Tea for Three

It was Julianna's turn to hold the full moon tea. She'd prepared the table with the clean mugs and the tea pot. She'd bought some cookies and made the sandwiches, even cutting off the crusts. And the water was on the stove waiting for her to turn on the heat once the guests arrived. As she puttered around tidying up, Julianna worried about whether anyone would notice that she was using whole milk rather than cream and if Lisa would still be angry about what happened last time and were the sandwiches elegant enough to make up for using mugs, or would they talk about her tea afterwards like they'd talked about Maggie's... and then she noticed the cat in the garden again.

The cat had been skulking about the place for a while. Julianna considered chasing it away. The cat was a mangey looking thing--scraps of old fur dangling off old skin and old bones. It looked diseased. On any other day, Julianna wouldn't even have bothered. Would even have thrown some scraps to it. But it was the full moon tea.

Sighing, she stepped outside with the broom. Then she halted, because the cat was skulking towards her. It smiled.

"Do you often keep your guests waiting for quite so long?"

... your turn ...