“Cute,” said Gus.
“Oh, hi, Gus,” said Abel. “I didn’t know you were here.”
“Angelini let me in. We decided we like our chili the hotter the better, only not too hot.”
“You want a beer?” Abel offered.
“Thanks,” said Gus.
“I want a beer, too,” said Angeline.
“Don’t act cute just because Gus is here,” Abel told her.
She blushed. She was acting cute and it was because of Gus. “I’m not acting cute,” she insisted. She didn’t want Gus to know that she was acting cute for him.
Abel walked back into the kitchen to get the beer.
Gus poked Angeline in the side. “You can have a sip of my beer, cutie,” he whispered.
She giggled.
She set the table while Gus helped Abel in the kitchen. She couldn’t remember on which side to put the fork and on which side to put the spoon. It wasn’t one of the things she knew before she was born.
“Do you want salad, Angelini?” Gus called from the kitchen.
“Do we have any French dressing?” she called back to him.
“No, but we have some French undressing,” said Gus.
Angeline laughed hysterically.
“See?” Gus told Abel. “They don’t even have to be funny jokes.”
Abel smiled. He wished he could make Angeline laugh like Gus, but he hadn’t been able to tell her a joke for a long time, either funny or unfunny. He couldn’t even say “Angelini” without choking on it.
Angeline put the knives, forks, and spoons around the table, sometimes on the left and sometimes on the right. She knew it had to be correct in one of the places. “Okay, I’ll have salad with French undressing,” she called. “But no tomatoes in mine.”
“Sorry!” Gus called back. “There aren’t any tomatoes.”
“Good!” she yelled. “I don’t want a tomato.”
“Well, that’s too bad,” said Gus, “because there aren’t any. And if you think I’m going all the way to the store just to get you a tomato—”
“But I don’t want a tomato!” she screamed.
“You can scream all you want,” said Gus. “You still can’t have one.”
“Good!” she yelled. “Excellent! I’m glad we don’t have any tomatoes. I don’t want a tomato. I hate tomatoes!”
Gus stood at the kitchen door and sadly shook his head. “I’m sorry to hear that, Angelini,” he said. “I really am. But I’m afraid we just don’t have any.”
She threw her hands up in the air and gave a loud sigh. Gus laughed.
They ate the salad, chili, and soda crackers. Nobody seemed to care whether the forks, knives, or spoons were on the right side or not.
“What’s the weather forecast for tomorrow?” Gus asked.
“Hold on, I’ll check,” said Angeline. She walked to the kitchen window and listened.