Page 119 of The Holy Grail
The holiday gauntlet
Once the decision had been made to apply to école Ducasse, Malcom actually felt a sense of lightness settle over him, saturating every cell in his body. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this good about a potential life-changing decision, outside of going all in with Jules, then Evan.
Although he had felt pretty good about divorcing Gwen.
After creating an online account with école Ducasse, he filled out the official application form for the session beginning in August, submitted it, and paid the application administration fee.
With that done, Evan, being Evan, decided to institute an ‘as-little-English-as-possible’ policy in the house, as a way to immerse themselves in the French language and ease their transition when they moved to Paris. He also ordered Rosetta Stone.
He then made them all start watching old French movies, and used the French language option whenever possible on regular movies during the holiday season, which actually made movies like Halloween , The Grudge , Scream , Friday the 13th , The Exorcist , Amityville Horror , Planes, Trains, and Automobiles , Elf , A Christmas Story , How the Grinch Stole Christmas , Home Alone , National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and Die Hard , to name just a few, pretty funny to watch.
Bruce Willis as John McLane, saying, “ Yippee-ky-yay, enfoiré ,” instead of “Yippee-ky-yay, motherfucker,” had them all cracking up, and became their new catchphrase .
While Malcom was waiting to hear back from école Ducasse, Halloween rolled in, and while it had never been that big of a holiday for him, Jules and Evan decorated the front porch with childlike enthusiasm.
Orange lights were strung around the door, half a dozen carved pumpkins were set on the steps with candles inside (Evan had way mad carving skills, making one look like Jack Nicholson’s face as he said, “Here’s Johnny!
” after chopping through the bathroom door with an ax in The Shining , and another one of the Rolling Stones logo).
They also had a life-sized skeleton standing guard, large fake spiders and bats hanging from the porch overhang, and a cauldron filled with fake eyeballs and severed body parts.
On the front gate, down by the curb, they’d hung a sign that said ‘ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK’ with fake blood splatters on it.
Malcom was pretty sure they wouldn’t get any trick-or-treaters, since he never had before, but he was wrong. He didn’t know if it was because his house was decorated for the first time, or if a bunch of families with kids had recently moved into the neighborhood, but the doorbell rang constantly.
Evan and Jules had also insisted they dress up—as the main characters from Titanic.
Jules was obviously Rose, and had found a long, red dress with black beads on it in a thrift store, looking not unlike the one Rose was wearing when she was going to take a header off the luxury liner’s stern.
Cal Hockley was portrayed by Malcom, mostly because he actually had a tuxedo, which had been the majority of Cal’s wardrobe in the movie.
Evan was Jack, in a pair of green khaki pants, a brown button-down over a white T-shirt, and tan suspenders that had been found at the same thrift store.
Malcom was pretty sure very few of the kids they handed out candy to had a clue as to who he, Jules, and Evan were supposed to be, though. More likely, they simply thought they’d come to a house with two dressed up people and their underdressed friend.
However, in the end, the only thing that really mattered was the full-size candy bars they were handing out.
David and Paige made a surprise visit with Julian and Jacob, so they could trick-or-treat at the house. The family had gone with a Star Wars theme, with David being Han Solo, Paige as Princess Leia, complete with the side hair buns, Julian as baby Yoda, and Jacob killing it in an R2D2 costume.
By the end of the first week in November, Halloween decorations had been switched out for a large Thanksgiving wreath on the front door, autumn-scented candles in the house, and garlands of fake leaves decorating almost every doorway, along with resin pumpkins on each stair tread.
And while they resembled real pumpkins, they were light enough that Dawn Corleone was able to play with them, making them tumble down the stairs quite frequently.
Malcom was also notified that his application had been reviewed, and in light of the fact it wasn’t feasible for him to fly to Paris for the required interview, a zoom interview would be conducted instead.
The two days leading up to it seemed to pass in slow motion, and his nervousness was a real thing. He’d experienced anxiety before when taking his bar exam, but not like this, because this actually mattered more to him than passing the bar had. Sad, but true.
He made sure to look nice, but not like he was trying too hard, and enlisted Jules and Evan to help him.
Together, they acted like a ‘glam-squad’, picking out Malcom’s clothes—a French blue (naturally) button-down shirt, charcoal-gray slacks, and his black dress shoes.
Even though he would only be onscreen from mid-chest up, his squad insisted being fully dressed would give him more confidence than half-assing it with jeans and stocking feet.
His hair was styled to look neat, but casual, and he was told to wear his glasses, as they made him look hot, smart, and earnest.
The interview was done in the kitchen, so the state-of-the-art appliances might be seen, as well as the overall beauty of the space, to showcase his devotion to cooking.
“Your coffee machine will probably seal the deal,” Evan said.
He and Jules were asked to leave the house during the interview, per Malcom’s request, because he didn’t want the added stress of them listening in, so they complied.
Once the zoom call started, Malcom felt himself relax a little as introductions were made, followed by some small talk. By the time they got down to discussing his motivation for studying culinary arts—and in a foreign country, no less—he was feeling pretty good.
What might have been an awkward moment, when Dawn Corleone jumped up on the island and came over to Malcom in search of behind-the-ear scratches, turned into a bit of bonding, as the three people on the other end all owned cats and could relate.
There was even laughter when Dawn Corleone turned her attention to the laptop screen and put her face right up to it, filling the screen for several moments before losing interest and walking away, her tail in the air and leaving them with the parting shot of her butt.
The interview took almost an hour, and when it was over, he released a huge sigh of relief because it had gone better than he’d hoped. With a glance at Dawn Corleone, who was now curled up on a kitchen chair, he murmured, “Actually, I think you’re probably going to seal the deal.”
A few days before Thanksgiving, Malcom found out he’d been accepted into the école Ducasse program and he’d be receiving his admissions package soon in the mail. Upon receiving it, he needed to sign some of the paperwork and return it, then make a prepayment deposit to confirm enrollment.
The day it arrived, he did both … but kept it a secret.
Richard and Edie flew in for the holiday and stayed in one of the guest rooms. Things were much more relaxed during this visit as the Shaws (particularly Richard) got to see Malcom, Jules, and Evan in their natural habitat, and watch how they interacted with one another now that the initial awkwardness of the first meeting was over.
On Thanksgiving day, Beverly and Evangeline both came over early so they could meet the Shaws and everyone could get to know one another. In the afternoon, Paige, David, Julian, and Jacob arrived, followed shortly after by Valerie and Dolly, packing the house full.
It was also Malcom’s 43rd birthday, so there was a lot going on.
He’d informed Jules, Evan, and his mom there were to be no gifts, because at forty-three, the gift was having lived to see another year.
Amazingly, they’d all complied with his order, but he did end up receiving several cards from people as they arrived, because of course Jules and Evan had mentioned Malcom’s birthday to everyone they invited.
The best ‘card’ was from Jacob, who’d drawn a picture of Malcom with stacks of colorful presents around him .
While Jules played hostess to everyone, refilling beverages and laying out snacks, Beverly, Edie, Evangeline, and Valerie helped Malcom in the kitchen.
A few things had been prepped the day before, so they helped finish those dishes while he focused on the turkey, ham, and a chocolate soufflé.
He’d gone with the ‘traditional’ dishes, but had made them all a little more fancy—real yams topped with dried cherries and marshmallows, homemade cranberry sauce with mandarin oranges, deviled eggs with a splash of white wine, homemade stuffing with pine nuts, celery, and sage, scratch gravy, fresh green bean casserole with mushrooms and slivered almonds, and mashed potatoes with sour cream, layered with cheese and bacon bits, and hot cross buns.
The turkey had soaked in a brine for twenty-four hours, with onions, orange slices, garlic, herbs, peppercorns, white wine, Worcestershire sauce, and sugar, and the ham was brushed with a brown sugar, Dijon mustard, and pineapple juice glaze.
Even the snacks Jules set out were fancy: a walnut covered bacon and ranch cheese ball with crackers, a mango chutney cheese ball with pretzel chips, and prosciutto, bacon, and mozzarella roll-ups, with a creamy aioli sauce on the side. There was also a plate of Snickerdoodles.
Richard, David, Evan, Paige, Julian, and Dolly hung out in the living room and watched the Detroit Lions/Houston Texans football game, while Jacob drew pictures.