High Tea

Artwork by Phil Burns

This tale was written for The Carrot Ranch where the challenge is to write a story in exactly 99 words using the prompt – jam

High Tea*

‘Leave the jam alone.’
‘But Mummy, my bread needs jam.’
‘Don’t make me tell you again, John’
He thumps the dish down.
There’s an uneasy pause.
Then a sulky muttering.
‘Don’t see why I can’t put jam on my bread.’
His mother sighs.
‘You’re eating soup, that’s why. Nobody eats jam with soup.’
‘Why not?’
His two sisters snigger.
‘Well why can’t I…’
‘John, don’t push it…’
‘Leave the boy alone, Ellen.’
Everybody looks at Granpa who never speaks unless he has to.
‘The food all ends up in the same place anyway.’
John smirks – and Mother retires, defeated.

*High Tea – in Scotland the evening meal, generally eaten between 5 and 6 o’clock, is a combination of a hot dish with the elements of afternoon tea – best of both worlds.

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