Over for Dinner, pt. 1

Mark sat down at the table. In front of him was some sort of pasta dish, served with a lot of basil and a lot of garlic. He could see the basil and he could smell the garlic. Next to the pasta was a small salad with a lot of lettuce. Purple lettuce. Ugh, he preferred green, it is less bitter. The salad had roasted bell peppers on it instead of dressing. Mark knew then that there was no way he was going to enjoy this meal.

The dishes were very chic, very San Fran-Cisco. Some were purple and others matching green glass which was made up in that "crackly" texture. Mark couldn't remember the word for it but he did like the colored shadows they cast on the white patterned tablecloth.

Mark picked up the almost comically oversized fork as his hosts sat down to the left and right of him in front of similar meals. The daughter picked up the mathes and lit the candles. Mark noticed that the overhead lights were still on but did not say anything.

The mother smiled a huge, lipsticky smile and gave a satisfied sigh as she laid both palms on the table. "Oh, Mark, I am so glad you could join us for dinner."
"Uh, yeah. Heh." Mark smiled awkwardly.
"Thank you so much for dealing with those blackberry bushes today. That was so great that you could come over."
"That's, uh, that's what you pay me for. Heh heh," Mark speared an especially purple piece of lettuce and put it in his mouth. He winced. The other two began eating as well. They winced too when they ate the purple lettuce. Ugh.

"So Aaaaaashley," said the mother.
"Yes?" said the daughter.
"So how was your triiiip?"
"Oh, it was pretty good."
"Well how so? Tell me tell me!"
"Well the plane ride was okay and Paris was wonderful. We visited the eiffel tower and the the Sienne and the Louvre and I learned a little bit of French!"
"Oh oh speak French! Say some French to me!" The mother leaned over to Mark, "I took French in high school, ha ha about a million years ago, right? Ha ha!"
"Okay mom, okay, um, 'parlay voo on-glay?' 'parlay voo on-glay.'"
"Oh, ha ha ha!"
The mother and the daughter leaned back in their chairs and laughed high and loud. After several seconds they stopped simultaneously and turned to mark with wide toothy grins on their faces.

Mark smiled weakly, "uh... ha ha," and ate some pasta.