at a dinner in mike schofield's london mansion he tries hard and convinces his eighteen-year old daughter to join him on a bet that their famous gourmet guest richard pratt would not be able to guess the rare claret he has acquired the previous summer and which they are about to serve. despite his wife's apprehension and the discomfort of the other dinner guests (the narrator and his wife), mike schofield agrees to give his daughter's hand in marriage to pratt; if pratt does not win, he would hand over ownership of his two expensive mansions. the narrator tells us that during the last two betting games, pratt has won but at stake on both occasions were a case of the rare wines.
back to the present dinner. pratt dilly dallies in guessing the rare claret and when he gives his final answer, it is obvious that mike schofield is himself apprehensive. his daughter and his wife panic as schofield asks pratt to have a chat with him in his study.
but then the maid appears and hands pratt a pair of thin horn-rimmed glasses. "i believe these are yours, sir". pratt at first acts as if the maid has made a mistake but she puts the glasses down on the table beside pratt. pratt takes them and puts them in his pocket but does not thank the maid, as he continues to wallow in his imminent victory. the maid, who has been in the service of the schofields for many years, does not leave and continues to stand beside pratt.
"you left them in mr. schofield's study," she said in a deliberately polite voice, "on top of the green filing cabinet in his study, sir, when you happened to go in there by yourself before dinner."
which is just where pratt, on previous visits, has advised schofield is the perfect place to leave his wines to "breathe" and acquire room temperature.
-o0o-
for the madhatters roald dahl theme this week.
i couldn't believe that i forgot about this story. i read this when i was taking a wine course almost twenty years ago.
i also cranked up the ISO for the camera settings challenge. what i learned: using the 50mm and sufficient room lighting, i got a delicious dof at 100 ISO with beautiful bokeh from the background glasses. when i cranked the ISO to 1600 the shapes of the glasses became a little bit more defined. i tried upping to 3200 but it felt ridiculous. there's little noise but it wasn't the image i was going for.
thank you for your kind visits and comments; know that they are genuinely and truly appreciated.
Oooh what a sneaky sneak, trying to cheat. I don't know this story. It seems more mature than the side of Dahl that I know. Very well done. Love your set up and how you focused on the clue.
"Bust" is the expression I used when I read the story! Super still life set up to demonstrate the narrative! I keep forgetting about the camera settings challenge, I'll have to read up more about it!
