The following is an account of a gathering of the VIV writing collective. All names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.
The Dinner Party conclusion
The dinner was nice and we spent hours at the table, eating and talking. I was happy with the final meal and relieved that everyone enjoyed it. I was also relieved that I bought a premade dessert and I let Noah cut and serve the layered ice cream and brownie dish. We enjoyed wine with the dessert even if it wasn’t properly paired.
“So I think Chief is setting us up,” Noah said to everyone as he started on his second piece of the brownie. “She fed us a dish that is supposed to cause nightmares.”
“What dish,” Sabrina asked, “and why would it give us nightmares?”
“There’s a really old dish called Welsh Rarebit…” I started.
“You fed us rabbit?!” Sabrina said. She seemed legitimately horrified.
“No, not rabbit, rarebit,” I said. “It’s a strange name, but it’s basically cheese toast.”
“Ohh, that cheesy bread had rabbit in it?” Sabrina asked.
“No, there’s no rabbit,” I said. “It’s just bread with cheese sauce on top. There is no meat in it.”
“Why would it give us nightmares?” Angie asked. “If anything is gonna give me dreams it’s all the wine we’ve been drinking.”
“Wine gives you dreams?” Hallie asked. “When I drink, I have no dreams. Usually I pass out and wake up surprised that I made it to bed.”
“It’s probably just an old wives tale,” I explained. “Like how eating sugar before bed gives you nightmares. It’s probably something someone said to keep young people from eating too late.”
“I read that eating dairy before bed gives you nightmares,” Sabrina said. “Like a scientific study type thing.”
“Well,” I said. “we finished the rarebit hours ago now, so we should be good.”
“That word is killing me,” Sabrina said shaking her head.
“Is it a Welsh word?” Angie asked.
“I think it’s an old English word,” I said.
“Where did you get the recipe,” Hallie asked. “I definitely never heard of it.”
“It was an episode of an old show I used to watch with my mom. There’s a marine who finds this new restaurant near his base, and the waitress tells him about it because it’s a speciality, but warns that it causes strange dreams. He eats it and enjoys it, and ends up sleepwalking and yelling at his sergeant. It took him a while to realize he was doing it and that the woman was right. I’d never heard of it before that, but I was curious to cook it once I learned about it. I googled it, found some recipes, and that old book of stories based on dreams after eating it.”
“It looked really good,” Sabrina said. “That cheese sauce was so thick.”
“The crust on top of the cheese sauce where you broiled it looked so good,” Noah said.
“I hope it doesn’t make us all sleepwalk tonight.” Hallie said.
“If anyone has a strange dream tonight, we’ll share it over dinner tomorrow,” Noah said.
We all agreed, though I was sure there wouldn’t be much to report.
PRL Serials 