Youthful games

There was a group of six, four women and two men, sitting around table 12. They were all about fifty years old. The first impression was that the two men betrayed more age than their female companions. Perhaps it was the artifice which women must so carefully master which concealed the deeper wrinkles and darker bags. Among the women, P. clearly stood out. She was a celebrity trader, and even had her own column in the papers.

But the jokes found their audience easy. The occassional reference to "last time" and "remember" and the quick laughter which followed hinted of a time when this group of 6 must have been closer. Perhaps they were ex-classmates who meet once a year. After all they did not possess that troubled intimacy many experienced with their immediate family, where in that little-to-laugh-about-truthfulness, laughter never felt entirely at home. 

Dinner for that group of six came to the moment when the bill had to be called. This was when an old game was remembered. "Remember how we used to guess who the waiter will give the bill to?" D said. "The oldest" E said immediately, grinning. "The one who called for the bill" said another. C. chortled and said. "Clearly, there are many factors. You know, the way you look, the way you dress, the way you carry yourself, but basically, how likely it is that you will be treating everyone else." There was loud laughter all around. Each of them, tonight, by this very meeting, was in their own way recalling the times when they used to count the years they have lived, and not the years they might have left. And how brillant that was! 

Those days, they all felt uncomfortable pondering who the bill would finally be presented to. If they received the bill, it must mean they looked richer, smarter, sharper, wiser and at least, older. It was, in its own way, a strange recognition of status, and it was in the nature of this game, that they were at once seduced, and at once afraid. C said, "There is no point in this game anymore. They will definitely give it to P." P quickly said, "That's just because you want a treat from me!" They all laughed uproariously, and the laughter echoed down the hollow hallway.