“The Dinner Party” by Mona Gardner The country is India. A colonial official and his wife are giving a large dinner party. The
guests are army officers, and government attache´s with their wives, and a visiting American
naturalist. The dining room is spacious. It has a bare marble floor, open rafters, and wide glass
doors opening onto a veranda.*
A spirited discussion springs up between a young girl and a colonel. She insists that
women have outgrown the jumping-on-a-chair-at-the-sight-of-a-mouse era, but the colonel says
that they haven’t.
“A woman’s unfailing reaction in any crisis,” the colonel says, “is to scream.
The American does not join in the argument but watches the other guests. As he looks, he
sees a strange expression come over the face of the hostess. She is staring straight ahead, her
muscles contracting slightly. With a slight gesture, she summons the native boy standing behind
her chair and whispers to him. The boy’s eyes widen, and he quickly leaves the room.
Of the guests, none except the American notices this or sees the boy place a bowl of milk
on the veranda just outside the open doors.
The American comes to with a start. In India, milk in a bowl means only one thing—bait
for a snake. He realizes there must be a cobra in the room. He looks up at the rafters —the
likeliest place —but they are bare. Three corners of the room are empty, and in the fourth the
servants are waiting to serve the next course. There is only one place left —under the table.
His first impulse is to jump back and warn the others, but he knows the commotion would
frighten the cobra into striking. He speaks quickly, the tone of his voice so arresting that it
sobers everyone.
“I want to know just what control everyone at this table has. I will count to three hundred
— that’s five minutes —and not one of you is to move a muscle. Those who move will forfeit
fifty rupees. Ready!”
The twenty people sit like stone images while he counts. He is saying “two hundred and
eighty” when he sees the cobra. It emerges and crawls to the bowl of milk. Screams ring out as
he jumps to slam the veranda doors safely shut.
“You were right, Colonel!” the host exclaims. “A man has just shown us an example of
perfect control.”
1. Who are the characters of the story?
2. What was the room like?
3. During the dinner party what did make cobra come out?
4. How did Mrs. Wynnes know that a cobra was in the room?
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