Once upon a time there was a pretty oak table. It had found its way to being a noble table at the local Rib City grill. For many years it had been the place where many families shared lunch and their suppers together. Yes, there were spills but its nice lacquered surface held up through the million cleanings from the waitresses and not a few A1 sauce explosions. But time went on…
After the years began to pass, her surface began to chip, and her pretty color started to fade. Even her feet were starting to wobble. The owner kept that oak table even though he had now purchased new MDF tables at a much cheaper price. She stayed hidden among those imposters still serving the afternoon passerby and the nightly lonesome who would come by to have their supper for the evening. Until one day bad news struck! The owner had gathered the cook and the waitresses at the now aging oak table and said that he was closing the restaurant. The lights were put out and many of the items were now up for sale. The owner took all the legs off the tables and placed the tops on his Facebook Marketplace. Among them was that pretty oak table who would never see another supper again. But…
The Pretty Oak Table speaks up:
“What happened next was that some guy saw that Ad and decided to travel to see if there was anything good in that pile of junk at the old Rib City grill. He looked through all those tables but was not satisfied with any of them. No, you could tell he was looking for something good. He passed by all the junky MDF and even snorted at the glued together plywood tables. Then he was going to leave. Suddenly something caught his eye. He had seen that one of us tables were made from some very pretty SOLID OAK! He muttered a few words to the owner and next thing that happened was that I found myself in the back of a pickup truck speeding off to who knows where. It was raining but he had a rolling cover on that truck, how neat. But what would be my fate? Chop me up into bits for some new hobby box? Paint me for a new yard sale sign? Oh no, will I be used for some boy’s target practice? Or even worse…Firewood. Oh! How I wish I could have served just one more supper to someone.
Next thing I knew I was being clamped to some table like a kid in a dentist chair. I had to be there for awful long time while that guy just sat at his computer being “Inspired” or was it Aspired? I’m not sure. Anyhow, he came back and began to take off my old lacquer finish. I was horrified. Here I am, naked as tree without its bark. Then what happened next was unimageable. This metal drill began to take chunks out of me! I was losing myself bit by bit. I could tell I was being changed and I did not know what to do. What was happening and what was I becoming? Oh, how I wish I could just serve supper just one more time. To have people talk around me again and look good while everyone enjoys themselves. Now I am lost, changed, and not even a hint of what I was before.
Next came the longest moments of my life. After 13 hours of being roughly handled by some drill about the size of your pinky, he began to finish me off with this long pointy thing. It slowly ground into my core taking little pieces of me away. The worst part was that it lasted for over twenty one hours! What have I now become? I must be monstrous.
Then to my utter surprise, what happened next changed my life. He took this special pen that cleaned up all my new curves, and which took him almost three hours to finish. After that I began to smell the sweet smell of new lacquer. It was so incredible to smell that again. It reminded me of the day when I was first born. He then held me up and I couldn’t believe my knots.
I was changed, I was new, and best of all I now get to have that …Last Supper.
