Douglas Farm
"Oh that's nice." Oliver said distractedly after Lisa finished filling him in on the day's events. He had been busy catching up on his bookkeeping when Lisa came back from hunting for decorations.
"That's nice!" Lisa asked incredulously. "Is that all you have to say? Dahling, aren't you proud of me?"
"Huh? Oh, of coarse I am, Lisa, but can't you see I'm busy?" Oliver responded.
Lisa couldn't help but feel disappointed at the lack of appreciation from her husband as she began boiling water for her hot water soup. On the one hand, she knew that this farm was Oliver's lifelong dream and was very important to him, but on the other hand, she thought the farm shouldn't be the only important thing in his life. He should make time for his family and friends. She couldn't even remember the last time he talked to his mother or the last time they went on a picnic together.
Oh, well, Lisa reasoned, at least I have the ball to look forward to, and then, for at least one nightI can have him all to myself.
Lisa decided that it was best not to disturb Oliver by setting the table since she would just end up being yelled at. She sighed and instead turned to go to the living room to do her nails. As she began to sit down, Lisa heard some scratches at the door. Puzzled, she opened the door and saw Mignon run in and hop onto her favorite chair.
"Mignon!" Lisa exclaimed. "Vhere have you been? It vas like you just disappeared!"
Instead of racking her brain over it, Lisa just shrugged, sat down on the couch, and proceeded to do her nails.
Douglas Farm, the Following Day
To Lisa's amazement, the decorations arrived early in the afternoon just a day after she ordered them. Oliver seemed skeptical and insisted on double-checking to make sure everything they ordered was indeed there, and to his further amazement, it was!
"Well, this place is better than I thought! I wonder why I never heard of it." Oliver mused.
"I don't know, dahling, but I'm glad it arrived so soon." Lisa replied. "Now, I can have time to plan vhere I vant everything."
"True. Well, I better call Mr. Haney and have him deliver all this stuff to the civic center." Oliver said. But before he could make a move towards the telephone, Mr. Haney truck pulled up in front of their home, along with most of the dust from the road. The dust engulfed Oliver and Lisa and sent them into a coughing fit. Mr. Haney untied the string he used as a seatbelt and hoped out from his truck.
"Haney!" Oliver yelled between coughs. "You clumsy oaf! You brought in half the dirt from the road!"
"So sorry, Mr. Douglas. Here, let me get that for you!" Mr. Haney said and then proceeded to put out a small duster and began dusting off the dirt from Oliver's vest.
"Will you cut that out!" Oliver said while pushing him and his duster away. "Anyway, I was just about to call you. It still amazes me how you show up at that exact moment that I need something."
"Well, it still amazes me that you always need something when I show up. Anyway, what is it that you need?" Mr. Haney asked.
"Well, as you can see…" Oliver began.
"Excuse me, Mr. Douglas, but I just realized my terrible impoliteness." Mr. Haney interrupted. "I failed to greet your lovely wife. Good afternoon, Mrs. Douglas! My, don't you look as pretty as a little green wagon going up a steep hill!"
"Why, thank you, Mr. Haney! Olivah, vasn't that a nice thing for Mr. Haney to say!" Lisa said to her husband.
"Oh brother!" Oliver said under his breath. "Oh, yes, very nice. Now, Mr. Haney, as I was saying, as you can see, the decorations have arrived and we need you to take them over to the civic center."
"Sure thing, Mr. Douglas." Mr. Haney responded. "Would you like me to load everything onto the truck?"
"Of course." Mr. Douglas replied.
"All right. That'll be ten dollars."
"Ten dollars! For what?"
"Well, as I distinctly remember, you put me on the dee-liver-ee committee. You did not mention anything about loading and unloading. Did you not?"
"Well, no I didn't, but I assumed that…"
"Now that that's settled, I will be glad to deliver all this stuff for the poultry sum of fifteen dollars."
"What happened to ten dollars?" Lisa asked.
"Well, you know that darn inflation, keeps on making prices on everything shoot up faster than sky rockets." Mr. Haney explained.
"Mr. Haney, I'm not giving you a cent! When you and the rest of the appointed me head of the ball committee, you agreed to do what I assigned you to do. Now, I want you to load this stuff on your truck, drop it off at the civic center, and later, when my wife says so, move the stuff around where my wife says so. After that, I need you to drive the food over to the Druker's and tell him to store it in his refrigerator. You got it!" Oliver yelled.
"All right, all right, Mr. Douglas, no need to get testy." Mr. Haney responded. "Uh, would you mind giving me a hand?"
"Certainly." Oliver said as he began lifting boxes of decorations and loading them onto Mr. Haney's truck. Once they got everything on the truck, Oliver walked over to Mr. Haney, who was already seated in his truck and said, "Just put this stuff anywhere, my wife will specify where she wants everything later."
"Sure thing, Mr. Douglas." Mr. Haney replied. "But I can't unload this stuff all by myself."
"Well, don't you worry about that. I'll send Mr. Kimball over to help you." Oliver said.
Oliver walked over to where Lisa was standing as Mr. Haney drove away. "Well, Lisa, the ball is underway. Excited?"
"Very." Lisa replied. Oliver smiled at her, then turned around and walked back into the house.
"I just wish you vere around to share in my excitement." Lisa said to herself in a sad tone. She sighed for what seemed to be the hundredth time in a week and proceeded into the house.
Hello dere, once again! I finally got all the tiny details of the story out of the way! The next two chapters is where the real action begins, so stay tuned and please review!