Dinner takes quite a while this time. He's making one of his comfort foods from home: chicken and noodles, atop mashed potatoes, with a side of hot rolls. Delicious, and if Joan is still having trouble, it should be easy to digest.

He is taking a couple shortcuts so he doesn't have to spend all day, though. Like not boiling the chicken since morning, nor making mashed potatoes from scratch. He could, but then they'd all be starving by the time he finished.

But he figured after this day (these few weeks..), and with Beard visiting, it's a great time. And he knows exactly how to cook it, so he can chat at the same time.

Finally Beard pokes his head out of the kitchen and says dinner's just about ready, but this one probably has to be eaten at a table, not on a couch.