A Market Dinner by Chef Brittany Watt

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** Scene opens with strangers converging on a dark street outside a familiar Edmonton market, the familiar turned eerily unsettling by the fact that no one ventures there after dark, much less knocks on a back door to be let in. After stifling a few giggles together about clandestine meetings and secret supper clubs, they are welcomed into calming stillness; the bustling market has ceased until the next weekend, the booths that hold our local bounty merely ghosts draped in white sheeting. The only life within is a bustling kitchen, a beacon of life in the stillness, with eager guests gathering around it like magical fireflies to the light.

Wine is poured. Food is served. Strangers no more, the laughter of a small, intimate gathering echoes through out the cavernous building. Friends are made. Stories are shared. The producers of the food featured on the menu are seated at the exact same table as the guests,  their eyes drinking in the sight of these strangers enjoying the literal fruits of their labor. One hopes their hearts are close to bursting from well-earned pride in their work. The chef, done her creating,  joins the table for a well deserved break and mingles with her guests, creating an intimacy rarely found in a dining experience.

Tired yet sated at the end of a satisfying night, the guests start finding their way out, shaking hands, exchanging goodbyes and heading out to all corners of the city and beyond.

A meal, some wine and company, yes. But all who are leaving exit with this tingling, innate knowledge that they have been fortunate enough to have  just experienced something quite out of the ordinary.

End Scene**