The Dinner Party
The Dinner Party
This was going to be the best dinner party ever thought Emily Carlson as she began to prepare a huge banquet of exotic foods and dishes. She had bought the finest china she could afford and decorated her very long dinner table with beautiful flowers and sculptures from Greece. She had been an author for the New York Times for about two years and her stories were considered to be by many the best of the trade. The last story she had done was a huge success in the news and made headlines everywhere. She heard the buzzing of the oven timer and smiled as she pulled out what was going to be for desert, a big chocolate cake made with the ingredient used at her last dinner party. She pulled it out, placed it on a glass trey, and carefully picking it up, walked to the dinning room. She smiled again as she sat it down in the middle of the black tablecloth. She walked back into her living room and awaited her guests' arrival hoping it would be soon when she heard the slamming of a car door outside.
The first guest to arrive was Martin Branch, a close friend from work that helped her edit her last story. As she opened the door and saw him her face lit up with excitement.
"Hi Martin, glad you could make It." she said as he walked in and adjusted his glasses to the light of her house.
"I like what you've done to the place." He said as he began to explore the hallways a look of curiosity on his face. She watched him venture down the hallway toward the dining room when she heard two more cars pull in.
"Time to start this party." she said with a dark grin. As Martin was looking around the front door opened and five people came in. There were two guys and three girls all with looks of delight and happiness written on their faces. The guy in front was Marcus Trowen his hair looking as sharp as a freshly sharpened knife as he straightened his tie. The guy in the back was Ken Graffer a respectable computer software manager at the local computer store. Two of the girls were twins; Amy and Ashley always wore the same style of hair but never the same clothes so it was hard to tell apart except that Amy had a scar on her right foot from an accident with a sliding door when she was growing up. The other girl was Tanya Strong a girl with utterly no ambitions except keeping fit and staying healthy. Emily met all these people while working on her last story and some even gave their opinions on the matter. She had decided to give them a surprise by having a dinner party and inviting them.
"Glad you all could make it." Emily said as they walked in and made their way to the dining room. By the time they had all sat down, Martin had already eaten a small amount of almonds from one of the trays as Emily raised her glass to speak.
"OK everyone listen up. I'm glad to have such good friends as all of you and I have a special treat for you tonight. I hope you all enjoy the food." She said and motioned for everyone to lift the lids on all the food platters.
Everyone did as they were told and soon beef, chicken, turkey and every other kind of meat were sitting there steaming with juicy goodness.
"Oh, boy." said Martin as he stared at the chocolate cake and began to cut a slice.
"Hey Martin. The cake is supposed to be saved for last.” she said. Martin looked up as the knife slid down the middle of the cake.
"I'm sorry but I just love chocolate cake, but don't worry I'll eat the meats and fruits too." He said and lifted a piece of the cake with a spatula and dropped it on his plate. With the first bite he felt as if he could eat the whole cake, IT WAS SO DELICIOUS! He looked over at Emily and after he finished chewing his bite said;
"This cake is fantastic Emily!" He shouted as Emily looked up and smiled.
"It's my secret recipe. I added my own secret ingredient." She said as Martin cut into his piece and lifted another gorgeous bite into his mouth. Everyone else was busy stuffing themselves with virtually every kind of meat there was and fruits along with it. After everyone was finished eating dinner she picked up the cake platter and cut what was left of the cake into equal parts among the other guests.
"Time for desert." she said with a smile. Everyone took a piece and after every had gotten one there was only one left but Emily said she didn't want it.
Martin finished his cake piece and grabbed a few of the remaining turkey slices and consumed them as Emily watched her other guests consume their cake. Amy had just finished her slice when she asked Emily a question;
"What is your secret ingredient?" Emily shook her head at the question and answered her;
"If I told you it wouldn't be a secret now would it?" Marcus finished his slice and asked for another. Emily was about to reply when everyone else demanded to know what was in the cake that made it taste so sweet and delicious.
"OK, OK calm down." She said as drank some red wine from her glass as all eyes were on her. Martin could feel himself getting sick and scolded himself for eating those pieces of turkey.
"OK, I'll tell you what my secret ingredient is, but only if you promise to keep it a secret from everyone else OK?" she said as she stared into her guests' faces one by one. They all said they wouldn't let the cat out of the bad and then Emily stood up holding her wine glass. She smiled at everyone as she let go of her wine glass and it spilled on the carpet. Her face suddenly went from a kind and delightful host to a seriously wicked grin as she spoke;
"Arsenic." She said as Martin slid out of his chair and hit the floor stone dead. Every guest’s eyes went wide with fear as Emily began to laugh.
"I guess poor Martin should have waited like the rest of you did." She smiled at everyone and grinned.
"You have about two minutes to live, before the poison finishes you like it did Martin." she said as she looked down at Martin's corpse. She looked up at Marcus and smiled;
"Oh, how rude of me not to answer you, of course you can have the last piece of cake Marcus." She said and began to laugh. It took about two and half minutes before everyone finally dropped dead and Emily felt satisfied with a job well done. She walked to her bedroom and looked at clips from her last story that were tacked to the wall; Five people poisoned at party by an unknown host. She looked at the top of the page in which her name was posted as the author of the story.
"Oh well. Time to clean up this mess and move again." She said as she began to drag the bodies into the bathroom. This dinner party would be sure to make the front page.
Written by William Jones
