Judy was, at the end of her rope, so to speak, with Alistair. She wished that he would change, but something deep inside her told her that he never would. He was so childish, so irresponsible, so spur of the moment. Those things drove her crazy about him. But then there were also the good things to consider. He was kind hearted, he clearly cared for her and he had tried to prove it in a variety of ridiculous fashions. His most, latest effort had been coming to the house dressed as a knight. But now she was mad at him. The last thing she wanted was to spend the evening with him. But when she got in she was horrified to hear the first words her mother said be, "Judy is that you? Alistair's coming for dinner!"

Her mother had clearly wanted them together. It was odd; sometimes she thought that her mother was more; keen on the idea than Alistair was. That would take a lot. She thought for a moment before she replied. What should she do? Should she sneak out the door, quietly and quickly? Should she pretend to have other plans and just head out on her own? Suddenly the front door opened. It was Sandy and Alistair. She managed a brief hello to both of them, then headed upstairs. She knew the answer to her question now, and her answer was that she had to just stay and brave it.

Later, as she helped her Mother in the kitchen she gave her an evil look.

"Are you possessed or something, why are you looking at me like that?"

"I can't believe you invited him like that!"

"Judy, if you don't like him you don't have to stay, but we like him."

"Mum," she sighed. "I like him, it's more than that. You know very well what I mean by that."

"Yes, I do."

Only a few seconds later Alistair walked into the kitchen and asked if he could help with anything. Jean asked him to go down to the wine cellar and pick out some special wine. Ignoring Judy he went down to the wine cellar.

An hour later everything was ready. The only thing was that Alistair had not come back yet. Judy offered to go and get him, although she didn't know why. And just as she headed for the wine cellar she heard the doorbell ring. She heard Lionel answer it and her steps grew faster as she heard the annoying voice of her Aunt Penny fill the halls. She practically ran upon hearing the ever -familiar phrase, "poor little Judith."

She quietly turned to doorknob to the wine cellar. She shut it behind her as she descended the stairs.

"Alistair." She called.

"Judy is that you? Don't shut the door!" Judy realized that it was dark. She flipped on the light switch next to her and turned around to face the door. The knob had fallen off, and she was stuck in the wine cellar with Alistair!

Judy sat quietly on the bottom step of the staircase. She didn't want to talk to Alistair. She just wanted to get a way from him. Alistair, on the other hand was desperately attempting to negotiate a reconciliation.

"Well," he said, "at least I'm not down here alone anymore, am I?"

"Right Alistair, right."

"What ever went wrong between us anyway?"

"Oh please! You know very well what went wrong between us."

"Well, shall we review a little? We've got plenty of time before anyone finds us." Alistair said as he opened a bottle of wine, then turned and glared at the heating duct.

Judy also glared at the heating duct. They could hear her Aunt's voice. It was beginning to be too much for them both to handle. In that case maybe a little wine would do them both some good. So she went and sat with Alistair at the small table.

"What shall we toast to?" He asked, lifting up his glass.

"How about getting drunk so we don't have to hear my Aunt."

"Definitely. Then what about one to us."

"Alistair, there is no us! Don't you get it, you blew it! It can never be like that between us again." He looked saddened and a little shocked by her harsh words. "Alistair, don't look at me like that. Don't you think that I wanted it to work out too? Because I did, but it can't."

"How about giving me one more try?"

"Alistair!"

"Alright then, tell me, just tell me what it is that I have done, and the problem is fixed."

"You can't make a problem as difficult as all that sound so simple."

"I just did!"

"Your too spontaneous for me. It seems as though everything we've done was not something special that was planed out. It was just some spontaneous thought that you just added on to one of your business trips."

"That's all?"

"Yes. That's all." She said, sipping her wine.

"That's all. It's that simple?"

"Alistair! It's not simple!" She exclaimed, almost laughing.

"How is it not simple? It's the most elementary thing that I've ever heard!"

"Well, it doesn't matter now, does it?"

Alistair sighed.

"More wine?" He asked. She nodded, and he began to pour the wine.

"Where is Judith anyway?" Penny asked.

"And Alistair for that matter?" Jean asked, immediately realizing that she should have never let onto the fact that Alistair and Judy were both missing at the same time.

"And where in the world is Sandy?" Lionel asked, pointing out that she too was now gone.

Sandy had fled the room at earliest convenience. She went to the kitchen. There she could smell dinner and wished that she could eat, but that had been postponed by Penny's visit.

"Did you hear something?" Judy asked, sipping her wine.

"You mean besides you aunt?"

"No I mean like someone walking around in the kitchen, listen." He listened for a moment.

"You're right!" With that both of them slammed their wine glasses onto the table before them and rushed up to the door, and began banging on it fiercely.

Sandy, on the other side thought that she heard something. She listened for a few seconds. Where was it coming from? Ah! The Wine Cellar door. With that she opened the wine cellar door, came in and stood on the first step.

"No!" Judy and Alistair had both screamed as she shut the door.