“Well, here we go again,” Dave said and he and his wife Sarah sat in their living room waiting for the Zoom meeting to start, like they did exactly a year ago.
“Yeah.” Sarah said. “To be honest I’d hoped we’d have been able to do this in person this year.”
“Me too,” Dave said. “But I’m sure Noah doesn’t really want another avoidable sandal on top of his friendship with Fred Berenstain.”
“I guess so.” Sarah said.
“Hmm,” Dave said. “But, hey, by the time we actually do do this in person, Will and Eleanor will have forgotten what the King James Bible says so Simon will be able to read it to them all over again when he babysits.”
“Yes,” Sarah said, “I suppose there’s that.”
“Hmm,” Dave said.
Just then, Dave’s colleagues started to appear on the laptop screen, like they had over a year ago.
“Whey- hey, Davvy boy!” Dave’s colleague Liam said to him, his wife Leila sitting next to him, who gave a polite hello.
“Hi… Liam,” Dave and Sarah said.
Soon, everyone had arrived, and the party could begin.
“Sorry we’re doing this on Zoom again,” Noah said. “Blame the government, that’s all I can say.”
“Perhaps next year, eh?” Liam said before chuckling to himself.
“Yes, perhaps,” Noah said before clearing his throat. “This also means that we’ll have to once again give Secret Santa a miss this year.”
Noah’s subordinates feigned disappointment, as Noah was the only one who actually cared about Secret Santa, despite the fact that there was a rumour going round that the gifts would be from Liberty’s this year rather than the traditional Poundland.
“Anyway, shall we start with a quiz?”
“Bit dodgy, innit? What with recent events?” Liam asked.
Noah did not respond. He sighed.
“Anyway,” Noah said, “what was our best selling product this year?”
The quiz began. Each couple quietly discussing the answers amongst themselves.
In the end, Giles Richardson won the quiz, as was expected because he was the only one who was as interested in the nitty gritty of the business as he was in actually designing new technology. He won the amount of money that the company lost during the year, as was the prize the previous year.
The party continued like every other Christmas party. Noah sang Save Your Kisses for Me, and there was a game of Monopoly, which Dave won this time whilst Noah spend most of the game in Jail, something that he felt hit too close to home considering his past with Fred Berenstain.
“Well, thank you all for coming tonight.” Noah said.
“No problem, mate.” Liam said. “Best night of the year.”
“Hopefully next year we can do this in person again.” Noah said. “But until then, goodnight and I’ll see you on Monday.”
Everyone said goodbye to each other, and Sarah and Dave were left alone in their living room.
“Well… that was that.” Dave said.
“Yeah.” Sarah said. “To be honest I thought that was less shambolic than last year.”
“I did too.” Dave said. “But it doesn’t beat doing it in person on the top floor of our skyscraper.”
“I guess so.” Sarah said.
“Hmm.” Dave said. “Well, goodnight, love.”
“Goodnight, Dave.” Sarah said.
And so the two of them kissed and went up to bed, after what was hopefully the last Christmas office (Zoom) party.
The Lower Strangling Chronicles 