Short Fiction

The Dinner Party By Mona Gardner

          The country is India. A colonial official and his wife are giving a large

dinner party. They are seated with their guests- army officers and government0
attaches and their wives, and a visiting American naturalist- in their spacious
dining room, which has a bare marble floor, open rafters, and wide glass doors
opening onto a veranda.

       A spirited discussion springs up between a young girl who insists that

women have outgrown the jumping-on-a-chair-at-the-sight-of-a-mouse era and
a colonel who says that they haven't.

      "A woman's unfailing reaction in any crisis," the colonel says, "is to
scream. And while a man may feel like it, he has that ounce more of nerve
control than a woman has. And that last ounce is what counts."
         The American does not join in the argument but watches the other
guests. As he looks, he sees a strange expression come over the face of the
hostess. She is staring straight ahead, her muscles contracting slightly. With a
slight gesture she summons the native boy standing behind her chair and
whispers to him. The boy's eyes widen; he quickly leaves the room.

    Of the guests, none except the American notices this or sees the boy
place a bowl of milk on the veranda just outside the open doors.
    The American comes to with a start. In India, milk in a bowl means only
one thing- bait for a snake. He realizes there must be a cobra in the room. He
looks up at the rafters- the likeliest place- but they are bare. Three corners of
the room are empty, and the fourth the servants are waiting to serve the next
course. There is only one place left- under the table.

     His first impulse is to jump back and warn the others, but he knows the

commotion would frighten the cobra into striking. He speaks quickly, the tone
of his voice so arresting that it sobers everyone.

        "I want to know just what control everyone at this table has. I will count

to three hundred- that's five minutes- and not one of you is to move a muscle.
Those who move will forfeit fifty rupees. Ready!"
    The twenty people sit like stone images while he counts. He is saying
"...two hundred and eighty...when, out of the corner of his eye, he sees the
cobra emerge and make for the bowl of milk. Screams ring out as he jumps to
slam the veranda doors safely shut.

     "You were right, Colonel!" the host exclaims. "A man has just shown us

an example of perfect control."
"Just a minute," the American says, turning to his hostess. "Mrs.
Wynnes, how did you know that cobra was in the room?"

      A faint smile lights up in the woman's face as she replies: "Because it

was crawling across my foot."




Signifcant excerpt- "You were right, Colonel!" the host exclaims. "A man has just shown us an example of perfect control."

This is a significant excerpt because it shows the irony of the story.



Reflection- ...This short story reflects one side of my tapestry (Humor) and my short story because the story provides humor by irony. The colonel says that a man has more control then a women. When the dinner is under an emergency the Colonel gets very frantic and does not keep under control. this relates to my quote (#2) because the servant decides he wants to play a gag on the colonel who thinks men have all control. The gag is set on the back burner when talking about the point of the story, which was the humor. Therefore, "Gags die, humor doesn't" ~ Jack Benny

































































































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