I pulled up in front of Alice's house on Saturday afternoon wondering what was in store for me. More to the point, I was wondering what was in store for Larry. Knowing how pissed off Alice, Arlene, and Donna were, it wouldn't be anything good for Larry. Did he suspect what he would be walking into? I doubted it. He was so oblivious to anyone but himself that he was probably clueless as to how much vindictive energy was being directed his way by his jilted trio, or if he knew, he didn't care.
Alice greeted me at the door with a squeal of delight, a smile, and a big hug.
"Oh Travis, thank you so much for being here! We wouldn't be able to pull this off without you!" she exclaimed.
"Wait, what? I thought I was just here for moral support," I said suspiciously.
"Well, it'll be a little more than that, but that's part of the surprise. And I absolutely guarantee you won't be complaining once we show you what your part in this will be. Trust me, dear heart. Have I ever steered you wrong?"
"What about that blind date you set me up on last April? You remember what a disaster *that* w..."
"Ok, ok," she said, cutting me off. "Aside from that *one* teeny lapse in judgment, have I ever steered you wrong?"
"Weellll... no," I admitted reluctantly. "So what's the surprise then? And what's my part?"
"We'll have to wait until Larry gets here and we spring a surprise on him. Then it'll be your turn."
"Ok, fine then," I said a bit testily. I gave an exaggerated sigh as we went on into Alice's house, and she shut the door behind us.
"Hey, Alice said you promised not to grump," said Arlene as we entered the living room.
"Sorry," I said. "You know I hate not knowing what's going on, but I promised to behave, and so I shall henceforth." I nodded for emphasis.
I heard the sliding glass door at the back of the house open, and we all turned towards the sound.