Livora Gracely

The meeting can start after one more arrival.

A Meeting of Four

Arthur arrived at the bench with an agenda in his inside pocket.

Charles was already there, standing beside a leather folder. Ben sat at one end of the bench, reading the newspaper.

“You’re early,” Arthur said.

“I wanted to finish this before we began.” Ben folded the paper to show him a photograph of an enormous pumpkin.

“Is that on the agenda?” Charles asked.

“Not yet.”

Arthur took out his list. “We have invitations, a venue, and a date to discuss.”

The four friends had decided to arrange a reunion for the people who had once worked at their office. They still called their planning sessions meetings, and for this one they had agreed to wear their old suits.

Charles looked along the path. “Where’s Daniel?”

“He said he’d be here,” Arthur replied.

“Then we should wait,” said Ben. “He’s bringing something.”

What Was Daniel Bringing?

“The address list,” Arthur said.

Charles opened his folder and took out a sheet of paper.

“I have the address list.”

Arthur checked the top of his agenda. “So you do. I wrote it down.”

“Daniel is bringing a photograph,” Ben said.

“What photograph?” Charles asked.

“I don’t know. An old one, perhaps.”

“You sound very certain for someone who doesn’t know.”

“I’m certain he’s bringing something.”

Ben put the newspaper on the bench and stood. He remembered their conversation the previous week: Daniel had asked whether he should bring something to put in the middle of the table.

“I told him to bring whatever he thought was most important,” Arthur said.

Charles looked at the bench. “We don’t have a table.”

“We can put the important thing between us,” Ben suggested.

“Unless it’s the old office coffee machine,” Arthur said.

“Daniel kept that?” Charles asked.

“I hope not. It took two of us to lift it.”

“And three to make it work,” Ben added.

Charles checked his watch. “Perhaps he’s still carrying it.”

The Full Briefcase

A few minutes later, Daniel appeared at the far end of the path. His briefcase hung from his shoulder, and he waved as soon as he saw them.

“Wait for me!” he called.

“We are!” Arthur called back.

Daniel hurried over and set his case on the bench. It landed with a heavy clink.

Charles looked at Arthur. “That sounds like a small coffee machine.”

Daniel opened the case and lifted out a parcel wrapped in a clean tea towel. Inside were four little cups.

Ben picked one up. It was white, with a narrow blue line around the rim.

“I remember these.”

“We used them every Friday,” Daniel said. “I found them at the back of my cupboard.”

Arthur turned his cup over. A small chip marked the base.

“This was mine.”

“You can tell from that?” Charles asked.

“I dropped it during a meeting.”

“You dropped it during several meetings,” said Ben. “It may belong to any of us.”

Daniel placed the cups in a row on the bench.

“I thought we could use them before we start making plans for everyone else.”

Charles looked at the cups, then at the empty path.

“Did anyone bring tea?”

Daniel smiled and reached back into his case. He took out a thermos and held it up.

“I thought you might ask.”

First on the Agenda

They made room on the bench. Daniel poured while Ben held the cups steady. A little steam rose into the cool air, carrying the smell of coffee.

Arthur took his agenda from his pocket again.

“First,” he began, “we need to choose a date.”

“Before that,” Daniel said, “we should fill your cup.”

Arthur held it out. Daniel poured carefully, stopping just below the blue line.

“Now,” said Charles, opening the folder, “I’ve marked the people I can contact.”

Ben looked over his shoulder. “You have two Marks.”

“They’re different Marks.”

“One of them moved away.”

“I know. He sent me his new address.”

Arthur added a note to the agenda while Daniel handed Ben his coffee. They decided Charles would contact the two Marks, Ben would speak to their former office manager, and Daniel would ask about the café they used to visit after work.

“What about me?” Arthur asked.

“You can choose the date,” said Charles.

“After consulting everyone,” Ben added.

“Of course.”

Arthur wrote that down too.

A breeze lifted the edge of Ben’s newspaper. He tucked it beneath the empty tea towel, then noticed the photograph of the pumpkin again.

“We could invite the person who grew that,” he said.

“Did they work at the office?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t believe so.”

“Then why would we invite them?”

Ben folded the newspaper around the photograph.

“We may need a larger table for the reunion. They seem to know something about making things grow.”

Charles closed his folder. “Shall I add them to the address list?”

“Not yet,” said Arthur.

He looked at his agenda, then wrote one more item at the top:

Fill the cups.

“I thought we’d already done that,” Daniel said.

“We have,” Arthur replied. “I’m preparing for the next meeting.”

Livora Gracely ♥