Mother: Look at your cousin Tess over at the crab dip. Girl looks like she could cry.
Son: Gran choked on a strawberry seed, you know. She’s still in the washroom.
Mother: How does someone choke on a strawberry seed?
Son: Exactly. Don’t eat strawberries.
Mother: Oh God, look. Tess is going for more dip.
Son: She needs to master the dip. I hear it’s one of the steps.
Mother: No, I think you have to call someone and tell them you love them.
Son: Anyone?
Mother: I really don’t understand how Gran can choke on something the size of a seed.
Son: She likes the attention.
Mother: Why is your father standing over by the hedges?
Son: Why is your husband standing over by the hedges?
Mother: Is he smoking? How old is that girl he’s with? Is that your second cousin?
Son: Jocelyn? Janice? It’s “J” something. She’s really grown up. You should go get your husband.
Mother: You should go get your father. People will talk.
READER
Caucasian female, mid-50s, with blond bob, wearing purple overcoat with poppy, carrying nylon thatched bag bearing a crest of an old leather golf bag.
The Outstretched Shadow:
The Obsidian Trilogy, Book One
Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory
(Tor Books, 2004)
p 76