the servers says, “Don’t worry. This sometimes happens. The lights should turn back on in a few minutes.”

After a few minutes, the lights turn back on. The woman return to discussing this month’s book. The server returns and each group member is provided with a glass of water, a soft drink, or iced tea.

A few minutes later, the fire alarm begins going off. The women are not sure what to do. As with the lights, they figure it should quickly turn off. They notice that a few people located at the other tables are getting up from their tables.

One of the group members says, “What should we do?”

One of the group members who is covering her ears with her hands says, “I think we should leave. It’s really loud.”

They notice that the other customers are all getting up from their tables. Someone from the restaurant comes up to their table and says, “Please go outside.”

The woman go outside the restaurant. They wait a few minutes before they are allowed to go back inside.

They return to their table. They once again begin finishing their discussion about the book and wait for their food. The appetizers arrive and they enjoy eating “Pita Feed Ya” which is pieces of pita bread served with a variety of different spreads and a few shrimp cocktail dishes, “Shrimp’s Night Out”.

After a few more minutes, their dinners arrive and they begin eating. The woman enjoys her dish of shrimp scampi, but can’t help but notice her friend’s chicken kabobs which look and smell delicious. After they finish eating, they have coffee and begin discussing next month’s book selection and host. They agree on the book and a group member volunteers to be next month’s host.

The woman and three other group members leave together. One of the women will drive each of them home. On the way home, they hit a pothole and within moments they hear a thudding noise. One of the group member’s says, “I think you may have a flat tire.”

They pull over to side of the road and notice one of the tires has been damaged. They call a roadside assistance service and wait for the tow truck to arrive. Fortunately, the wait is not very long.

As they wait, they laugh about the night’s events, “This has been some night. Between the lights going off and the fire alarm, and now the flat tire”.

The person from the roadside assistance service arrives and quickly changes their tire, and says, “I used the spare tire located in your trunk, but it will need to be replaced with a new tire.”

The women thank the person from roadside assistance, and get back into the car. The woman who lives the farthest away is driven home first. After they leave the exit from the highway, she directs them to her home.

After they drop her off, they make their way back towards the highway. It is late and dark. The group member who is driving them home says, “I’m going to stop and turn on the GPS.” They pullover and she enters a destination into the GPS system. It directs her and she does her best to follow it, but after a few minutes she says, “We don’t seem to be getting closer to the highway.”

They continue to drive. The woman says, “I think we may be going in circle. I recognize some of these homes.”

The group member who is driving the car says, “Are you sure?”

The woman says, “Yes, I noticed some of these homes because of the holiday decorations.”

The group member who is driving the car says, “Let’s look for a place we can stop and ask for directions.”

They continue to drive and enter an area where there are traffic lights. As they continue to drive through them, they begin to look for a convenience store or gas station. As they drive through the area on the lookout for a convenience store, they see a large green sign indicating the upcoming exit for the highway.

The group member driving the car says, “There’s the sign for the highway.”

They all internally breathe a sigh of relief as they reach the highway and make their way to drop off the next group member.

When the group member driving the car, reaches the woman’s home she says, “What a night. I’m sorry for getting lost.”

The woman says, “It’s not your fault. It was a remote area and it can be hard to see at night. Thanks for driving us. I will see you at next month’s book club.”

The woman returns home and finds her cat eagerly awaiting. She pats the cat a few times and says, “You must be hungry.”

She goes into one of the cabinets where she stores the cat food. She can’t decide between a can of fish and a can of chicken. She decides to feed the cat the can of chicken. As she places the food dish next to the circling and pacing cat, she says “It’s for the best.” The cat takes a few sniffs of the food before enjoying it’s nightly feast.

The phone rings. Before the woman left for the evening, she adjusted her answering machine so that it would play the “not at home message” after two rings. She is unable to reach the phone before the answering machine plays her “out of home” message. She hears her friend’s message, “I am sorry to call so late, but if you are home, please call me, it’s an emergency.”

The woman picks up the phone and says, “Hi, I’m home. It’s been a crazy night. How can I help?”