Amuse bouche... Family reunion

‘Well this is nice,” said Linda. She moved her seat at the dinner table a little.

“You don’t have to social distance from me,” said Graham, her husband, who was sitting to one side of her, the side from which she shifted.

“Not unless you want to,” said Alan, their son-in-law, who was sitting to the other side of Linda. Alan laughed. Linda laughed too. Graham managed a smile.

Had he missed his son-in-law’s sense of humour? Not really.

“It’s Alan you should be keeping distance from,” said Graham. He wasn’t joking.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Linda. “If we’re in the house and round the table, then what’s a few centimetres between friends? Anyway, Alan doesn’t have anything.”

“You don’t know that,” said both Alan and Graham, at the same time. This time, Graham laughed.

“Well, I think we all need to calm down again,” said Linda.

“You’re the one who moved your chair,” said Graham. He smiled at Alan, looking for back-up in his teasing. Alan was looking the other way.

“It’s just strange, being here like this,” said Linda.

Her eyes filled with tears. It wasn’t right, feeling awkward in her own daughter’s house.

“Can we do anything?”

Linda said to her daughter, Audrey, who seemed to be struggling with bags of messages at the far end of her enormous kitchen island.

“I’m not actually cooking,” said Audrey. “So just relax.”

“Is that relax because you’re not actually cooking, or relax in general?” said Alan.

Always the jokes, thought Graham of his son-in-law, but always at someone’s expense.

“Would you ever get up there and help the girl?” said

Graham to Alan.

Linda and Alan both looked a little surprised. It wasn’t like Graham to be so direct.

“Did something happen to him in the cocoon, Linda?” asked Alan, filling their wine glasses as he stood to go and help his wife.

Linda knew better than to laugh at a joke about Graham. She just smiled. She didn’t put her hand over the huge glass to stop Alan filling it, as she might have done a few months earlier. Nor did Graham make that face that suggested she should pace herself. Yes, lockdown had changed a lot of things.

“What’s on the menu?” Graham called up the kitchen, as Alan joined Audrey in the apparent unpacking.

“It’s takeaway,” said Audrey, “but Michelin star.”

Graham drained his wine glass.

“Well, this is nice,” said Audrey.