Lunch

At around eleven o’clock, my uncle and aunt who lived nearby came over. They were accompanied by their five year old son, Michael. We had lived for more than ten years together on the same street and had grown close to each other. My uncle was my dad’s younger brother and had set up his own business in town.

My brother, Ken, arrived fifteen minutes later accompanied by his lovely wife Christine and the kids.  His kids were so grown up that I could barely recognize them especially the first born Molly. The twins, Amber and Andrew had grown taller and they couldn’t seem to seat still for a moment. They kept running around the compound from the time they arrived to when they left.

We later settled for lunch outside the house under a tree. We set up tables and chairs and invited everyone to join us. I didn’t want Fred to feel the odd one out so I suggested to my mother on how people were going to seat around the table. My uncle and his wife were placed together on the left side. Next to them were the kids placed together then followed by Christine then Ken. I sat next followed by Fred then dad and mum at the end of the table next to my uncle. This siting arrangement gave most of us a chance to talk to each other. Dad started by introducing Fred to everyone. My uncle who seemed more excited about this kept the conversation on by asking Fred some questions. At first I was nervous on how it was going to roll out but Fred seemed to enjoy this. I decided to catch up with Ken and ask him how his business was. He told me it was doing fine but he was stressing lately as Molly was about to start high school and this would mean more financial strain.

After lunch, the men decided to catch up with each other more by having a few beers. The ladies picked up the used utensils and took them to the kitchen to wash them up. My mum and sister in law decided to use this chance to give me advice. My aunt kept on chipping in on the story on how to be a good wife in future. Some of it seemed to be sensible while the other seemed fiction to say the least. But how could I despise this and yet the women seemed to have enough experience in marriage?