The Muffineers

Four of the five original Muffineers reunited this afternoon for lunch. The fifth guy had to work. There was no swordplay, just forks and knives attacking our respective dishes.

Here's why we call ourselves Muffineers. The core of our tennis group was five regulars, one of whom was always unavailable to play for one reason or another. So four of us would convene post-game at a local coffee shop for coffee and, yes, muffins.

Being conscious of our waistlines, however, we never ordered a muffin apiece. Rather we shared two muffins, usually one corn and one blueberry, which we cut into quarters.

We sliced the muffins vertically rather than horizontally so we each had a top and bottom of each muffin. You can imagine the delicacy of this operation, four pairs of eyes carefully watching the slicer.

(If you're interested in the math, two muffins became eight quarters. Each man ended up with a quarter of a blueberry and a quarter of a corn muffin, a top and bottom of each. Made us feel very virtuous.)

Although we enjoyed our weekly tennis, there were times we looked forward more to our coffee and muffins. Once or twice a year The Muffineers would spring for dinner with our wives. Mostly, though, it was just the guys.

While injuries have depleted our ranks they have not depleted our appetites. So it wasn't much of a stretch to gather four of us, including two walking wounded, together to catch up with each other and enjoy a leisurely meal.

It was fun. And no, we did NOT have any muffins.