k i see you take it down Fourteen, by Alice Gerstenberg Mrs. Pringle is hosting a dinner party of fourteen guests, but because of the terrible blizzard outside, and circumstances beyond her control, her guests telephone her one by one, canceling their engagement with her. As she scrambles to fill her dinner seats by calling other friends she knows, other guests call and cancel their call to cancel. Confusion goes back and forth, fluctuating the guest count from 14, to 8, to 16, and back again, until Mrs. Pringle nearly goes mad. Part of the reason Mrs. Pringle is so frustrated has to do with the fact that her dining room table looks best with fourteen seats, as well as allows her husband to sit at the head of the table, which in her mind is the most honorable place to sit at dinner. But more precisely, she is so concerned with the aesthetic value of the party, because she wants to impress the guest of honor, Oliver Farnsworth, who she hopes will one day marry her daughter Elaine. In Mrs. Pringle’s mind, if she herself does not impress Mr. Farnsworth, Elaine will have no hope of capturing his attention, because she is so shy and not at all fussy, which traits Mrs. Pringle does not consider admirable. u happy now
