For reasons that I’m absolutely wholly certain must be really really important, some folks were absent from our final round of play this evening. (Y’all didn’t answer your phones/texts, etc. Hope you are okay.) Therefore– and I’m sorry to have to say this because I know everyone is on pins and needles awaiting it– I cannot post the final seating arrangements for our Imaginary Dinner Party.

The order of play this final evening of the game was this (from first to last): me, Miss M, Miss M’s Friend, Kat, Daughter C, Tony, A. Leland, Mr. Big Food. After a necessary and sufficient grace period, we passed over Kat…, then Tony…, and A. Leland.

We five who played this evening invited…

Amelia Erhart (aviator, &c.; me)
James Cash Penney (rolling over in his grave founder of The Golden Rule Store now known as the tanking JCP; Miss M)
Mitch Hedberg (comedian; Miss M’s Friend)
— (;Kat)
James Taylor (cellist & musician; Daughter C)
— (; Tony)
— (; A. Leland)
Mike Judge (creator and star of King of the Hill; Mr. Big Food)

Truth be told, I’m a bit disappointed this evening. I was looking forward to wrapping up the data collection phase and moving on to the analyses. Alas, my data set is incomplete. One cannot assume Kat will invite a chef (since she invited Teddy Roosevelt) any more than one can assume Tony will invite a contemporary genius (since he invited a farmer) or A. Leland, an old dead white guy philosopher (since he invited Jesse James).

Meanwhile, we have a number of imaginary guests who’ve consumed too much imaginary home made wine and who are anxious for an imaginary dinner but who are, nevertheless, content to sit around chatting– as long as the wine keeps flowing. 

At some stage of this game, though, our imaginary guests will rise up and demand they be fed. Three empty seats be damned.

Who’s the first of our imaginary guests to demand this?