Unexpected Feast
All thirty of us sit at folding tables covered in plastic in Oscar’s hot, unfinished basement. Pipes emerge from the boiler in the back corner. One of them runs the length of the basement over our heads.
We eat Mariscara—a paella with lobster in a red sauce sans the rice; barbequed chicken with shoe-string French fries; suckling pig. We drink homemade red table wine, expresso and chock-full-of-nuts French roast; Brandy, port, lager and champagne. All to celebrate Oscar’s fiftieth birthday.
Planned by his wife and oldest daughter, both of whom he hasn’t spoken to for at least a week.
crunch of footsteps
on his snow-covered walkway
silent ride home
first published by Image Curve, January 29, 2015
Photograph by Sebastiaan ter Burg
for Poets United–Midweek Motif–celebration
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Frank J. Tassone 
This had me laughing out loud with Oscar silent for a week as they prepare for the occasion. Beautiful haibun.
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Thanks!
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Wow, all that work for a man who wasnt speaking? I totally get it. Been there, got the t-shirt, lol. I can FEEL that silent ride home. Had some of those in my day too. Excellent capture, Frank.
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Thanks, Sherry!
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Ha…The ladies know how to enter the heart 😀
A lovely Haibun.
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😆 thanks, Sumana!
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Oscar must be a tough old bird, one of those people who is almost impossible to get along with.
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Let’s just say that he’s…complicated.
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Brilliant haibun and intriguing story. Let’s hope one day Oscar will realise how lucky he is!
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Indeed! Thanks, Khaya!
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