Author's Note: Ooof! So much to say, so much to say... Ah well. Lets just get on with the chapter first shall we?
I've changed up the formatting for your convenience. The other just didn't look at tidy and someone complained it was hard to read.
Chapter 11: The Dinner
Abigail looked at herself in the mirror critically. She'd gone through a dozen outfits but she didn't really like any of them. Half of them were too juvenile and the other half seemed too suggestive. But finally she had found an outfit that seemed decent. A light blue skirt that ended just above the knee and a fitted, black, T-shirt that advertised one of her favorite bands. She'd considered a blouse, but she didn't want to look like she'd dressed up for the occasion. It was just a dinner at home.
She descended the ladder and stairs to go help with the general preparations for dinner.
"Arthur, it's just a dinner." David said, sounding completely exasperated.
"I still can't believe he's coming to the house again." Arthur griped. "Couldn't you have just sent him a thank you note or something?"
"Don't be ungrateful Arthur. It was nice how he helped Abigail. Besides which he's a friend of ours, so be nice while he's here." Jane explained as she made sure the house was presentable for company.
"Bad attitude." Abigail said as she passed behind Arthur with a small vase made for a long stemmed flower. She'd made three origami lilies and put them in it. She was going to place it on the table.
"I do not have a bad attitude." Arthur insisted.
"Bad attitude!" Abigail singsonged from the kitchen. Arthur just sighed. He didn't think he had a bad attitude. He just... didn't care for his teacher visiting. It seemed reasonable enough to him.
Mr. Ratburn arrived at 5:30 on the dot.
"Punctual as always." Jane commented as she answered the door.
"Would you rather I be late? I could wait in the car..." He teased.
Abigail took this opportunity to take in his appearance from afar. He was wearing a yellow polo shirt and jeans. Her choice of outfit complimented his rather well, she noted with some satisfaction.
Jane and Nigel made there way to the living room where Arthur and D.W. Were sitting.
"Hi Mr. Ratburp." D.W. beamed up at him.
"Hello again D.W. How are you this evening?" Mr. Ratburn asked.
"I'm fine. But Arthur's been in a bad mood all day."
"I have not!" Arthur shouted, rather unconvincingly.
Jane just shook her head when Mr. Ratburn gave her a questioning look.
Abigail decided to make her entrance a little after that.
"David says that dinner will be ready in about 15 minutes." She informed the group. Technically he'd said that it'd be ready in 20, but that was about 5 minutes ago when she'd ACTUALLY left the kitchen.
"Hello again Gale. How's the leg?" Mr. Ratburn inquired. Abigail held the leg forward for inspection.
"Well... The doctor said that it'd probably scar, so clearly the tree won that round. But just wait until I go back with a pocket knife." Abigail delivered her well rehearsed witty line. She was rewarded with a chuckle from Mr. Ratburn.
"Scars add personality. They're part of what makes you an individual." Mr. Ratburn said.
"Mmm... I don't really think I needed any help with that. But it's a point of interest anyway." Abigail replied.
"Do you have any scars?" Abigail asked.
"Quite a few." He didn't expand on that answer.
Everyone had a seat to wait for David to call them into the kitchen for dinner.
"So, what are we having for dinner?" Mr. Ratburn questioned.
"David would just hate it if I ruined the surprise. You know how he is. But I can give you a hint: He's been on a southern cooking stint lately." Jane joked.
"Not chitterlings?" Mr. Ratburn asked, his voice full of dread.
"Nonono. He saves those experiments for family only. He'd hate for us to miss out after all." Jane answered. Arthur, D.W, and Abigail all gagged in unison.
"How fortunate." Mr. Ratburn replied. "For you." He added quickly.
Everyone stifled their laughter just in time as David strode out of the kitchen looking rather satisfied with himself.
"Dinner... is served." He announced rather triumphantly.
Over the few weeks that Abigail had spent with the Reads she'd come to the conclusion that David was a bit dramatic when it came to food preparation and all that entails. She had to assume that that had something to do with the catering and the fact that he actually went to college to become a chef... but it was still kind of silly.
They all gathered into the kitchen and settled in at the table.
"And for tonight's dinner we have..." David uncovered the dishes one by one. "Spinach, scalloped tomatoes, fried potatoes, and roast beef."
It looked delicious. It reminded Abigail of her grandmother. Abigail's grandmother had been born in Kentucky so Abigail had gotten food like this a lot when she was younger. She'd told David this when he'd first started this little stint and ever since he was determined to get her approval on at least one dish. He hadn't been doing a very good job.
David tended to over complicate them. Southern style cooking was supposed to be simple, without a whole lot of foreign ingredients. He didn't seem to get that, but the dishes themselves were very good anyway.
Nigel was eying the food on the table eagerly. It all looked wonderful, as always. As his eyes scoped the table they fell upon a small long stemmed vase. In it were three delicate flowers. Paper lilies, he realized.
"What charming origami." He commented spontaneously, which caused Gale to positively beam with delight.
"Abigail made them earlier today." Jane commented as she dished out a serving of spinach for D.W., who'd looked like she was trying to get out of it.
"They're lovely." Nigel complimented.
"Thank you." Gale replied, looking bashfully pleased.
"I've always rather liked origami. Though I've never been any good at it." Nigel confessed. Gale opened her mouth to say something but didn't get the chance.
"Oh, Abigail is talented in so many artist ways." Jane said this as if it'd been a surprising and pleasing discovery. Nigel supposed it must have been in some ways.
He remembered when Jane and David had called him to discuss their decision to take in a foster child. They'd asked the opinions of almost everyone in town. They'd worried over what they'd heard about the girl and whether or not they could really afford to do it. It wasn't until they'd had a talk with the woman that they'd done this as a favor to that they decided to go through with it.
They hadn't filled him in on all the details, of course, but he knew a little about how Gale had come to live with them. Caroline, Gale's social worker, was a friend of David's sister, Loretta, who lived in Ohio. Loretta had tentatively nominated them for the placement of Gale when she'd heard how heartbroken and troubled Caroline was over her particular case.
Gale certainly didn't seem like the troubled youth that had been the subject of much discussion among the community for weeks on end last year. She didn't seem to have a bad attitude about her. She also sat at the table in a mannerly fashion and engaged in conversation without looking like she had to fight debilitating boredom every step of the way, like some teenagers he'd had the pleasure of meeting.
"Then again," Nigel noted to himself "One can't presume to judge on 'company manners' alone."
It was then he realized that he hadn't had any long chats with David or Jane since Gale's arrival. They'd have to make the time to do that before the end of summer when he started getting busy again.
But for now there was this lovely dinner to look forward to...
Author's Note: Well, there's that then. I was going to make this longer, but I guess I'll just have to have a part two. I don't think anyone will mind. I promise I'll try to get it out in a more timely fashion.
I've got to say, I'm astonished at how many people still read this even though I sort of let it idle for quite a bit. I guess Arthur isn't a fanfiction genre that gets a lot of traffic... Anyway, sorry to keep you guys waiting. And thank everyone so much for the reviews, it really means a lot.
To Achilles - You probably aren't even reading this fic anymore given the nature of your review. But all I've got to say is that you clearly didn't read the summary before starting and so I don't have a lot to offer you. Then again, even if you think that Abigail and Mr. Ratburn shouldn't get together now doesn't mean you might not change your mind later on. There's an awful lot of character growth planned before the relationship ever actually blooms.
Also, you clearly have never wrecked on your bike spectacularly before or else you'd KNOW how Abigail could get so severely hurt by running into a tree. If you are going very fast on a bike and you side swipe a tree with a broken off branch I guarantee you, it'll bleed. And hurt. A lot. This comes from someone who has crashed in such a fashion and has a similar scar to show for it.
