Despite the fact that the kids had been falling all over themselves to answer Ori's questions, they had run back to Sesamstraat easily enough, and didn't even turn their heads as the flames shot up for a moment before receding to a low blue burn. Staas cursed as he realized he'd forgotten to put the thermo-platter into the oven. That, of course, got Alida's attention.
"Swear jar, Daddy!"
"Okay, meisje," he called back, and her little blonde head turned back to Pino and the gang. He decided to improvise and grabbed the platter, holding it upside down a few inches over the flame. He felt the change quickly, thank goodness, and hoped it would be enough. It should be. The steaks would only be on it for a few minutes. He held onto it as long as he could, then set it aside and moved to dish out the asparagus on a smaller serving dish, drizzling melted butter liberally over each stalk.
He paused for a moment to take a last sip of coffee, and to grab the salad he'd prepared that morning from the refrigerator, adding the vinaigrette and tossing it lightly. Then, when the flame had burned out, Staas carefully set the steaks on the platter, dishing out the mushrooms and onions to top. In the spirit of the evening, he broke out a rare bottle of wine for himself, and asked the others what they would prefer in their own glasses as he slipped out of the apron and back into his jacket.
The table had also been set in advance, complete with cloth tablecloth, candles, and Staas' Omi's silverware and plates. The kids, of course, still had their usual plates and glasses and kid forks. Staas and Ira carried everything to the table, then Staas moved into the livingroom to turn off the TV, and the kids came to the table singing Ernie's "Dance Myself to Sleep," which they knew in both languages and were taking absolutely no heed as they slipped out of one version and into the other.
"I dance myself to sleep. I'm in my jammies! I dance myself to sleep. En bedankt u schapen." (Thank you,lambies.) "En ik dans mezelf in slaap. Nu ga ik slaapen." (I dance myself to sleep. Now I go to sleep.) "En ik dans mezelf in slaap!"
The end of the song saw Alida climbing up into her regular chair, and Staas swinging Theo up onto the cheap fold-out chair from the closet with the phone book as a booster seat, which Theo thought was oh so much fun to sit on. Staas took Theo's hat off, which did earn a protest, but Staas shook his head. "No hats at the table, jongen. It's not polite." He took off his own hat in demonstration, and smiled as Ira offered his up as well. He carried them all over to the high counter between kitchen and diningroom, and lined them up one after the other, leading up to the fruit bowl.
He served Ori first, obviously, and then put a cut of steak and a couple pieces of asparagus on each of the kids' plates. Without a word, he handed Alida's plate to Ira and kept Theo's for himself, each of them cutting everything up into kid-size pieces. Such things had become routine, so that Ira's hand was already waiting for Alida's salad plate as Staas turned to hand it to him. (He even caught a stray tomato that Staas had missed, and slipped it onto his own salad plate instead.) Once the children were taken care of, Ira's serving came next, and Staas' own was last.
He was no good at toasts or anything, and always felt like a total jackass trying to offer one, so he merely lifted his glass, tipped it towards Ori, and said, "It totally rocks that you're finally here," with a smile.