“Sorry I’m late, dear. I got tied up with something at work. The boss —”
“That’s fine, honey, you’re here now. You can tell us all about it over dinner. Quick, do me up.”
“But that’s what I’m trying to tell you… Hold on, you’ve got lint. My boss asked me to entertain a visiting business representative and his wife.”
“Two more? But —”
“Don’t worry, I’ve already told the cook. Dinner is covered. We’ll just have to be a bit careful about what we say.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, they’re from Japan. Mr and Mrs Tanaka. What with the embargo, they’re a bit touchy, and we’ll have to be careful not to offend them.”
“Wait, they’re Japanese? But we can’t have Japanese at our dinner party.”
“Now, dear, don’t be like that. The Japanese are a fi—”
“Mrs Witherington is Chinese! They’re at war with Japan!”
“Hold on, I thought you said your cousin was from New York, and his wife’s name is Sue?”
“No, not New York, just York. He’s British, and her name is Su-Li. He met her during the Great War.”
“Oh. Oh dear.”
“What is it now?”
“The Kuhns… They’re German.”
“You invited Germans to dinner? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t think it was important. Why would I? It’s not like we’re in the war. What are we going to do? We’ll have a murder on our hands!”
“No, we won’t. We can get through this, it’s only for a few hours. Here put on your tie, quickly, before somebody rings the bell. We have to keep them distracted, stop them talking to each other too much. Where did you put your good cufflinks? Ah, here they are. And when they do talk, it’ll have to be about something… trivial. The weather, baseball, that sort of stuff. If things start to get tense, change the subject, avoid politics, and whatever you do, for God’s sake…
A dinner party for twelve, from 7:30pm on Saturday December 6th, 1941.
By Random Jones and Travis Hall.
An additional fee will be charged for this game, to cover the cost of dinner, which will be served during the session.