The seven of them gathered around the long dinner table and silently shuffled the serving platters clockwise. Mechanical arms held, then spooned and dropped food, taping the edge lightly against the plate. Then back in the dish and passed the person to their left, and they received from the right.

Pitchers of iced water sat sweating in the middle, surrounded by short glasses, and borders by salt and pepper shakers and piles of napkins.

When all the plates were filled and the serving dishes stopped moving they leaned their heads down and a silent prayer ran from the moving lips.

Then the sounds of forks and knives and cutting and chewing filled the dining room. Hands reached out into the middle of the tables, for sauces and seasonings and sips of water.

They finished eating and set their dirty plates counterclockwise this time. The man at the foot of the table carried the pile into the kitchen as the six other slunk off to their separate corners of the house.