2002-07-18-9:32 a.m.

When it gets to be suppertime and I'm not hungry it's hard for me to cook. That's what happened last night. It was six o'clock and I still hadn't thought about supper. I finally forced myself to drag some ham out of the freezer and stick it in the microwave. Then I thought fried potatoes would be good with that so I started doing those and pretty soon I was interested in cooking even though I wasn't hungry.

I was peeling potatoes and keeping track of the meat in the microwave and sweeping so I wouldn't have to crunch around in there in my bare feet, and here comes Becky. "That smells good," she said. "What is it?"

"Ham," I told her.

"What else?"

"Potatoes."

"Cooked potatoes?" (She meant baked potatoes.)

"No. Fried."

"Oh." She loves baked potatoes.

"Beans. And I think I'll make some tea."

"Oh!" Then she was excited. "A tea party!" And she started dragging things out and putting them on the table and totally getting in my way. I wanted to tell her to stop and go somewhere else so I could get supper finished, but I didn't say anything and just kept tripping over her while she put crackers on a dish and set out spoons and teacups and generally cluttered up the table. Who wants crackers with ham anyway?

When we finally sat down Andrew's eyes got big. "A tea party!" he said. And he asked me to light the candle. The crackers were a big hit and Becky enjoyed her job of refilling teacups with tea from the teapot. The candle threw light on our plates, making them shimmer like in a nice restaurant. It threw light on the faces around the table, and when I looked up I could see it reflected in the glass of the china cabinet door. Light all around. All because of a tea party.

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