The lighter side of war

The popular sitcom "friends" as imagined in amidst an ethos of the New York City during the second world war in the genre of Dark Humour

"...And the pivotal plan of the general to secure the south pacific for the Allied effort has proven to be..", said the radio as Dr. Ross Gellar earnestly listened. A doctor in the newly established Museum of prehistoric history, Dr. Gellar was now unemployed along with an entire stream of people working in professions considered unproductive and a misspend of the tax payers' money.

"Did you remember to bring the pie from Monica's ?", Rachael Green's voice rose angrily as she directed the question to her husband. It was almost a year for Rachael working in the firm which produces durable clothes for the army. It was a year of hard manual labour for a daunting 12 hours every day. She and Ross had been high school sweethearts and married for just over two years. Ross's unemployment has not left Rachael in a great deal of exasperation but it was the sheer lack of effort on Ross's part to find a new job.

"I guess I didn't..", was the reply as Ross refused to even displace his head in the direction of his wife.

"I ask one little thing of you.. My boss mark would be home any minute for dinner!.. Do you even.." came confounded bursts of anger from a very seemingly annoyed Rachel.

"Alright, stop fretting, they live just a couple of blocks away, I'll be back in a jiffy", Ross tried to calm his wife.

"Although, I must say, this boss of yours.. what's his name?.. Yeah Mark. Don't you think he's getting awfully close to you?.. I..I..I'm not jealous or insecure or something, it's just that I uhh.." muttered Ross in a low voice with a distinctly fake smile.

"Ross!.. I have absolutely no time for discussing the same thing over and over. The pie. NOW!" exclaimed Rachael.

"Yeah, alright Rach."

Dr. Gellar swings his head back as he's getting his coat from the rack, "Just to be clear, you are willing to discuss the issue after the dinner right?"

The action is reiterated by his wife but with a ghastly, or rather sombrely face.

"I'll just let myself out of here", Dr. Gellar whispered softly but with a hurried moment of an absolute lack of levity.

"Of course, Monica's pies are the best, but I certainly don't enjoy her caramel cream puffs." Ross defended his earlier words to Chandler.

"Listen, just talk about the pie to her. One mention of the puffs, and she'll gouge your eyes out and chop em' up and mix em' in her next dish", "I'm afraid she might even feed that to me.".

"Losing her dream job, and that too the one she was hoping would make your mother finally respect her! It all has been really tough on her", claimed Chandler.

Monica was Ross's little sister, now married happily to Chandler, his best friend from college. Monica and Rachael were best friends since high school too.

Just as about he was to leave holding a plate of a delicious smelling apple pie, Ross thought it would be rude not to invite them both to the dinner too.

"I'm sorry, I can't", said Monica. "My shift is about to start at the restaurant."

"At this hour? I..I.. mean is.. is it even safe going all the way to that excuse of a restaurant and work as a waitress at this hour?", demanded Ross.

"It's not like there are a lot of jobs in the city now, Ross. Plus, we have like no savings at all. If Rachael were to throw you out right now, we wouldn't have the supplies to let you stay in our home for one night!", replied Monica.

"What.. what? Has she said anything to you?, Ross jumped from his place while the pie gets all smudged onto Chandler's shirt.

"Not even for a night, Ross, remember that", said Chandler without a stern bit of expression escaping from his face.

"Of course not, I was only telling you about our current predicament, ROSS!", exclaimed Monica.

Ross was convinced of the fact that the only way to calm Rachael now, would be to take Monica and Chandler to dinner too. He thought maybe Monica could explain the scene to Rachel. He pleaded to an almost angry Monica herself, but she got herself to accept to help her brother.

"Let's invite Joey too. He's always hungry and he could probably make something up in the way to calm Rachel down.", said Ross as he urged Chandler to call their good actor friend Joey.

The four of them head to Ross's home where a disastrously nervous and agitated Ross opens the door to the sight of his wife Rachael kissing her boss Mark passionately.

The sheer befuddle of shock and awkwardness was evident on everyone's face, while Dr Ross Gellar just had a dumbfounded look of disappointment and humiliation.

Without a chance for anyone to say a word, Joey tiptoes towards the table, picks up a plate of yams, and retraces his steps back to his initial position. With everyone's gaze fixated on Joey with amazement, he said

"What? I'm not hungry. It's just that they're not gonna have this food now, no sense in letting it all go to waste, is it?"