The doorbell wrang and I immediately looked at the security system panel on my wall. The panel always displays the doorbell camera when someone rings the doorbell, so I know who is at my door before I approach. It works wonders against people trying to sell me some random service I do not need. I noticed three people standing at the door, one of the three was standing off to the side looking as if he was not happy.

“Welcome!” I exclaimed after opening the door, noting that I have royalty at my doorstep with Queen Rita, Prince Gabriel, and Prince Jason staring at me.

We exchanged greetings and she said to address them by their first names because they were not acting as royals.

“Well, if you insist, please come in and could you sit your dishes on the dining room table to your right, the food is not quite done yet.” I instructed as I backed away to allow room for everyone to enter the home. Jason asked where to put the ice as he walked into the house. I told him where the freezer was and had him put the ice in there to make sure it did not melt.

“We bought appetizers and desserts like you asked” said Gabriel with a smile on his face. He uncovered their dishes to show what was hidden in the containers that he and his mother were holding. Within those containers were some of the fanciest looking chocolates, caramels, and dessert pastries I have ever seen. The chocolates were individually wrapped, enclosed within a shiny golden candy wrapper. I could not wait to taste one when dessert was being served.

As we all sat down in the living room to chat while dinner was finishing in the oven, I noticed Jason staring at the game console next to my television with a weird look on his face. I asked him if he played video games and he looked confused. Jason explained he did not know what a video game was. I explained what it was as I picked up a controller and turned the system on. The beep that indicated the system was starting up startled Jason and he jumped up. Both he and Gabriel looked at the television as the system turned on. I tossed Gabriel a controller, and turned on a fighting game then tossed Jason the controller I had in my hand. I gave a quick overview of how this all worked, and they both were confused but interested. I let this both play the game while I continued my conversation with Rita.

“Where did you get those chocolates? They look ornate.” I stated as I keep looking back on the display of them on the table. It is like they were calling out to me from inside those wrappers.

“Those chocolates were made by our royal chocolatier; he is the only person I trust enough to make candy that I would eat. I feel like you will enjoy these chocolates!” Rita explained, “What are you making for dinner? I do not want to seem so forward but the food smells amazing!”

I explained that I was making a dish close to my heart, it was a dish that my mother made when I was a child, and the recipe is something that I always remember. I only make this dish on special occasions because I do not want the memory of the times of my childhood to be watered down. I was making lasagna. This lasagna consisted of four layers of flat noodles, hand made from pasta flour, egg, water, and a touch of salt. Between each layer of pasta was a hefty portion of ground beef mixed with a homemade tomato sauce and topped with three types of cheese including ricotta. The top layer of the lasagna had no meat but was just tomato sauce and cheese.

I offered my adult guest a glass of wine, and she looked at me as if I had offered her a generous sum of money. She agreed to a glass of wine as the doorbell rang. I got up to get the wine glasses and a bottle of wine from the wine rack. I looked at the security system panel again and saw it was my daughter holding a box. I immediately ran over to open the door and let her in. She walked in and sat down next to Rita on the couch. I took the box of pastries and opened them up for everyone to see as I placed them on the coffee table.

“Help yourselves to some pastries” I said before I continued my journey to retrieve wine glasses and wine. I offered my daughter a glass and she politely accepted the glass after stating that she had a long day at the coffee shop. The pastries she bought with her were ones they had left over at the end of the day, but they looked delicious. She had croissants, biscuits, scones, and my favorite pain au chocolate. A pain au chocolate was simply a croissant, but it had some chocolate in the middle. The chocolate was not overly sweet, but it gave just enough to counter the slight tartness of the basic croissant. I went to reach for the pain au chocolate and was greeted with a slight slap of the hand by my daughter.

“You know your doctor said to watch what you eat Dad, maybe some salad would be a better appetizer for you” she said with a stern look on her face, she looked like her mother in this moment and if I learned one thing in life it was to never try to argue with that woman. I nodded in defeat as the oven timer went off and I went into the kitchen to remove the lasagna from the oven. The lasagna had to sit on the counter for about ten minutes to set. Setting the lasagna allowed it to stiffen up a bit, this ensured it would not fall apart immediately after the lasagna was cut to serve. I walked back into the living room; Rita was enjoying her second glass of wine, and my child was sipping on her first glass. The boys were deep into playing the fighting game, going from not knowing what a game was to looking like they had been playing their entire life. I stared at the attendees of my dinner party and was amazed at how everything was turning out; nothing could make this party look any better.

As I was enjoying my moment of bliss, Jason and Gabriel finished a match of the game and an intense argument started between them. Gabriel started glowing a bright hue of yellow while Jason had an aura of black and purple surrounding him. The coffee table flipped over from the boys setting up a fight, in my living room. When the coffee table flipped over the wine bottle flipped over as well as the glasses. I stared in shock at the events that were taking place, hoping that someone would intervene. Rita’s face twitched, and she had a look of anger in her eyes. She shouted at both boys and the entire room fell quiet. No one said a word, not even me. The aura of both boys went away, and Jason stepped into a dark corner, cowering in fear of what had just transpired.

“Fix. This. Now.” Rita told Gabriel with a look only a mother could give their child. Gabriel leapt into action and the living room was back to its original form. Gabriel apologized for their actions, he looked incredibly sad that he acted that way. Gabriel has not only returned the room to the way it was before, but it was also better. All blemishes from wear and tear had all been fixed. With everything back in order, Rita went back to enjoying her wine and my daughter, Aaliyah, went on as if nothing happened. She suggested that the boys play a less intense game if they wanted to play a video game. I suggested we find a TV show to introduce them to, since they do not have televisions or electronics in their kingdom. Aaliyah recommended House of the Dragon, which I immediately disagreed with. It would be a bit too violent and would give them ideas which could lead to bad outcomes. Aaliyah and I decided on showing them a timeless classic that we watched all the time growing up, Hercules. This went well with them; however, Jason was overly excited about Hades, and we did not know why. Once the movie ended, we decided on serving dessert. Gabriel unveiled that he had bought his favorite dessert, which was mint chocolate chip ice cream. Gabriel and Jason seemed to disagree on this with Jason exclaiming “WHO WANTS TO EAT ICE CREAM THAT TASTE LIKE COLD TOOTHPASTE!” Queen Rita served the chocolates as an alternative. I tasted both the ice cream and the chocolates which I felt were both delicious. The party started to wind down after dessert, and I asked if anyone wanted to take lasagna for the road. Jason declined but everyone else said they would love to take it home. I put pieces of lasagna in those Styrofoam to go containers. I know they are not the best for the environment, but they are cheap, and I am not rich enough to give away Tupperware containers.

As the royal trio of Rita, Gabriel and Jason prepared to leave I started gathering items to clean in the kitchen. I refuse to go to bed with a dirty kitchen, it was something imprinted on me since I was a kid living with my parents. As I went to run the dishwater Rita thanked me for my hospitality. I went to the door to see them off and Gabriel smiled as he entered the vehicle they arrived in. It was nothing I had ever seen before, and I am honestly not sure how they arrived without getting pulled over by the police. Gabriel winked and all three were gone in an instant. I turned and entered the house, Aaliyah stood in shock as the entire house was clean. Gabriel had left one parting gift using his magic; he had cleaned up the house so I would have one less task to worry about. I asked Aaliyah if she were ok to drive home, but instead of leaving she decided she would sleep on the couch since she had been drinking wine tonight.

We chatted and made small talk, I eventually excused myself to go to bed and when I awoke Aaliyah had left to go to work. I made my way to my car and started in the direction of the coffee shop.