It was two weeks after our initial meeting with the Smiths. Jeff came over to our house in the middle of the day to ask my husband and me if we wanted to join them for dinner that Friday night, at their house. We accepted politely, and were both excited about what type of adventures might come along with dinner.
We arrived promptly at 7:00pm. My husband Kurt handed over the bottle of wine that we brought with us, and we all settled into the living room for drinks. The Smiths' house was beautifully decorated, tastefully simple. It was the kind of home that immediately made a person feel comfortable. I did notice, however, that perched upon the mantle, were several medium sized sculptures, all of an oblong, abstract nature. Making conversation, I commented on them, saying how interesting they were. Tina caught my eye and said "Yes, they are interesting, aren't they? We've been collecting those for years now." She and Jeff looked at each other with an almost devilish smile. The Smiths must have a private joke regarding the statuettes.
Dinner was wonderful. Kurt and Jeff chatted about all of the things that men chat about - the stock market, golf, lawn care, power tools. Tina and I occupied ourselves with some harmless neighborhood gossip. We found out that both Jeff and Tina had been police officers for about 10 years - they met while training for the force.