Everyone dismisses your constant concerns about...balance.
193O
Lately, you've had to learn to be most sneaky at the dinner table
flicking restless fingers to adjust the silver a fraction of an inch to the left
as Manners scowls, taking your infinitesimal nudges as a personal insult
to her own formidable housekeeping skills.
And the lilies in their crystal vase are slightly right of the...exact center...of the table.
The native sandstone house high on the edge of the steep bluff suits you.
and the view overlooking the broody swell in the torrid river is spectacular
You enjoy that the massive oaks on either side frame the house about as evenly
as one can demand from Nature.
You must lower you eyes while dining to avoid the impossible annoyance
That the Erte print over the fireplace is slightly to the right. You just KNOW it.
Barnsworth has patiently drilled a long line of delicate holes for new hooks but...
You suffer silently, having finally felt compelled to stop mentioning it.
And the Fosteria candlesticks at either side, well, one is too near the Erte's frame
and one is a hair too far from it--to the right of course.
And the water glass is a bit too far right of the wine glass.
And the asparagus is stacked a bit too far to the right of the baked potato
which is resting a bit too far to the right of the roast pork.
Lately she's taken to wearing a lady’s sewing tap measure on a cord at her belt
to...measure...the place settings (you've walked in and caught her at it!)
"madam is most particular." she says with both pride of ownership and employee's ire.
But though you smile apologetically and she smiles back without sympathy...
at the evening meal, you can STILL see that the knife is a bit to the right.
This morning it began to rain with an unusual grim determination and it did so all day
As you dress for dinner, you glance out the upstairs window and it...seems to you...
that the great oak trees swaying in the storm on either side of the dining room wing
are leaning a bit...to the right.
As always, everyone dismisses your constant concerns about...balance.
you caught the children having a wager as they set their agate marbles on the mantelpiece
and watched them roll without any prompting from the left side...to the right.
As the dining room is a relatively recent addition to the much older mansion,
you mentioned...at dinner...that perhaps it's foundation need a bit of...jacking up.
And all the clear marbles that secured the stems of the lilies in the shattered crystal vase
rush with anticipated panic...to the right.
Halfway through dinner, the lead crystal vase on the mantelpiece crashes to the hearth
as the grand old oaks slide over the side of the bluff,
and, where the dining room has always snuggly meet the house...
there is suddenly a slash of sodden sky where the ceiling should be!
