They Never Saved Me a Seat, So I Built My Own Table novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Name One Thing I Like

My mother came out of the kitchen with a tureen of soup.

She found me at the far end of her table with a folding chair in one hand.

"Paola, good, you're here," she said. "Sit, sit, you can get the bread when I say."

"No, Mom."

The room had been loud with forks and cousins, and now it began to go quiet from one end to the other.

I put the card down on the white tablecloth, face up, so the front said PAOLA.

Then I turned it over, so everyone could read the back.

"Who wrote this?" I asked.

"I did," my mother said, and set the tureen down. "You always like to be near the kitchen. You always say you don't mind. Don't make a scene on Christmas Eve."

"I'm not making a scene. I'm asking a question."

"Pao," said Dario, from his seat. "Come on. Sit down, eat something. We can talk after dinner."

"We talked after dinner for three years."

I set the folding chair against the wall.

My father, who had said nothing since I walked in, stood up slowly and pulled out the empty chair beside his own.

It was a real one, with a cushion.

Seth had stopped behind it, waiting.

"Seth," my father said gravely. "Sit by me. You can tell me about Texas."

"Thank you, sir," Seth said, and sat, and did not look at anyone but my father.

I stayed standing.

"I'd like to ask each of them one thing," I said. "Then I'll sit wherever there's room."

"Paola," said my aunt, coldly. "This is not the time."

"It's the only time. Everyone I need is here."

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