Ralph sighed and finished getting the dinner ready after he had given her the soda.
He didn't understand her at all.
"Dinner is about ready," he called to her.

"Cool," Sarah said, sipping the drink and pausing the movie as she walked to the kitchen to get some. Leftover meatloaf and potatoes on a plate, back to the living room to finish the movie.

"That's not very cultured," he called to her as she took her plate to the living room. "You need to eat at the table please."

He set his one plate at the table.

"That's not how mom and dad do it," Sarah complained. "If we're watching the movie, we eat and watch the movie. What, you too fancy to chew and use your eyes at the same time?" Sarah asked. "Besides, its not like we were going to have conversation or anything."

"I don't care how you do things, your mom put me in charge, and dinner is done at the table. Now get over here and sit down."

He wasn't going to let her think she could sass him. The note said nothing about movies and dinner and they had a perfectly functioning table.

"Now!" he said again this time meaning it.

Sarah paused, then set down her plate. Walking to the next room, she grabbed the edge of the table, pulled, and dragged it into the living room. "There. Now we're both happy," she said, setting down her plate and continuing to eat and watch the movie.

Ralph sighed.

"Why do you have to watch TV when you eat?" he asked her. "Don't you know that scary shows can give you indigestion, even if you aren't scared much by them?"

He shook his head and sat down where she put the table.
"What is so important about this movie anyway? Doesn't it come on every year? I bet you've seen it at least a dozen times!"

"I watch it every year. Normally I do with dad, its tradition. I used to when grandpa came to visit for the Halloween week, but he's not around anymore," she said, a little saddened. "Besides, that TV thing is a myth."

"No, it's true," he assured her. "I've seen people that got heart burn because one minute they are eating and suddenly they jumped when they were taking a bite, and it gave them a terrible heart burn."

He smiled at her. "But if your dad usually lets you, at least you are at the table."

He took a bite of food and avoided watching the movie while he ate.

"They got heartburn, not indegestion for one, and for two it was because they jumped, not because they were scared," Sarah commented, before returning to the movie. She was glad grandpa had moved to the other side of the country, it was easier to enjoy Halloween without his constant drunken shouting.