Dinner With Jack, There Will Be Laughter for Dessert!

I slid the glass door open and called, "Hey, anybody here?"

"No one but us old farts!" Jack replied.  "C'mon in, get a drink."

That's how our evenings started.  We sat in his small kitchen with the copper pots on the wall, the aroma of fresh baked bread hanging in the air as we exchanged puns and punch lines.

Sometimes there were others, enjoying the mirth and warmth of a dinner at Jack's and desperately trying not to groan as Jack and I engaged in our pun warfare.

Easter dinner was particularly painful as Jack unleashed his wit on the harmless marshmallow Peeps so popular with Easter bunnies, children and folks too cheep (That's for Jack...) to buy chocolate rabbits.

It started with my suggesting we participate in an Easter photo contest using Peeps as the subject.  Jack thought it was a wonderful idea that should be expanded on.

"You're right Jack, we could make a movie, a pirate movie...Pirates of the CarribPeePian, starring Johnny Peep."

Jack laughed, the other guests groaned.  They knew the gauntlet had been thrown down.

"No," Jack said, "Make a sci-fi thriller, The Peepinator with Arnold Schwarezenpeep."

Jack and I showed no mercy, from the greats, Gone with the Peeps, to the recent blockbusters like Peep-tanic.  We laughed so hard Jack almost, almost spilled his Scotch.

Fortunately for our other guests, the oven timer went off. 

Jack could make a gourmet feast out of anything.  He had learned to cook from his grandmother on a small farm in Coopersville, Michigan.  Tonight he had made a lemon meringue pie, using his grandmother's pie crust recipe.

"It's the only recipe that makes a decent crust." He announced this every time, and every time he was deliciously right.  It was the only recipe he followed to the letter.

Jack cooked like he lived, take a taste, and see what it needs.  He spent his life working in interior design, creating sets for theatre and opera houses.  Jack would take a sparse budget and create a feast on stage.  "A little color here, a lot there and boom, you believe the beach for South Pacific is real.

A can of salmon, some milk and butter, voila! Salmon soup!  It's wonderful. 

Jack's best recipes were for friendship.  "Stop by for coffee in the morning, I made cinnamon rolls."

We would sit in his kitchen, with the copper pots hanging on the wall, the aroma of cinnamon heavy in the air and share our stories.  There were always second helpings of laughs and cinnamon rolls.  Facing my day in the cubicle jungle was less tedious when I started my day with coffee at Jack's.

Easter is not one of my favored holidays, but now when the Peeps come out, I will remember Jack and his idea to make "Star Peep, The Next Flock"  with Captain Peepcard.

So Jack, the coffee's on and I'm looking at the stars, I'm not sure...but I think I see the Cosmos rippling with laughter.