Pepper Pot

It would be funny, I thought, to raise this pepper pot above my head and slam it upright onto the table to silence my rowdy cousins.

That probably sounds dumb. In my defense, though, our parents were telling us to order our food and I was absolutely certain that everyone would appreciate my clever reference to a judge with a gavel getting everyone in court to shut up, while at the same time, telling everyone to order their damn food.

So I did just that.

I raised the thing above my head, slammed it on the table and yelled, “order!”

Everyone flinched and nobody laughed. Who would've thought?

When I finally picked it up again, a detached glass base remained on the table.

Out tumbled a sad mound of pepper, which just stared at me as it lay there.

It looked utterly disappointed.

I don’t remember what we told the waiter when he came to take the orders.