Chapter 14 - THE DINING ROOM CHANGES
The long Halbrook table remained.
I refused to destroy it.
Ione had not created the table.
Frankly, it was good furniture.
But the place cards changed.
Names only.
No ranks.
No House Steward.
No senior blood.
No ceremonial titles.
Children sat with parents or wherever practical.
At the first large dinner after reform, Oren asked to sit beside the kitchen door because he liked watching food come out.
Fine.
Merritt sat near him.
Halfway through dinner, Oren left his chair.
Old instinct moved across Ione’s face from three tables away.
She stopped herself.
I watched.
Oren went to the bathroom with his caregiver.
Returned.
May you like
Nobody declared institutional collapse.
That was the new precedent.
