Dinner at Eight

The Invitation

I'd usually never pass up a meal.  Normally I would eat anything put in front of me. I wasn't picky to say the least. But something told me that this time needed to be an exception. Taking one look at the spread in front of me was enough to let my stomach know this whole thing could end in one huge disaster.

I was visiting my girlfriend's grandparents in New Mexico and we were having dinner at their home. Home was a modest word for this behemoth of a place. Mansion was probably a better suited word.

Actually, now that I think about it, estate was the best term to attach to the place they resided. The thing was enormous, and really old. Shane, my girlfriend, told me it had been in their family for almost two hundred years. It was built by her great, great grandparents who had immigrated from Spain. They had money, old money, and this place showcased it on full display.

Every surface was some type of hard-to-come-by material; imported marble fireplaces, hand carved mahogany staircase railings, freaking tapestries on practically every wall! It was unbelievable. When we had arrived that afternoon, I had wandered, slack-jawed, during the entire tour of this palace, which took just under three hours believe it or not. Her grandparents had practically given us a history lesson along with the tour. Shane had joked that I should have been taking notes, her grandparents were known to test their guests during dinner. At least I hoped she was joking.

Once the tour concluded, Shane and I settled into our respective rooms. Her grandparents were old-school, so yeah, we had our own rooms. There wouldn't be any action on this trip. It didn't really matter, actually. I was so intimidated by the house that there would be no way...ahem. Yeah.

My room was just an extension of everything I had seen. More tapestries and antique hand carved mahogany furniture. Some sort of metal was lining the ceiling in squares, each having a design etched or carved or molded into it. Whatever, I wasn't an art history major so I had no idea. Honestly, it was bordering on the creepy, like something out of an Edgar Allen Poe story. Well, maybe not that bad but seriously, I was creeped out. It didn't feel luxurious to me, more like ominous.

A few minutes after cleaning up in the wrought iron bathroom, there was a knock at my door. I opened it, expecting to find Shane smiling at me, but saw the somber face of one of the household employees instead.

Yes, her grandparents had an entire staff of employees meant to keep the place running.

"Dinner will be served at eight in the dining room. Appropriate attire is required, good evening, Sir." Then the little bugger turned and high tailed it out of there. It gave me a weird feeling, as if he knew something I didn't. Or maybe I was just paranoid.

I stepped into the hallway and walked a few doors down to Shane's room. Even the hallway felt suffocating. For some reason it reminded me of Disney's haunted mansion. I half expected the doors to start expanding and the paintings on the walls to come to life. I tried to physically shake the paranoia off of my body. Knocking gently against the heavy door, I waited for Shane to open up. And waited. And continued to wait.

Where the hell was she?

I gave up after knocking several times. It didn't help that this house seemed to swallow my cell service. It was as if entering the front door transported us back a hundred years because my phone had been malfunctioning the entire time. Shane had just shrugged it off and said it was normal there. The house was somewhat off the grid, apparently. Thanks for the heads up, by the way. I couldn't even use my GPS to get out of this place.

After heading back to my room, I checked the time on the antique clock. Six forty-five. What was I going to do for an hour and fifteen minutes? I'm a guy, it takes like five minutes to get ready for any occasion. I didn't primp or preen like Shane did. Don't get me wrong, she was beautiful so she had my permission to primp away, not that she needed it. However, I was never dissatisfied by the results.