participant at such dinners.
Edmond Senetsky apparently knew something
about everyone anyone mentioned and had stories of
his own, name-dropping his clients at every
opportunity. Since Howard had made his accusation
earlier. I couldn't help but watch the way Edmond
glanced at Rose from time to time. It was probably my
imagination. but I did think he was trying to catch her
eye more than he was trying to catch anyone else's attention. Howard looked directly at me when Edmond described Rose's dance performance for Mr. Demetrius, using superlative after superlative. Then Howard looked at Cinnamon, who was glaring not daggers but spikes back at him. He quickly turned
away.
The dinner itself was as elegant and rich as any
I had ever seen or read about, much less experienced.
We did have the roast duck we saw Mrs. Churchwell
preparing earlier, but it was nothing like any duck
Mommy had made back on the farm; it had an orange
flavor. We were served wine, which started a
discussion about the quality of California wines
compared with French and Italian. From the
comments Mr. Littleton made, it appeared he had
tasted wine all over the world. I had no idea if what I
was drinking was good; great, or otherwise. Wine was
still just wine to me. I was familiar only with
Mommy's elderberry.
In fact. I was eating things I had never seen
before. but I was afraid to ask what they were. The
vegetables looked and tasted different from any I had
eaten, and between courses, we were served sherbet! I
thought it was odd to have dessert before the meal
ended, but soon learned it was served as a device to clear the palate, so we could fully enjoy what was yet to come. There was so much to learn above and beyond my music. I really wondered if it was possible
to do so in so short a time.