Any normal hostess would have given the two of us the last unreserved table for four and told the couple behind us that they would have to wait. But this was not a normal hostess.
“I have a table for four,” she said to all of us. “Would you mind sharing it?”
Silence hung heavy among us. I suppose we did mind a little, the way you mind such things, not for any discernable reason except that you don’t just sit two unintroduced couples at a table for four. If one of us had said we minded, the deal would definitely have been off. For an awkward moment nobody said anything at all. Then we all agreed to share the table. The hostess promised separate bills.
We tried to be two separate couples, but it’s hard to be strangers at a table for four. We were David and Wendy from Edmonton. They were Lil from Edmonton and Joe from Sherwood Park. Lil knew our neighbours, and our former neighbours. She knew our house too, had always wondered what it was like on the inside. Joe had camped in many American cities. Lil once took a very long road trip across Canada and the US.
The hour flew by. In the end, we sort of had to wonder why any normal hostess would have sat one couple at a table for four, and told the other couple to wait.
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