And hilarity ensues...

So last night, in honor of Eric's passing-the-bar-exam achievement, we gathered at Morton's steakhouse for a celebration dinner. Faisal joined us, as he is an official member of the family... so official, in fact, that I was considering adding him to my Christmas list this year. NOW, however, I'm not so sure... I'll get to that in a minute...

As we waited for dinner, Eric and Faisal reminisced about the first time they visited a Morton's restaurant in Manhattan (which, sadly, was near the World Trade Center and either no longer exists, or is no longer open) -- this was back when Eric and Faisal were young and naive and penniless and living in Brooklyn and spoke with Cockney accents (yes, I'm trying as much as possible to make them sound like street urchins from Oliver...). So visiting an expensive steakhouse wasn't something either of them made a habit of doing. But that night, they dug into their street urchin pockets, found the money they'd saved from selling newspapers on street corners, and settled in for a nice dinner. They got their first taste of Morton's yummy chocolate lava cake (which, incidentally, we all ordered last night... except for dad, who had some kind of apple thing. No chocolate cake?? Blasphemy. :))... and Faisal told us how amazed he was when he left the table for a few minutes, only to return to a neatly re-folded napkin at his place at the table.

So of course when he left the table last night to visit the restroom, Eric thought it would be funny to fold his napkin and place a random spoon in the middle. We all had a good laugh when Faisal returned, and then waited for our desserts to arrive. The desserts, however, were taking their time, so I decided to visit the restroom myself (side note: the bathrooms at the Morton's on Wacker Drive are extremely dark... like I practically needed a flashlight to figure out where I was going... what's up with the mood lighting in the bathroom, Morton's???). I then returned to our table for six... which, I suddenly realized, was now a table for five.

My chair was gone (it took me several seconds to realize it was behind my mom's chair), and my coat and bag were nowhere to be seen. And my (so-called ;)) family went on with their conversation -- as if I wasn't standing there at the mysteriously truncated table, wondering whether I should laugh or steal someone's chocolate cake (I really should've stolen the chocolate cake...). Eventually, I reacquired my chair and possessions, and was told that the original idea (proposed by Eric) was to simply crumple up my napkin and throw random things (silverware, sugar packets) on top of it. However, apparently Faisal's proposition was to just "get rid" of me altogether. Now, I expect this kind of thing from my second-favorite brother Eric... but Faisal?? Well... as I said before... I'm rethinking the Christmas list... ;)

I did threaten to retaliate by posting a particularly interesting picture of Faisal dancing at Eric's wedding... but I believe I already promised not to post that picture to my blog... (curses! Foiled by my sense of honor...) So I'll just reiterate this: COMFORTABILITY IS NOT A WORD.

Sigh... I need to work on my retaliation technique... :)