lunch with the Phillips family

lunch with the Phillips family

fiction
edward w pritchard

I had an appointment for lunch with the Phillips family. It was an enjoyable hour but, it ended abruptly.

Mr. Phillips was a host from the old school and I was treated very well as we dined. The daughter, a pretty dark eyed girl of about fourteen carried the food to us and was bewitchingly shy as she scurried back and forth from the Kitchen. We sat in the yard under a grape arbor and the son who was in training to learn the Father's duties at the business sat at the table with us men. From time to Time Mr. Phillips would coach the boy a little and once after we went back to the high stone walls I heard Mr. Phillips get a little stern with his son when he didn't think I could hear.

Of course I had to pay for my lunch and the service after and that was handled discretely by the wife. She brought my dessert in a timely manner and a small card contained a bill for the services provided by the Phillips family.

The Father and I spent a few minutes there at the table after lunch talking politics and philosophy and Mr. Phillips offered me a cigar that I declined. I might have made a little trouble by giving it to the son who was about eighteen..

Back at the Stone wall at the rear of the property I played my part perfectly as I walked ahead of the Father and son and pretended to examine some of the fittings between the stones; having once been in the construction business in my youth.

The son must have fired the rifle for the bullet was a little high as it struck me up on my shoulder blades rather than entering the heart from the back as planned. I didn't hear that shot as I fell but I distinctly heard the second shot probably fired by the Father to finish the job. After I died I heard the Father scolding the boy about missing his shot as they walked back up toward the grape arbor to help the wife prepare for their next appointment. It was interesting to hear the Father lecturing the boy on professionalism and the need for having pride in one's work.
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