The Ferret Jacket

Jackie always had wanted a mink stole, however the prices were sky high; maybe Jackie didn't reallywant a mink stole, however, everyone else at the lunch party did. So, Jackie nodded her head and tried not to say very much, which usually worked, she fit in and didn't make any waves. Monique discussed her innovative way of coping with the bad economy by raising her own mink and making her own mink stole, which was haute couture. A few of the attendees placed advance orders for their very own mink stole to look just like Monique's, for only $500, which was about half of what one would cost in the store, if a person could even find one.

Someone posed a question, someone who Jackie had never seen before, a slight blond girl wearing a pink fake fur jacket and matching pink shoes. "How can we be sure that these jackets are really mink, not ferret?", she asked. Monique fended that one off with the help of Diane and Brenda, two of Monique's most loyal supporters. "Of course it's mink.", said Diane, who then parenthetically babbled, "Don't be silly, darling, if it's mink, it's mink. A mink jacket, or even a stole is every girl's dream. It's part of the American dream. It would be unpatriotic not to wear one." Brenda then said, "Mink is American!" while moving over towards the girl's chair, brandishing a white mink stole with what looked to be a ferret or a mink head at one end of it.

That pink faux fur bearing person quietly exited the party, quickly, ran down the stairs, and the hub-bub inside the room continued. "Did you see that jacket? It wasn't even real fur. We don't need riff-raff like that here.", Brenda stated calmly. "The blinking nerve of that person, how could anyone be so nosy? This is the United States of America, not some third world nation. We have a right to wear mink!" Monique exclaimed,then continued, raising a glass, and addressing all at the lunch party, "Here, a toast to mink!"

Everyone got to chatting during lunch, which was an elegant affair indeed, with tiny servings on large plates, managed by wait staff wearing white gloves. Tiny cups and saucers full of tea or coffee prevented the imbibing of too much champagne, as did the slightly dour face of the head waiter, whenever a refill was requested, which would only be poured half-full, no matter what sort of protest to this would be requested. This resulted in the face-slap with a stole, by a few of the guests at the head waiter. This, to the result that absolutely no further champagne would be poured for that guest, at all.

The dinner guest who exited re-appeared bearing a plate of petit fours, and elegant, albeit tiny cake slices, which nobody other than Jackie noticed, apparently. Her hair had been freshly colored brown. The other guests ignored the staff, in general, thus ignored the girl. However, the desserts, adorned with sugar pearls and silk-like frostings were adored. Most guests saw the plate and were taken aback by its appetizing qualities, quickly choosing the juiciest-looking morsel for a dessert, sometimes two or even three, and then going back to chit-chat with the other luncheon guests. Then, the server exited, silently.

Jackie couldn't help but make a suggestion at this point. "Why don't we get tribbles? We'd surely turn over a profit by way of using tribble for jackets?" Brenda began laughing giddily at this, many of the lunch party guests became puzzled, not knowing what a tribble would be, and looked at each other. Monique became hysterical with laughter, though, and could not say anything else. Jackie began to laugh, watching Monique, usually a virtually unstoppable tank-like personality, become almost like a tribble herself, helplessly rolling back and forth. Diane dropped her staid and sober front a little bit and became a giddy luncheon princess. Most of the other guests began laughing, almost on cue, with little giggles and titters at the sight of their hostesses becoming so amused.

The head waiter, a somber individuals, even smiled at the idea of tribbles, the imaginary creatures from the original Star Trek being brought back to the real world for the purpose of being turned into fur jackets, while most of the other staff at the luncheon attempted to squelch their own laughter.

Monique suddenly became business-like, and addressed Diane with a smile. "We will take Jackie's idea into the business minutes, and will see if Leonard Nimoy can help us go 'In Search of' the necessary tribbles to start our own tribble farm, perhaps over the planned wine country tour next year." This caused another round of laughter to ripple from the head of the table towards Jackie, who was sitting at the other end of the room, directly across from Monique.

The giddy merriment of the lunch party was to be over with, though, as it was almost four o'clock, and the room reservation would be over with in minutes. The limo driver arrived to pick up the majority of the attendees, including Jackie, who by no means would be living the life of the unentitled.