I actually read this month’s book for book club – this is not a regularly occurrence for me. The fact that every chapter was essentially unrelated to the previous probably helped make this happen – I’m a sucker for disconnected beauty.
Unfortunately, what I didn’t read, was the invitation. The theme was Pajama Jam and, being that I came straight from work and hadn’t paid attention, I only fulfilled the ‘jam’ part of the theme. Others, however, showed respect to our host (they probably learned to do so thanks to the ‘etiquette’ chapter in the book) in their cozy PJs. I offered to change into what I often wear to bed – nothing – but then put everyone’s fears to rest by letting them know I also regularly sleep in my clothes so, in a sense, I was perfectly in theme.
Ashterisk was in her pajamas, but her mind was in the gutter and she appeared to have left her balance at home. Within twenty minutes of book club she had spilled her wine twice. Luckily, it was white. Also lucky was that, instead of landing on the ground, the wine landed on the salami. “I like a little wine with my salami,” Ashterisk told us. Right.
Later in the evening, after Ashterisk had been lounging in the chair for some time, she stood up and I noticed something on her seat. “What is that?” I asked. “I don’t know,” Ashterisk replied, then picked it up. “Smell it,” Beaner advised. Ashterisk promptly followed Beaner’s advice, said, “It’s cheese,” made a gesture to imply it came of out her who-ha, and nearly knocked over Beaner’s wine. “Easy,” I said. “Don’t call me names,” she replied, grabbed some marinated salami, put it in her mouth and, wine in hand, returned to her cheese-free chair.
Based on the amount of trouble we get into and the little amount of reading we do, we should probably change the name of our club to Booked.