Pate'

She grabbed the bottle and ran. There wasn't much time for struggling through the mechanics of brewing, stilling and aging of alcohol, it just was not... had not been her proficiency in all of her 33 years of living. This would do... it was alcohol... whiskey as good as any of the others on the shelf at Osco Drugs. Her classmate was having a spontaneous birthday party sponsored by her husband who had invited a few of her closest friends. She promised to stop through and so she was... bringing along the requested ingredient for a last minute chicken liver pate' being whipped up by her classmate's mom. It hadn't cost much... it was only a few bucks for a pint of liquor to season the liver smoothy, and they could keep the rest of it for a nightcap. She'd made the suggestion just before dashing out to her car. The stop into the grocery store presented only the larger bottles, more than they needed. The clerk referred her to the Osco Pharmacy at the end of the store aisle. There wasn't much time to waste, it was her scheduled day to work and she could not call in just to attend a college classmate's birthday. Minutes later she was standing in fron of her friend's co-op townhouse. She was met at the door by the man of the house. Handed over her gift and extended the bottle of a;cohol explaining that their local market did not provide other thana fifth of brandy... use the whiskey.

As the mother made a fuss over the table spread, candles and balloons. the husband wrestled with a pot of spaghetti he was pitching from scratch. When the question of background music arose he begged out of the cooking for a momentary setup of music to calm the air. Other guests were due to arrive within the half hour. The delivering friend sampled what the pot presented and began adding a variety of herbs to bring the flavor closer to her traditional blend. The party girl fussed over the table in the corner of the small dining room with her mother who was mulling over the procedures for finishing the dish of chicken livers and other ingredients for her guests to enjoy. fifteen minutes before time for shift start, the friend excused ehrself from the setup but not before witnessing a dread event of flaming hair from the accidental lean over too closely to the birthday cake being lit at the center of the dining table. The excitement caught guests arriving through the other door dropping their coats and gifts, wafting through the front room to find the party girl for well wishes hugs and kisses. As the delivering friend and the mother patted the birthday girl's head with towels and an apron to put out the fire billowing around in her massive natural hairdo, the husband tossed coats onto the sofa and dashed back to the dining room to help. The delivering friend reassured the husband and mother could finish rescuing the situation and stepped back toward the kitchen and the back door toward her car.

Days later after not having heard from her classmate, the friend stopped by the co-op townhouse to see how the "party had gone." For sure the salad on the table was fine and the spaghetti and garlic bread were perfect. the antipasti including pate' with olives should have been appreciated by the couples who stopped in for the invitational event... outside of whatever sincere concerns they could offer in compassion that would demonstrate love for the party girl. They all had to be back at work by Monday... it was a Saturday event... a HAPPY BIRTHDAY.