A TALE OF TWO PARTIES

It was the worst of days; it was the best of days--no, really. Sue and I got up late Saturday to attend a Dean gathering, "The Electric House Smackdown Party," hosted by the same woman who once promised us dinner and served us lame snacks. Though we smelled a train wreck, we struggled through a loss of hot water (we took saucepan showers with water heated on the stove) in order to attend this debacle out of loyalty to our group. We arrived an hour late to find a delectable spread of pepperoni and pretzels awaiting us. (And it was STICK pepperoni, none of your presliced stuff.) Our hostess rented a tent, tables, and chairs and placed a sizable ad in Saturday's paper announcing the party--and served pepperoni and pretzels! There was also supposed to be a conference call with Howard Dean at 2:45--this was postponed until 8:45. "You can stick around until then," our hostess informed us, "or you can leave and come back. We have chicken gyros." We opted not to stay or return. Sue later informed me that the chicken and a big jar of mayo had been sitting out on the kitchen counter all afternoon--a potential Salmonella Smackdown.

At 7:30 we stopped in on my friend Alex, who had lately returned from a visit to Alaska. Within minutes, he provided us Pilsner Urquells (!) and a spread of snacks including (but not limited to) pepperoni. There was cheese, crackers, oysters--and he then asked us if we'd like some filet mignon. I felt like I had just escaped from Bad Hostess Hell only to be seated at a soiree with Diamond Jim Brady. As he regaled us with stories of his adventures at the top of the world, we ate and drank and drank (Urquells and Stella Artoises) until well after 2:00 am. What a fun evening! What a lousy afternoon!