Greek Lunch

“That’s disgusting!” Joe exclaimed.
He was eating a bowl of cereal at the kitchen table. Rose peeked over the top of the bowl.
“An ant,” she laughed.
“Several ants,” said Joe, irritated. “That’s stupid. I live in a house, not a jungle.”
He ditched the cereal and went to work on his French bike before hitting the yard to mow in the muggy heat of the morning.
Puck took off for the bathroom where Rose was doing her hair. By the time Collette chased him down, he had found a tiny hand mirror.
“Don’t break another one,” Collette warned him.
“I gave it to him,” said Rose smugly. “Promote vanity.”
By ten-thirty that morning, Denae had arrived at the house. It was time to visit the Greek lunch again. She was joined by Mom, Collette, Carrie-Bri, Rose, and Puck for gyros, spanakopita, Greek salad, baklava, and all the other Greek foods. Joe was staying home with Linnea, who was feeling ill from too many late nights.
“Our little socialite,” said Mom.
Afterward, a little old lady with her white hair in a knot on the top of her head escorted them into the sanctuary whose entire ceiling was covered in iconography.
“They were painted on canvas in Greece,” she said, “and brought here and applied like wallpaper. The chandeliers were made in Greece about ten years ago for ten thousand dollars apiece, and were installed here under the supervision of the designer. The alter is behind the iconography screen. Only the priest is allowed to open the doors. And no women are allowed behind it. So sit and enjoy the paintings and let me know if you have any questions.”
She click-clacked down the aisle out the glass door where the candles were lit in the sand and the rows of red wax-covered glasses of larger candles waited to be lit in the foyer.
“I’ll bet there’s a boy’s club behind there,” Rose pointed to the altar. “And that there’s a sign in there that says, ‘No girls allowed’.”
“How much you wanna bet they still have a cleaning lady clean in there?” Carrie asked.
Back at home, Joe was finishing the lawn and made iced coffee for Mom and himself. He handed out some stickers to Puck, who got one large one stuck in his hair. Carrie took notes on modern art museums and other oddities in London, watching Mom’s and Dad’s travel videos. And Rose left to help Denae bake apple pies for her belated 18th birthday.