Our Fourth of July Barbecue

 

 Everyone had a blast at the barbecue last evening. As expected, around thirty people spent time with us eating delicious food and drinks, chatting, laughing, on the patio smoking, watching TV, playing pool in the tea room and pinball. Leona had a wonderful time with a lot of help from her cousin's family, friends, and nephew who helped grill the meats and clean up afterwards. 

Vicky and her family came and loved the party, the nine and seven year old loving it. I took charge of the music setting up the laptop on Leona's vanity and using Bluetooth to pipe it out to the patio. AC/DC filled the indoor patio with pinball selections. At one point, I went in the living room played some 45's from '66 and sang along. I congratulated Leona with a kiss after everyone had left around midnight. None of the people that didn't come could have made the party better.

     Some side notes about the party: I didn’t have the Italian sausage I desired because Hank gave me the Mexican sausage, with a lot of German mustard on top, instead. I had brought Ken, Leona’s nephew, sausages that guests had requested but he grilled the Taiwanese sausages instead leaving me to wait or grill them myself on the pan in the kitchen. It made smoke but not enough to set off the alarm, though it alarmed Leona and her sister-in-law.

 Hank asked for his first drink of liquor after his mother left; I gave him a sip of mescal and rum.

    Mr. Mao ruled the pinball getting numerous high scores I could only dream of, but none surpassing the 92 million he had the first time he played. Everyone liked the stuffed Portobello mushrooms and potato salad. Ken’s fiancée and sister helped create h’ordurves on crackers. We had plenty of liquor and beer; Mr. Mao brought up Quemoy kaoliang in a beautiful bottle that we didn’t open and I will never drink

 Leona’s brother didn’t come choosing to stay home with Dad; we don’t know what his daughter did. His two sons kept to themselves in a corner of the living room doing exactly what they would have been doing at home; nothing. 

The pool table I set up in the tea room worked like a charm. The space was a little cramped but that only made it more fun. I didn’t like that Ken invited five female friends (I thought Leona said two; she says she said four) from work; they spent the evening outside around the patio table having fun talking.

Huai-Ya and her husband came and had fun. Her husband is so narcissistic; he had to show me how his pants button wouldn’t close because he’d gained weight. The last time we partied he bragged about how much weigh he’d lost; I didn’t notice any difference between then and now. I stoked everyone I could announcing to others that Jenny had made our fireplace and shelving, Huai-Ya’s husband was a great tea collector, Vicky was my Mandarin ‘teacher’, Ken was a great grill man, etc. Leona spent most of the evening around the dining table with her cousin and close friends. I tried to be all over in the condo and on the patios with different clusters of guests. All the cats hid except for the star of the show, Tanuki. No one saw Bobbie all evening. There were no bad vibes, no arguments, and nothing broken.

        The U.S. flag that graced my father's coffin at his funeral was respectfully draped over the clothing rack. I had draped it over the futon but Leona said no one would sit on it out of respect so I removed it. If someone asked me what the party was for I said it was because I had just become a grandfather for a second time; not to celebrate the Fourth of July U.S. birthday.  The day before was Morrison Memorial Day, and it was a coming out party for Leona who had nixed every party idea since last summer's birthday party. No one at our party had to wear a mask; Taiwan had eradicated the COVID-19 threat months ago. I am happy to be in Taiwan with so many of her friends and family.  

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