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“Andy, quit being a know-it-all and play a song for the kids, Mister Amaryllis has a guitar you can use.” Margaret laughed as she entered the tavern, she had changed into a lovely white summer dress and wore her hair mostly down with her white ribbon tying off a loose half braid trailing her hairline; Richard had yet to tell her that he loved seeing her raven hair move with the breeze, but it was like she knew already, or perhaps she prefers wearing it that way anyway, it’s likely that Elizabeth controlled her hairstyles along with her jewels and clothing. “So this is where you ran off to Jack?”
“Sy wants to put Max in a cage.” Jack smiled, as the clock reached eleven fifteen.
“Tattletale.”
“That actually sounds intriguing.” Margaret joked, making even Gideon laugh. Sally bolted into the building holding an elegant silver headband and excitedly tugged on Margaret's skirt when she was saying hello to the few people next to Alfred’s table, Margaret quickly got on her knees and smiled at Sally. “What are you all excited for?”
“Marcy said since Max is your boyfriend, it makes you a princess. I have a sparkly headband you can wear since Max forgot to give you a crown, boys are forgetful.” Alfred chuckled at Sally’s comment, making her smile and wave hello. “It matches your necklace and grandma’s bracelet.” Margaret offered a smile that looked sad to Richard.
“But that headband is yours.”
“Well, papa said it was mama’s and said she would’a wanted me to keep it. So that means you can’t keep it, and you have to be super super careful so I can wear it when I’m big enough.” Sally smiled wide and Margaret let her help put the diamond and pearl band on, it had branches that climbed up the left side of Margaret’s hair and did almost look like a tiara. “Can you tell a story about mama and papa? Pleeease?” Margaret searched her memories before smiling wide.
“Once upon a time, there was a dance teacher named Miss Anne.” Jack slammed his cup down and bolted off the bartop, and would’ve fell flat on his face if Gideon hadn’t caught him; Jack quickly sat on the floor beside Margaret, listening eagerly to the story about his parents as and the small bar quieted down. “Now Miss Anne loved ballet and ballroom dancing and taught at the secondary school in Varsovia. One day she walked into the teacher's lunchroom and the most horrendous thing happened.” Sally gasped. “The brand-new history teacher was sitting in her favorite chair and had his dirty shoes propped on her favorite table.” A couple of Margaret’s grown audience members chuckled.
“His name was Jonathan, and he was the best pa ever!” Jack shouted to the crowd.
“Yes it was. Now Miss Anne was so upset, but Jonathan was new and kind of cute, so she would let it go and sat in the empty chair at the table across the way. The very next day, she walked into the lunchroom and there he was again!” Margaret exaggerated how exasperated Anne would’ve been, making Sally giggle. “He was again sitting in her favorite chair. So she walked up to him and tapped his shoulder. Jonathan looked up from his history book and laughed when she asked him to move because that’s her favorite chair. He looked at the empty chair at the other table and said she’s welcome to bring it over and sit beside him. Miss Anne was furious, so she sat at the table across the way. But she now had a plan. She rushed to lunch early the next day and quickly took out her sandwich and a magazine and was finally able to have lunch in her favorite chair.” Margaret rose to her feet and acted like she was looking around. “Jonathan walked into the lunchroom and saw that the pretty dance teacher was sitting in his chair.”
“They need to learn manners and share.” Sally frowned as she crossed her arms, making several people around her laugh.
“That is true. What Miss Anne didn’t notice was that Jonathan had pulled the second chair to the table yesterday because he wanted her to sit next to him. So he sat down and put his dirty shoes on the table.” Jack and Sally giggled. “Miss Anne hatched another plan, she liked having lunch with him, but he needed to learn some manners. So she rushed to the lunchroom early, moved the second chair to the table across the way and sat down. Jonathan walked into the room and saw what she had done. Miss Anne smiled as she pretended to read her magazine, she had won.” Margaret bolted for an empty chair and started dragging it behind her, letting it scrape the floor loudly. “Jonathan dragged the empty chair back to Miss Anne’s favorite table and made her turn bright red when the other teachers started gossiping, their silent feud was the talk of the whole school. Jonathan sat down and put his dirty shoes on her table again. So Miss Anne hatched one last plan. She rushed to lunch early, hid the second chair, and sat down. Jonathan walked into the room and saw what she had done, all of the empty chairs were gone. Miss Anne smiled again, now she had finally won. What do you think he did, Jack?”
“He… Had lunch in his classroom? He let me come to work sometimes and we did that.”
“He didn’t do that.”
“But there’s no chairs.”
“Did he sit on the floor?” Sally asked.
“He walked to Miss Anne’s table and sat on the table.” Margaret smiled at the kid’s giggling. “He looked at Miss Anne and smiled at her pretty face and said: would you like to go to dinner? She said yes and after that day they finally shared the chair.”
“I’m gonna go tell Quincy.” Sally bolted out of the tavern as Margaret sat in the stool beside Richard and Jack climbed back onto the bar top beside Gideon.
“Nice story Peg. But I seem to remember Jonathan and Anne still racing to that chair even after they got married.” Gideon laughed.
“True, but don’t good stories need a little embellishment?”
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