Who: Annie Oakley; OPEN TO Jesse James & Family, Frank James, Johnny Reb & Family, Billy Yank, The Saints & Everyone's +1s. What: 4th of July shindig. When: Sunday, July 4th. Where: Annie's house in New Jersey. Notes: No posting order, individual sub-threads, etc. I'll be posting back to everything as quick as my internet connection (which is still super-shaky) allows. Tag who the threads are open to in the subject line of the sub-thread. And please, don't drink and operate firearms, Johnny!. Er, yeah... fat chance, right?
For what it was worth, Annie was not the kind of girl who threw big parties or organized things of this nature. That alone made this whole ordeal and impressive undertaking for her. And miraculously, it seemed that she hadn't made some huge oversight in the process of getting it all done.
Most of the food - what was brought over the day before and stuck in the refrigerator, was out on the kitchen counter just inside a set of French doors that led to the patio and back yard. There was a well-stocked liquor cabinet with the door propped open and plenty of tables and chairs outside to accommodate everyone. She had gone through the recycling and found every old bottle she could that was fit for target practice and set them up near a post on the opposite side of the yard, taking her old rifles down from her bedroom and leaving them on a table outside just out of the reach of the James kids. The rest of the food would be coming with the guests and she thanked God that they all came through and offered to help with that because she would have been a hopeless case. And finally, after having a short chat with the fellow who was bringing most of the meal that afternoon, she had unpacked a very old, very unused acoustic guitar and propped it up outside the door on the patio.
If there was something she forgot, someone else would tend to it, and she was fairly certain that there would be enough alcohol and ammo there for everyone to get themselves in a good mess of trouble. But where would most of them be if it weren't for that particular hazardous combination (she'd venture a guess that Jesse, at least, would have far fewer "bright" ideas).
When guests arrived, they'd be greeted by Annie's three English Setters, yipping and dancing around people's feet, leading them back to the back yard where she was still wandering around the edge of the fence, trying to remember if there was anything she neglected.