A weird time at a summer work party
It was July of 2004 and I’d accompanied my then-girlfriend, now-wife to her summer work party. Kathleen was employed by a small financial services company in the city and had a boss who frequently pampered his employees.
After an afternoon spent playing flag football and various games, while in between eating lobster and watermelon, we all congregated near the marina in Boston and took our seats at a long table in a sectioned-off parking lot area outside a quaint restaurant.
Seafood and beer and wine were soon served. And I found myself chatting away with Kathleen’s colleague sitting across from me, an affable guy with jet-black hair who looked about my age.
We were getting really buzzed from all the alcohol, and though I don’t recall exactly how we broached the subject, we instantly began bonding over the 1987 cult horror film The Stepfather, starring Terry O’Quinn.
Now this guy was really into the movie. He started quoting the famous line Terry O’Quinn’s character says:
“This is supposed to be — a family!”
I laughed.
But then he got louder and kept repeating the line, each time slamming his hand down on the table.
I thought to myself, WTF? This is so embarrassing.
He cackled loudly.
Soon, everyone at the table began to take notice. Judging by the look on people’s faces, nobody knew what the hell he was talking about. “This is supposed to be — a family!” He slammed his hand down on the table once again, then laughed maniacally.
Drunk and weirded out, I giggled uncontrollably like a little girl.
The party of guests apparently decided to resume their conversations, however, pretending that nothing was happening.
After a while, I seemed to get really comfortable with the situation, laughing with gay abandon each time he said the line. At one point, I even looked at him adoringly like he was my idol.
This went on for half the dinner.
Two weirdos, bonding over the movie The Stepfather — although him very much more so than me on that day.