A Fountain at Dinner

Tales of Maria Series : V

 

 

 

 

There was a lot of discussion going on daily. Father kept insisting all the time that it was a necessary expenditure. The tone of his voice conveyed an imperative that nobody else could share, but he kept on with it. Maria realized that he was exhausting mother's defenses about that holiday trip to Hawaii.

 

It kept on for a week. During that time when the children heard voices in the master bedroom, they were pretty sure it was the same issue. Finally mother relented.

 

So on the saturday planned, the family received the delivery of cement, pvc pipes, some wood, sand, a motor and tiles. Father was going to build a fountain in the backyard facing the dining room. Her brother helped with the cement mixing. Maria figured that her father hadn't convinced her, so she raised some inquiries of her own.

 

' So what would the fountain do?' she asked.

 

'It's pretty to look at,' the father had replied.

 

' But mummy says the sound of the falling water would spoil our dinner moments together.'

 

The father was shovelling cement into the wooden moulds. ' There's two ways of looking at it honey. One, is for us to continue the daily practice of devoting ourselves as a family. Secondly, there's the need for us to moderate the family experience as an enforced condition.' He looked at Peter, her brother as he was saying it. ' The sounds of the fountain when we are together, will help us to do that.'

 

Maria thought about it for a while. ' But we have the TV,' she replied.

 

'That's at other times,' the father returned. ' Dinner time has a powerful bonding effect that raises many issues we cannot deal with as a family.'

 

Just then, the mould broke and the cement flowed out. Father rushed to repair it. Peter helped him. Mother came to the back porch and announced that she's getting some burgers from MacDonald's for lunch.