It was one of the those infrequent dinners where the entire Billings family was present. Father was home to take his place at the head of the rectangular table. Mother's seat was at the opposite end. Big Sis had one of the wider sides while Carrie shared the other with Annie. If they had a guest, a place would be prepared for her beside Big Sis.
Dinner that day was salad followed by spaghetti and a yet to be announced dessert. Most likely dessert would be something as simple as the other items on the menu, perhaps cake from the bakery. Mother deserved to take it easy on the cooking now and again. And Mother would take any excuse to slack off, even though Father was there.
Occasionally, Big Sis had taken over the kitchen on days when she had not been busy with college, when there had been enough family members for a meal. There had also been times when take out had been ordered.
By then, Annie had gathered that full family dinners had previously been much livelier. Mother and Carrie usually provided most of the conversation but in the past, the youngest sister had also been a primary contributor. Second Sis still had hopes for the old Annie to resurface in the way she kept pushing the conversation in her direction. Unfortunately, Annie simply had not anything to say beyond answering the immediate questions.
Besides, the spaghetti sauce was good and she did not want to lose any of the taste by opening her mouth to speak.
Annie thought she should pay attention to the flood of school gossips pouring from Second Sis' mouth. There were news on basketball activities, the juniors, a few on the seniors, but nothing concerning the freshmen. She could not put a face on many of the people mentioned. In the end, the spaghetti was more interesting since none of the gossip would likely appear in the exam.
"Mum, Dad." It was Big Sis who took the initiative for once. "My college's Housekeeping Exercise has been moved to this weekend."
Father swallowed hastily. "This weekend?" He glanced once at Mother. "I'll be out of town."
"Oh dear," Mother exclaimed, "my presentation's this Saturday!"
"Maybe I can get someone else to go to the meeting," Father said, "My business meeting, I mean."
"If I go on Friday... leave for the presentation on Saturday morning... get back by night..." Mother muttered to herself.
"Mum, Dad," Big Sis interrupted, "It's okay if you can't make it. It's supposed to be a time to relax for you. Sorry for the sudden date change. Something just came up and everyone agreed it would be best to change the date."
"What's this Housekeeping Exercise?" Annie asked.
Marie turned to her youngest sister. "It's where we practice housekeeping at a real hotel. Students plan the service and serve in housekeeping. We arrange for close relatives as guests so it's excusable if someone messes up." She looked back at her parents. "It's supposed to be like a short vacation for Mum and Dad."
"You're having relatives instead of real guests, so the hotel's reputation wouldn't be at risk?" Annie guessed.
"That's right," Big Sis confirmed, "Relatives are more forgiving of their sons and daughters' mistakes. The hotel would never offer their help if there's a chance we'll hurt their reputation by providing poor service."
"I thought you are studying hospitality management," Annie said, "Why are you doing housekeeping?"
"Part of management's job is training employees such as housekeepers," Big Sis explained, "Exposing the students to the actual work environment will give us valuable experience. It'll be easier to train others if we understand what they have to go through."
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