The House of Fabulous
Keywords: The, of, House, Fabulous,
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I noticed Tina heading through the doorwall onto the deck and I followed, trying to keep up. It was a cool afternoon and I could feel the breeze as it ran across my legs. I wasn"t cold because the adrenaline running in me now was firing the internal furnace.
My breathing had picked up as we got ready for guests and I noticed the large tent for the first time. It literally looked like something from a circus and my mind did a quick check of the tables, calculating two hundred plus placesettings. Tonight looked more like a large wedding reception instead of a fund raising party.
Tina stepped up next to me and explained the layout.
"Our area of responsibility for tonight is the deck here and everyone on the lawn. Our group doesn"t have assigned tables so we move amidst them all. Bringing drinks, clearing plates to that hopper." She said, pointing behind the bar. It"s a buffet so we won"t be serving anyone but there is bread and butter on the tables that will need refilling from the area next to our BBQ"s." I followed her finger to where she was pointing and could see a setup off to one side of the yard, the blue smoke rising from the portable grills, the smell of cooking meet was marvelous.
"On the tables you"ll also find various salad dressing, etc. that will need refilling early on until the main course is ready. If someone asks for something and you"re not sure, flag me down. If I don"t know we go to Anthony or Jerry. Sound easy enough?" she asked, studying me.
I nodded; looking around the yard as the sounds of the first guests reached us.
"Looks like we"re on. Wait until they leave the hosts and come down into the yard before asking if they would like something to drink."
With that, Tina walked towards the house and I followed, hoping to get in the groove quick.
Debbie was standing on the deck with her husband greeting the first guests when we approached. Tina handed me a small tray and I was grateful for something to hold on to as we positioned ourselves between the deck and the bar ready to serve the guests.
Debbie and her husband were the last in the gauntlet the guests had to traverse before being allowed entry to the party. She had on a beaded black gown with mesh sleeves and long skirt. Apparently I was the one who would be showing some leg tonight, I thought to myself, cognizant again of the breeze blowing into my nether regions. Her husband was last, dressed in a tux and shook hands as the first few couples worked through the line and stepped either out onto the lawn or towards the bar. The other servers in front of me fanned out and approached them, taking the drink orders. I followed suit and stepped up finally when the others were gone.
"Good evening." I said to a young couple in their early twenties. "Can I get you something from the bar?"
Bottle beer and white wine. Nodding, I stepped to the bar and asked for the items. I placed both on the tray and turned, heading back to where I had first encountered the couple but they were gone. There were several couples now, all looking quite similar, near the appetizer table so I headed that way, where most of the other servers were passing out drinks to the guests. Most of the men were dressed the same, in suits they had probably worn to work that. Except these men and women owned their own businesses and could afford to donate to political movements. They felt the need to splurge on their spouses and it was a faux pas for any woman to show up in something else another woman had on. I couldn"t help but admire and envy the women who strolled the lawn in designer gowns with perfectly toned bodies. It was because of the woman, dressed in a beautiful, silver, sleeveless gown cut just above the knee that I was able to find the couple and deliver my first set of drinks.
Satisfied with my service I turned back to find a sea of people flooding in, overwhelming the crew. I didn"t have time to worry about my appearance and raced back, helping to provide beverages to the growing swarm of people. Things were quickly growing chaotic as we tried to keep up. A string quartet had formed up to one side of the tent and begun playing, the music mixing with the excited chatter. Hopefully the music would sooth the savage beasts while we scurried to serve them all.
I was contributing but not nearly as efficiently as the others were. I took pride knowing that they would have been totally screwed being a person short though. Even with me here things were strained but people were relaxed and networking, allowing us to finish up with the first push of people who wanted to arrive early to pound the flesh.
A lull had formed thirty minutes after the first guest had arrived and this allowed several of us to move on to clearing the first round of dishes. Tina continued to serve drinks as I moved about the tables and picked up what I could, depositing them in their allotted place. As I loaded in another load, Mr. Jenkins stepped forward and waved me over to the side.
"Sure you haven"t done this before?" he asked with a smile. "You"re doing a great job. And I know it"s your first party with us and it"s been frantic but it will slow down and smooth out shortly so just hang in there."
I nodded, taking the opportunity to catch my breath.
"I do need you to smile a little bit more though for the guests. You should appear to be having a great time even if you"re racing around trying to serve them. OK?"
"Yes sir. Sorry Mr. Jenkins. I will." I nodded and smiled. He could help but do it too.
"Much better. Thank you Stacy."
He stepped away and I went back to clearing the tables under the tent when Tina stepped up.
"Let me guess. Compliment followed by a critique?"
I nodded, smiling widely at her.
"Ah. The old, need to smile critique. I wouldn"t worry about it though. Just need to picture the men in their wives dresses and their wives in the suits. That will get you through the night. As for me?" she said behind her own grin. "It"s plastered there you know, pointing to her face. You get used to wearing it like your uniform. Just comes naturally. Don"t worry though, the bulk of the guests have arrived and the rest of the night will smooth out."
I was so intent on clearing the tables that I hadn"t realized the hundreds of people milling about now around the yard. I was dressed up like Stacy and surrounded by hundreds of people and wasn"t having time to even think about it. When I did though, I felt flush with panic and had to stop for a moment to gather myself.
"Miss? Could we get another couple beers?"
"Yes sir. I"ll be right back." I noted that there were no women in the group to key off of but six men in suits and power ties. The crowds had moved in and for the most part weren"t milling around as much as they had earlier. I dropped the plates and grabbed a tray and a half dozen bottles, returning down the steps to the group where I handed them out and received back several plates.
"How is she doing Jerry?"
"Ma"am?" he asked, not sure to whom she was referring.
"Stacy. Is she working out OK?"
"Yes ma"am. Doing a great job for her first night. If she needs work, please send her my way!" he said smiling.
"Wonderful. The night looks like a hit. Thank you Jerry."
He wandered off as another line of guests came through the house and out onto the deck.
And so the evening proceeded for the next ninty minutes, the crowds moving back and forth from the buffet to the tables. The dirty dishes stacked up in the bin that was whisked away around the side of the house and another brought in its place.
Tina had take over the cleaning duties as I rotated back to serving guests. I was moving amongst the groups of standing guests between the house and tent when my eye caught something they recognized.
Debbie was back on the deck now, swapping with her husband so he could eat, and next to her stood three people that looked familiar. Terry was there, wearing the same suit he had on when he left the house this afternoon. In this crowd, he definitely looked out of his element. There was free food and free beer so I doubted very much that he cared what anyone here would think of him.
On the other hand, he was the obvious envy of numerous men standing in the immediate area. Even some of those with wives or girlfriends with them weren"t overly discrete with their stares.
In each hand, Terry held a gorgeous woman around the waist. Christa was wearing this stunning, blue sequined, strapless gown, her hem rivaling my own. She had on matching shoes with low heels that would work on the grass while Julie, standing on slightly taller heels was adorned in a matching, red sequined gown with a halter top design
The trio continued to talk as I went back to work, being flagged by numerous groups who had run dry on drinks. It was a constantly flow of requests and I had lost sight of my wife and the others. I would never see Terry amongst all the gray cloth walking around but knew that Christa and Julie, in their red and blue sequins wouldn"t be that hard to find. After filling several more drink orders, I heard a familiar voice behind me.
"It"s nice to meet you. I"m Terry Williams. This is my wife Christa."
I froze when I heard that.
"Ms.? Did you get that?" the man in front of me asked.
"I"m sorry sir. What was that again?" I said smiling this time.
"That"s OK. Busy evening for you. It was a martini, very dry."
"Got it!"
I guess smiling does have its advantages! I had wanted to hear more but the ten-second pause was pushing it and I retrieved the drink trying to get back to the man who was standing alone on the edge of the lawn. By the time I weaved through the crowd, drink balanced on my tray, and passed it to the guest I noticed that Terry and Christa had moved off.
"Thank you my dear." The old man said, stepping to my side and lifting the drink from the tray.
I was too busy looking for the trio to notice that he had hooked an arm around my waist.
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Keywords: The, of, House, Fabulous,