Kapitel 309: Family Dinner
Dinner was very… quiet as everyone was in their own thoughts, not speaking to each other.
Ernest looked around, this sight irked him, just what kind of family dinner was this? They were acting as if they had been invited to a funeral feast rather than a family dinner.
"What sort of family dinner is this?! No one is talking to one another, it more like we are mourning more than anything" said Ernest as he was fed up, he could not take this sight anymore, all he could hear was the clacking of the cutlery on their plates and nothing more, he did not even know if he was dining with humans he could promise you that they were not even breathing.
"Oh Father, we didn't know that you felt that way, we thought that you wanted everything to be quiet since you didn't say anything" said Margaret as she smiled.
"No Maggy, no, I am on old man, I wanted all you young ones to start saying something" said Ernest in annoyance.
"Father, I think that you are overreacting" said Ernest Jr as he sighed.
"You be quiet, I am not overeating at all, if anything, you all my so called family, should talk, that's why I invited you all here, so start talking, all of you" said Ernest.
"Grandfather, please relax, we all apologize for not taking your feelings into consideration, please do not get so worked up over a little matter such as this" said Natasha as Ernest looked at her.
"Yes Grandfather, we are sorry" said Lulu as she apologized and the rest of them apologized.
"Whatever, I am upset that Cecilia is not here, she went on a business trip, because if she was here, I am sure that you all would be talking" said Ernest as he scoffed.
"Alright Grandfather, we all apologized" said Natasha as Ernest pouted in annoyance.
"Grandfather, how was your new year's did you do anything fun or different from last year?" asked Natasha as she smiled.
"Now that's more like it" said Ernest as he smiled and Charlie scoffed, now who liked attention more.
"Thank you my dear, I actually did do something different for new year's I decided to go on a little run" said Ernest as Margaret busted in laughter.
"What's so funny?" asked Ernest.
"Father, I don't think that little stunt that you pulled counts as running" said Ernest Jr as he shook his head.
"Well alright fine, jogging then" said Ernest as Margaret laughed, which in turned caused everyone to laugh even though they did not know why she was laughing.
"Again with the laughter?" asked Ernest.
"Father, you tried to speed walk or whatever we can call that activity of yours, and the next moment you claimed that you pulled something, you complained of pain a lot, so much so that we had to get Doctor Freddie to come all the way over here to check on you, and it turned out that it was nothing serious at all, you were just overreacting" said Ernest Jr as he shook his head and they all laughed.
"Margaret, are you joining this husband of yours to insult me?" asked Ernest as he looked at Margaret and she stifled her laughed.
"Ahh no Father, it's just that, you complained that you were in so much pain, and I even tried to massage your leg for you" said Margaret as she cleared her throat.
"Well I am not as young as I used to be, I'm 80 now" said Ernest.
"Which is why you should limit your movement Grandfather, we don't want to risk you actually pulling something" said Michael.
"Oh be quiet boy, I'm not that old, haven't you heard the phrase that life begins at 80" said Ernest as his remark led everyone to laugh.
"Grandfather, the phrase is life begins at 40, and not 80" said Dom as he laughed.
"Be quiet Dominic, don't you know that 80 is the new 40" said Ernest as everyone laughed, Ernest's thinking was… something.
"Anyway, I also stayed up to count down to the new year" said Ernest as he smiled.
"Oh Grandfather, no you didn't" said Lulu as she laughed.
"What do you mean Lulu?" asked Ernest as he looked at Lulu who was sitting right across him as Dom and Natasha were sitting beside each other, Ernest Jr and Margaret were sitting beside each other, while Nine, Michael and Charlie, sat around them.
"Grandfather, you were out cold by the time the countdown struck, I had to cover you in your blanket before you got cold" said Lulu as she laughed.
"Well… that explains why my memory of the new year is so hazy" said Ernest as they all laughed and shook their heads.
"Anyway, my dear Natasha, how did you spend your new year's? Dominic told me that you went on a business trip" said Ernest as he smiled.
"Yes Grandfather… I did… and let's just say that my new year's was… different from the rest" said Natasha as she smiled, after all, she did spend her new year's locked up at the police station for a crime that she did not commit.
"That's nice my dear, what did you do?" asked Ernest as he smiled.
"I just slept all day Grandfather" said Natasha as she smiled and Dom cleared his throat.
"That's nice, Dominic, how are things going at the office?" asked Ernest as he cut a piece of his steak and he ate it.
"Everything is going well Grandfather" said Dom.
"And the construction, I hope that there are no problems?" asked Ernest.
"No Grandfather, everything is running smoothly, we are even earlier than the schedule we planned out" said Dom.
"Good, good, I hope that the plans for the launching of our new headquarters are going well" said Ernest as he smiled.
"Umm… about that Grandfather, I've been thinking and…" said Dom as he looked at Michael and Michael nodded that he should go on.
"We should put a hold to the public launching of our new headquarters, just for now" said Dom.
"What?? And why is that?" asked Ernest as he did not hide his displeasure.
"I just think that it's not a really good idea to plan a big launching and celebration right now, due to money issues, and also just for the overall comfort of the situation, these things take a lot of money and planning, and there will be a lot of publicity, I think it's better if we have the official launching in around March" said Dom.
"Nonsense, utter nonsense, have you heard of the launching of a building that had already started to be in use? This is nonsense, I cannot agree with that Dominic" said Ernest as he shook his head.
"Grandfather, you should try to consider it" said Michael.
"Of course he got you in on this plan of his as well" said Ernest as he scoffed.
"No Grandfather, it's not like that, Dom does have a good reason for his idea, after all, he said that it would be better to go all out for the launching and anniversary of the company at the same time, now that would be a huge event to cover" said Michael as he smiled.
"Is that so Dominic?" asked Ernest in surprise as he looked at Dom.
"Yes Grandfather, it's better for us to just have one full out celebration, instead of planning one now, we can save our funds to organize a better event" said Dom.
"Hmm, I will see, and I will think about it, Junior what do you think?" asked Ernest as he looked at Ernest Jr.
"Father I think that it is a great idea, Dom and Michael have already stated that the main reason to is to save up more funds, you really should consider it" said Ernest Jr.
"I will think about it" said Ernest.
"Thank you Grandfather" said Dom and Michael as they smiled.
"Anyway, we need to go into more serious matters, I have heard about the problems going on at the office with the shareholders" said Ernest.
"Grandfather, that is a minor problem, it will be settled soon" said Dom.
"I don't know about that Dominic, these people are greedy, they are asking unnecessary questions that does not concern them at all" said Ernest as he scoffed.
"Men that want things that do not belong to them at all" said Ernest.
"Do not worry Grandfather, these things always happen, it will be settled" said Dom as he smiled.
"Whatever you say, but I want you all to be on board and show your support and involvement in the company to show those sharks that we are a family company" said Ernest.
"And I am talking about you Charlie" said Ernest as he looked at Charlie.
"Aww what??" asked Charlie in annoyance as he had purposely kept quiet so Ernest would not pick on him.
"You need to start having a more valid role in the company" said Ernest.
"But why me??" asked Charlie as he groaned.
"Dominic does his best as CEO, Michael helps him as often as he can, he is in the PR department, and even Xavier does some work, but you, you do nothing at all" said Ernest as he complained.
"Grandfather, I'm not a businessman, I don't like working in an office" said Charlie.
"Oh so you would rather stay at home all day, fighting and doing nothing but eating all the food" said Ernest as he scoffed.
"Grandfather, I don't want to work" said Charlie as he groaned.
"Stop being lazy Charlie, I did not send you to study business for you to waste your degree" said Ernest.
"And don't you dare argue with me, because I will not take any of that, you need to start getting more responsible" said Ernest as Charlie groaned, Ernest wondered what he should do with this boy, he was the laziest of them all, it was a wonder how he even passed his business degree.
"Grandfather, please be lenient with me" said Charlie as he begged.
"Fine, you don't have to go work in the office from morning to night, but I do expect you to take on some leadership roles, and attend the meetings from now on, you can do that from home if you wish to" said Ernest.
"Thank you Grandfather" said Charlie in relief, at least working from home with be better.
"All you children of nowadays, not wanting to work, I worked for all of this, your parents worked for all of this, all the luxuries you have could not have been afforded if we do not work for them, I am not a man that would encourage you to steal, or be involved in fraud to get wealth, it will only run away in the end" said Ernest.
"I know Grandfather, and that's why I want to make you proud" said Lulu as Ernest turned to look at her and he smiled.
"I know that you do my dear, just those lazy brothers of yours, and by brothers I mean Charlie alone" said Ernest as Charlie sighed and Lulu laughed.
"Enough about this matter, Natasha how are things going with your company?" asked Ernest as he looked at Natasha who was drinking water, she had kept quiet through the whole company discussion, even though she did have shares in the company as well, just because she did not want to associate herself with that.
"Fine Grandfather, everything is good" said Natasha as she smiled.
"That's nice, I read in the paper about your plans to start a store in Lexington, that was such a good idea" said Ernest as he smiled.
"Ahh thank you Grandfather, but it wasn't my idea, I'm sure that you know Chloe Thompson right?" asked Natasha.
"You mean Neil Thompson's wife?" asked Ernest.
"Yes that's her, actually we work together, and she is such a good manager, she was the one who came up with the idea to set up a store in Lexington" said Natasha as she smiled.
"well that's good, it's nice that you have trustworthy people working with you" said Ernest as he smiled.
"Yes Grandfather" said Natasha as she smiled.
"So how are the construction plans going along? Do you require any assistance?" asked Ernest as he smiled.
"Everything is fine Grandfather" said Natasha as she smiled.
"That's good dear, I was thinking that maybe we can assist you with exporting your company's produce" said Ernest as he smiled, he had been thinking about that for a while, and he wanted to help Natasha's company as well.
"Grandfather I don't think that's a good idea, I am fine with the way my company is right now, besides, I don't want any help, in the future, I don't want people to think that my company got to where it was because of help, and not because of merit" said Natasha as everyone kept dead quiet.
Ernest just smiled, he knew that Natasha was indirectly saying that she wanted to keep business as business, and family as family, and not to mix those two things together.
"I understand my dear" said Ernest as he smiled.
"Thank you Grandfather" said Natasha as she was already as close enough to them, her only safe space was her company, it was hers alone, where she could be free to do whatever she wants.
"Ha ha ha, Grandfather did I ever tell you of what happened with my marketing professor" said Lulu as she laughed, she could sense the coldness slowly coming back, and she did not want it to get awkward.
"No dear, what happened?" asked Ernest as he looked at Lulu and he smiled.
"Well the funny thing is that you see my marketing professor, is blind, and I didn't know that, so picture this, my first day in class, the man is wearing dark shades, and I happened to be 20 minutes late, I don't know how he heard me, but he turned right to my direction and pointed at me to explain myself, I was so flustered, I explained myself, and then he told me come to his office after class, which I did, and I helped him clean out his office, still not knowing that he was visually impaired" said Lulu.
"It was not until it was time to go home that I saw him crossing the street and a car was speeding, I called out to him, but he didn't hear me so I rushed and pushed him out of the way, it wasn't until everything died down that I realized that he couldn't see, I was so embarrassed thinking that he could see the whole time" said Lulu as she laughed and the others laughed as well.
"It's just so wonderful how some blind people can live as if they can see" said Lulu as she smiled.
"That is true my dear, they are really strong in that sense" said Ernest as he smiled and Lulu smiled as she sighed in relief when the conversation went into another better suited topic.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein