A Bag Full of Tricks

Russ is the master of picking up the check. He had to learn to be quick and devious when he married into my family. Tonight we went out to dinner with our house guests, Suzanne and her two sons, Jack and Oliver. We had a big day here and I knew I was going to be too exhausted to cook so we had a reservation at Vin Rouge.

Being the mother of one girl I was not actually prepared to feed boys the quantities of food necessary to keep them upright. I got up early this morning after all the dogs in our house barked at any movement. I made two big trays of candy bacon and some scrambled eggs for Suzanne and I before the boys emerged from the newly created man cave.

When they did arise they mowed through some breakfast, it was their first encounter tee with my candy bacon. Oliver and Suzanne were going off to tour Duke so I drove them over so they didn’t have to worry about parking. On the way out the door Jack asked if he could cook some salmon for his mid morning snack.

After I dropped them off I stopped by the grocery to stock up on some lunch and snack food. Jack was happy to enjoy the tortilla chips with the limes he was eating. It was practically noon before Jack, Carter and I got to sit down and play Catan for the first time today. Half way through the game it was time for me to go back and pick up the Duke tour group.

This also meant it was time for people to eat again. The best thing about having such close friends visit is I told them all to make their own lunches and everyone found something they wanted. Full and tired from barking dogs at night naps were in order for a few.

I lay on my bed for half an hour just to recharge before Suzanne and I went out to Whole Foods for her to stock up on food for Bald Head. She was just going to get some meat and wine and two carts later we were rolling our way back to her car with a dozen bags.

Suddenly it was time for us to eat again. When we sat down Russ whispered something to the waitress that I recognized as the heads up to give him the bill when dinner was over. Suzanne said dinner was their treat and she and Russ had a small tug of war, but I knew Russ was already on it.

Oliver had already decided on the mac and cheese for dinner before we got to the restaurant, but once there thought a second entree of steak tartare would hit the spot. Carter and Jack had matching dinners of oysters and steaks, but Carter took half of hers home. As we hardly thought we could eat another bite Jack got up from the table and disappeared.

Apparently he texted Suzanne during dinner that if she gave him her credit card, he would go pay the bill in advance. When Russ learned of this slight of hand, Oliver gleefully, with hands in the air shaking, announced, “We are a bag full of tricks.” It really does take a bag full of tricks for someone to get one over on Russ Lange. Thanks to the Farley Magicians for dinner.