"What do you think of this cornucopia?" Chronos held it out for inspection.
Death stared at it dubiously. "It looks like Amalthea's horn. Does Zeus know you broke it off? He went to a lot of trouble to fix it."
Chronos clutched the horn to his chest and looked at Death in horror.
"It's not the real horn, only a representation. I wanted to present it as a gift to Lucien for his Thanksgiving Day celebration. What do you think?"
Death took it from Chronos and peered through the hole on the small end.
"Anything you put in here would leak through the hole. It's just the right size for dispensing peanuts though."
To prove his point, he stuck the horn into his eye socket like a funnel and poured a jar of peanuts into the large end. Chronos listened to the sound of nuts bouncing their way through Death's skeletal cavities, making him sound like a pinball machine.
"Very funny." He took it back and laid it on the counter. "It's symbolic. You fill it with food and remember to be thankful for the abundance of life."
"I get that. Do I have to be thankful that Jeeves will be there serving the food?"
Chronos laughed at his friend. "You can be thankful that Lucien will go out of his way to serve you himself."
"He'd better." Death snapped his mandible for emphasis. "It's a wonderful idea he had, hosting a dinner for all of us. I wonder why he's being so sentimental?"
Chronos shrugged and tied his woven belt over his robe, worn only for special occasions.
"I don't know but if we don't leave now, we'll be late. You know how punctual Evil is."
Death picked up the cornucopia and tossed it to Chronos. "Maybe you should instruct Jeeves not to serve the mashed potatoes in this. They'd be hard to scrape out, don't you think?"
Chronos shook his head. "I can see you're going to be the life of the party."
Death nodded and put his humerus around Chronos. "I try to be, my friend."
©2010 Laura Eno
