Pugs, Vodka, and Patio Furniture

After Penelope divorced her first husband and married Lars, the real estate executive, she had funding for her obsessions: orphaned pugs, vodka, and durable patio furniture. She entertained constantly, mainly the six girls who were her friends from high school and now in their mid 60's. They had been the cheerleading team from Westover High.

They met weekly over drinks, always over drinks. They all had beach tans, face lifts, and tummy tucks. It was the botox fillers, fake cheekbones, and bee sting lips that revealed them. They no longer resembled the girls they once were. Unrecognizable. As if they had entered into witness protection.

Penelope, on her third vodka martini, shouted over the lively conversation about the best Lexus lease to buy. "Siri, Hits from the Seventies!" Her daughter Janelle, who was always present mixing drinks for everyone, sharing her creativity in flavored vodka choices, was also now a full blown alcoholic with a side order of medical marijuana for her moods. "I don't know why her stomach is messed up," Penelope said to her husband. "Because she has been drinking poison since she was 12," he whispered to himself.