A Poignant Fallacy

Scene 7- First Dinner

Laura had spent almost two hours in the kitchen making sure she cooked some of her boys favorites. Beau loves his mom's dinner rolls from scratch, Jackson insisted on her steak, and JD and Gavin had told Jackson and Beau that they had to try her new mushroom gravy recipe.

Juliette didn't usually like dinner all that much. She didn't like what her mom cooked, she didn't like eating in front of her brothers, and the adult talk was SO BORING. She had to admit to herself that tonight was certainly different because all of her brothers were home at the same time. The last time that had happened was Jackson's first year of college. But it also made her quite nervous.

The family has assigned dinner seats that naturally assimilated over the years. (See at top)

Gavin- "Mom these potatoes are amazing."

Beau- "I seriously missed this. JD you're gonna have no idea what hit you man"

Jackson- "I told you and you didn't believe me"

Beau wanting to be right fired back with "Sure I believed you."

Jackson laughs, "Yeah whatever. Dorm food sucks JD."

Gavin chimes in, "Nothing like coming home from practice with great food waiting for you"

Laura smiled at Gavin. Laura was so happy to have all of her children back under her care. Even if they didn't need it anymore. She lightly grasped the back of Beau's head and brought it in to kiss the top of his head. After the first kiss she wouldn't let his head go and grabbed with her other hand to kiss it numerous times more.

Beau laughs and says "Mom I get it. You can stop now. I love you too."

She continues with "how can i? My babies are back!"

and he pulls away to say "stopppppppppp"

Laura lets go and says "Alright, alright."

Beau points and says "why don't you get Gavin? he's the one who's ass kissing"

Laura and John both voiced their disapproval of the profanity, "Hey, hey. That's enough" Although John did find that rather funny.

The boys were confused because they often curse with and around their parents.

Jackson exclaims, "Oh right!"

He quickly covers Juliette's ears and continues his thought.

"Wouldn't want the baby to hear the naughty words!"

Everyone around the table laughs except Juliette. She's sad that nothing has seemed to change and she's reminded of her early childhood when all of the boys ganged up on her. She noticed that JD quickly stopped laughing once he caught her eye and it made her feel better. She was surprised that one of her brothers didn't then make fun of her and asked her if she was going to cry. But she also knows that they've grown together and she's grown thick skin. She knows that if she shows how much they hurt her feelings they'll be all the more satisfied.

With this new attention on Juliette, Laura notices what her daughter is notorious for. She's barely eaten any of her dinner.

Laura- "Juliette you need to eat more of your dinner"

Juliette nods her head and smiles at her to satisfy her mother. And to  do anything to get all of the eyes off of her.

The conversation continues at the left end of the table with stuff that doesn't interest Juliette. She turns to the side and rolls her eyes after what had just happened. But not without her father catching her.

They have their own conversation at their end of the table with low voices so no one else notices.

John- "Juliette please don't roll your eyes at your mother."

Juliette didn't realize her father had seen her and apologized, "Oh i'm sorry. I just really don't like dinner sometimes."

John lightly laughs, "Well sweetheart that's not very nice. Your mother worked hard on this meal and I worked hard to pay for it."

Juliette says defensively, "Oh! no, no I meant just dinnertime. With everyone here."

She then gets really sad remembering all of the dinners that her brothers taunted her and her father looks at her slightly heartbroken for her.

John- "Tell you what, if you eat three more bites of steak then you can go upstairs and I'll come check up on you after dinner is over."

Juliette nods her head fast and quickly takes three more bites. She begins to stand up out of her chair and picks up her plate.

John grabs the plate and sets it back on the table, "Don't worry about it baby, I'll get it to the sink"

She puts the plate down on the table with him and then steps over to kiss him on the cheek. She whispers to him "Thank you Daddy!" And she runs out of the room.

Laura says across the table disapprovingly of her husband's parenting efforts, "John she's never going to listen if you let her take shortcuts."

John fires back, "She was sick of being made fun of and so I told her she could leave. She can have her dinner later if she's hungry... but I doubt she will"

Laura just shakes her head and then submits to him that he had a fair point.

The dinner continues fruitfully as if it didn't matter at all whether Juliette was there or not. On the surface they were mostly a very happy family.