Sunday, November 11, 2007

The Holy Din

When a senior in high school, the oldest boyo of the household started to have his tribe over on a regular basis. They would congregate in the living room, and slumped about like neglected and wilted plants, they would watch a movie. Or they would gather in the kitchen and together make the most incredible mess and chaos while they cooked, and then retire to the dining room to eat and drink and hold forth and make merry. This was music to the parental ears.
Now the second boyo, a junior in high school, has taken to similar pursuits. In his case, the casual mention that he has invited six of his gang over, "maybe to make something to eat and watch a dvd or something" prompts the pater of the parents to head to the kitchen, and nearly as quickly as thinking of it, make a pilaf in the largest available Dutch oven. Thanks to the good people half a world away, there is ample variety of instant curries to heat and serve, and at 7:00 the house fills with large teenagers-- half of them girls (unusual in such a boy household, to have more than the one girl) and they take plates and heap them with rice and sauce and in moments the dining table has ten people at its borders, eating and joking, telling stories and poking fun, laughing and calling for more nuts, more sauce, more rice....
Dinner done, they regroup in the living room, but plans to see a second rate dvd are pushed aside as a couple of enthusiastic girls clamor for Cranium, and so they all, even including the youngest brother, play the laugh-inducing game and the house is filled with din and tumult.
And the parents give thanks for the noise and din and wish only that it could be never ending...

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