The Dinner Guest - Chapter 1: Karl's Story

It's happening.

It's happening and I can't stop it.

Sometimes you know the train's coming but you can't get off the tracks. The gates are coming down and you can hear the locomotive's horn sounding around the bend. But your milk truck is stalled and all the pasteurization in the world can't change this expiration date.

Maybe I should start at the beginning.

I was sitting in the kitchen this morning, eating my breakfast. In one hand I had the sports page and the other a spoon, which I used to take absentminded bites of a grapefruit.

I was glancing over the odds at the track, thinking maybe I should put a dime on 'Afternoon Delight' in the fifth and wondering how the hell I could put my hands on the bones of Barbaro.

By the time the sun comes up, I've usually braced myself for the worse - but nothing could prepare me for what happened next.

Even on a bad day I get a couple hours before life comes crashing down, but that wasn't in the cards today in Tucson.

Hell, I hadn't even finished my grapefruit.

"Karl, I was thinking about inviting Scott over for dinner this weekend," my wife said as she sat down across from me.

Questions usually end in a question mark, but this wasn't one of those sentences.

I looked across at Kate. She was a classy broad, but a redhead and that meant I had to play it cool.

"Scott? Do I know any Scott?"

I couldn't tell if she thought I was playing dumb, or just thought I was dumb. Sometimes I even trick myself.

"You know, Scott, from my office. We went on that business trip a couple weeks ago."

Bingo. Hello, Scott.

"Sure, I remember now."

I remember hiding in the bushes outside a Santa Fe motel while I watched you and him down a bottle of pinot grigio in those cheap plastic cups you find in the bathroom. I would also remember what I saw next if the telescopic lens on my camera hadn't tipped off a security guard taking a smoke.

I high-tailed it, but I have an imagination.

Either nothing was going on and I've been looking at too many girly mags or she was real twisted bringing him into our home, introducing him to Abita.

"So what's the occasion? Why would Scott come to dinner?"

Notice the question marks.

"Well, he's single and doesn't seem to know too many people in the area. I figured he might like a nice homecooked meal and a chance to socialize."

I guess socializing is what the kids call it these days.

"I'm going to invite him today at work. You don't have any plans Sunday, do you?"

The Sabbath.

"I'm free, honey. Let's go for it."

I could see that look in her eye. She wasn't looking for my approval, still I went through the motions anyway.

I could have made a stink over it, dug in, fought back. But I've learned you have to pick your battles. Besides, I need to get over to the track.

Second thought - maybe it's not my lucky day.