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“You tried cutting yourself out of it?” Elaine’s ghostly eyes rounded and she looked quite eerie.
I nodded and she shook her head with a chuckle. “Oh, Kel, you poor thing! Do you think you’ll get through the night?”
“Hopefully. But I’ll just go easy on the food and drink. I can’t be having to do that every hour or so.” I wiped remnants of sweat from my forehead.
“Actually, I’m thinking I might have a similar problem, only I have too much material.” She eyed her costume and lifted the layers. “How am I going to lift all of this? I don’t even know if I’m going to fit in the bathroom.”
I looked at my friend’s concerned face and she looked at my sweaty face, and we burst out laughing. “We make a funny pair, you and I,” she said, draping an arm around me as we walked towards some guests who were feigning fright at Elaine’s costume.
An hour later I mentally kicked myself at not having the willpower to resist the delicious food and drinks on offer. You’d think I would have learned after my last trip to the bathroom, but somehow my subconscious – or my stomach – seemed to be in control, making me eat everything that was offered. Elaine asked if I was sure I had enough room in my stomach, to which I replied, “I’ll make room,” popping another mini cream-cheese pancake into my mouth. Big Night Caterers had done a fine job and if I remembered when I got home, I’d invest in their company. Not that I knew how one goes about investing, but I could find out.
I glanced around the room at my guests, all laughing, talking and eating, and noticed Ryan approaching Bungy Ben in his frog/snake outfit outside in The Galaxy. His mouth opened to speak, but another young man went up to them and joined the conversation, and Ryan’s body stiffened at the intrusion. I was about to go out there in the hopes of luring the young man away for some reason I hadn’t decided on yet, when Will’s voice took over the room.
“Attention please, everyone,” he said into a thin silver stand that was obviously a microphone. “I’ve taken the liberty of creating a little quiz in honour of this milestone in Kelli’s life, so bear with me while I pass around a barcode for you all to scan into your e-pads. Then you can open the quiz answer sheet on your screen.” Will walked around the room with a small card and multiple beeps ensued as people scanned the card into their e-pad. Even Mr and Mrs Caveman had e-pads, although their colour matched their fabric sashes.
Hang on… you can change the colour of your e-pad? I quickly opened my menu and clicked on ‘settings’, scrolling down until I found ‘e-pad appearance’. Sure enough, a choice of colours was available. I clicked on ‘red’ and instantly my e-pad strap transitioned smoothly to a shiny red to match my dress. Nice!
I held out my e-pad when Will approached but he skipped me. “You don’t need to do your own quiz, honey, you can just listen and enjoy.”
“Fair enough,” I said.
Will took his place again at the microphone and cleared his throat. “Okay, time to find out who knows Kelli the best! Anyone who scores one hundred per cent gets a special treat from the lucky dip,” he said, pointing to one of the waiters who held up a round receptacle and shook it gently. “So, this is how it’s going to work. I’ll read each question aloud and you’ll have a brief amount of time to choose an answer. I’ll reveal the correct answers as we go along. I’ve programmed your answer sheets to automatically tally your scores at the end of the quiz, so there’ll be no cheating.” Will eyed Ryan.
“Hey, why are you looking at me?” Ryan defended. “Are you suggesting I don’t know enough about my own mother?” he said with a tinge of sarcasm.
To be honest, he probably knew more about me than I did.
“Let’s begin,” Will said in his best game show voice. “Question one: What is Kelli’s middle name?”
Ha! I took back what I said about Ryan knowing more about me than I do. This quiz would be a cinch!
Regina, aka, Marilyn Monroe sidled up to me. “So, what is it, hon?” she whispered.
“Hey, no cheating, Regina,” Will scolded with a determined glare.
“Oh come on, it’s what I do best,” she replied, and I didn’t know if she was being literal or cryptic with that comment.
I made a show of zipping my mouth shut to deter potential cheaters, as Will continued. “Okay, time’s up. The answer is… Diana. Kelli Diana Crawford and now Kelli Diana McSnelly.”
I flinched, but wasn’t sure if that was because I still wasn’t used to my hideous surname or because of my mother’s name being a permanent part of my own.
“Oh darn it, I put down Diane instead of Diana, I knew I shouldn’t have listened to you, sweetheart,” my father-in-law Homer Simpson said, playfully nudging his wife in the ribs with his elbow.
“Question two: What was Kelli’s career before starting KC Interiors?”
Ha! Another easy one. Shame I wasn’t being tested, I really wanted a surprise from the lucky dip.
“And the answer is of course… she was a model.”
I put my hands on my hips and flashed a pout, although inside I coiled at the phrase ‘was a model’. I still am!
“Question three: Where did I propose to Kelli?”
Okay, I take that back about taking that back about Ryan knowing more about me than I did. I bet he knew this. Will had probably told our children a million times if it’s important enough to be included in the legendary Quiz About Kelli.
Guests whispered and multiple eyebrows furrowed in concentration. The room looked bizarre with the holographic screens floating in front of everyone and I wondered how and where Will actually did propose. I bet it was a traditional down-on-one-knee at my favourite restaurant kind of proposal.
“Now those who were at our wedding should remember, as I mentioned it in my speech. I proposed to Kelli at a business conference I was speaking at when I was just twenty-six. She only accompanied me so she could go shopping while I participated in the seminars, but agreed to sit in on my talk to see me in action. I think she was half asleep by the end of it when I clicked on the final slide of my PowerPoint presentation, which showed a photo of us and the words: Kelli, will you marry me? Apparently someone had to tap her on the shoulder and tell her to look at the screen, then she walked up on stage in front of three hundred delegates and said ‘yes’. It was the best moment of my life, well, apart from our wedding and the day our kids were born.” Will smiled and winked at me, and I felt a little gooey inside, and also a little guilty, as I knew Grant would be proposing to me when I got back.
