Food · Original fiction
Lea wrote the dinner invitation in pencil. Saturday, seven, soup. At the bottom she added: change one thing if you need to.
Her neighbour returned it with seven crossed out and six written above. Another guest changed soup to soup and bread. The last drew a little chair beside the table.
Lea had meant that people could change the date. Now she wondered whether she had accidentally invited them to redesign the evening. She baked an extra loaf and moved the table away from the wall.
At six, the neighbour arrived carrying the little chair. It was for his daughter, who had been too shy to ask whether she could come.
They ate before the room grew dark. The girl drew the table on the invitation and gave everyone a crooked smile. Lea kept the paper. Next time she would be clearer, she decided, but she liked the chair.
Take a moment
What did the guests hear in Lea’s open-ended invitation?