On one night in Columbus, Ohio, most of the Columbus Blue Jackets are at Sergei Bobrovsky’s house for a dinner they have been invited to by the goalie.

Yet it is not the typical dinner setup: The table is low to the floor, making the hockey players sit on the floor with their legs crisscrossed. On the table are miniature plates, cloth napkins, and silverware, not even a foot long in length.

The host of the dinner, Sergei, is smiling happily at the setup of his tiny dinner table with his teammates sitting around it. “Bob!”

Sitting perpendicular to him is the captain of the team, Nick Foligno, who is examining the tiny plate between his thumb and pointer finger in disgust.

Next to him, Cam Atkinson, who is below Nick’s shoulders, is raising up each dinnerware with excitement. “Tiny fork! Tiny plate! Tiny spoon!”

Nick turns to him with lowered eyebrows and a sly smirk. “Just for you, Cam!”

Cam faces to him with an inquiring expression. “How are you going to use any of this, Nick?”
He shakes the tiny spoon in front of him with a growing smile. “You're too big.” He lets out a thrilled chuckle with a massive grin.

Nick then whirls to Sergei. “Hey, Bob, do you have anything for us big guys? Or did you make all this just for Cam?!” He holds his hand out to his right, toward Cam.

Sergei plucks a tiny salad fork from the table and holds it up in the air. “Bob!”

Nick covers his eyes with his hand while grimacing. “Right…”

Sergei returns to him a sweet, innocent smile.

Across the table from the captain and his friend is Alex Wennberg and Seth Jones.

Alex peers at the table, noticing its extremely limited room. “I think there's only supposed to be two people at this table…” He turns to his friend. “How are we all going to fit?”

Seth gazes at his team. “Yeah, we're still missing a couple guys.”

“Yeah, where's Lars?” Alex asks, referring to his best friend and two-year teammate, William Karlsson.

“He should be coming.” Seth turns to Alex. “You invited him, right?”

Alex’s sharp expression softens into a shocked expression.

Seth eyes him, holding his gaze on him. “You didn't invite him?”

Alex replies weakly, “I forgot.” He then proceeds to bury his face in his hands.

“HOW DO YOU FORGET?!” Seth slams his hands against the table. “THAT IS YOUR BEST FRIEND!!!” He places his hands on his chest. “DO YOU FORGET ABOUT ME TOO?!”

Alex stays still, his face hidden from view.

Small glass cups are then placed in front of the teammates, each with a plunk!

On the other side of the table, Nick holds the glass up, recognizing it as a shot glass. “Finally, a familiar glassware!”

Sergei then holds a pitcher of clear liquid and dribbles some into the cup. He hobbles around the table, serving each dinner guest the beverage.

Scott Hartnell brings the filled glass toward his mouth. He immediately scrunches his face, pulling the glass away. “Bob--” He eyes the goalie from across the table. “--this is water, not vodka.”

“Come on,” Boone Jenner shouts, raising the small, filled glass in the air, “these are shot glasses!”

Sergei gives them a warm smile before pouring water into Alex’s glass.

From across the table, Cam takes a gulp from his apparent normal-sized glass of water. “Mmmm, this is refreshing!”

Nick frowns at his glass. “This is pathetic.”

Next to Alex, Markus Nutivaara is staring confusedly at the tiny dishware with wide eyes. “Wut ees dis?’ He holds his hands out toward the table’s display of miniature dishware.

Cam points to his normal-sized plate and says in a mocking tone of Markus’s Finnish accent, “Dis ees yur deenar.”

From his place at the end of the table, Sergei holds up a tiny bowl of Olivier salad. “Bob!” He places it on the table.

Cam immediately begins serving himself and consuming his portion of the salad.

Alex leans over to Markus and whispers, “You don’t have to eat it.”

Markus darts his big eyes around in pure bewilderment.

Scott gives Cam a glare. “Is Cam the only one eating tonight or what?” He darts his eyes at the host.

“Yeah, I'm hungry too, Bob!” Boone exclaims.

Sergei holds up a small pan of beef stroganoff. ““Bob!” He flashes them a warm smile before placing it on the table.

Seth warily peers at the tiny dishes. “Well...it's an appetizer...?” He gradually turns to Alex. “Right?”

“I guess, except for Cam!” Alex holds his hand out across the table toward Cam.

Cam is now munching on his served portion of beef stroganoff. “You tall guys are missing out! This stuff is good!” He takes a massive spoonful of the Russian goodness before turning to the host. “Thanks, Bob!”

“Bob!” Sergei gives him a thumbs up of approval.

Next to Boone, the rookie, Zach Werenski served a minute portion of the dish. “Well, it was nice for you to prepare all this for us, Bob! They don't do this in college hockey.”

“Bob!” Sergei gives Zach a warm smile before holding up a miniature plate of zefir.

Nick frowns at the dessert option as it is being placed in front of him. “Awww, come on, Bob!” He lifts his eyes at him. “You gotta give us more dessert than this!”

Boone reaches for a puff of the mini gelatine dessert and pops it whole in his mouth. He then swallows and peers at his teammates. “Anyone don't want theirs?”

Seth has a ball of the marshmallow dessert on his plate. “No!” He leans over it, protecting it with his arms. “Mine!”

Nick turns to Boone. “This is all I got!” He holds his hands toward his tiny piece of dessert. “You think I'm going to give any to you?!”

Cam cleans his mouth using his cloth napkin; a content smile is visible on his face. “Ahhh! I am satisfied!” He places his cloth napkin on the table. “That was a great meal!” He turns to the host. “Thank you, Bob!”

Bob gives him a bright grin. “Bob!”

Alex turns to his other teammates with a serious expression. “You guys want to go have dinner after this?”

“With Bill?” Seth pipes in.

Alex faces him. “Yes. With Bill this time.”

---

Twenty minutes later, the Blue Jackets that were guests at Sergei’s small dinner are now seated at a restaurant at a normal-sized table, or a rather large table for Cam.

The team is chatting among themselves while waiting for the waiter to arrive to take their order of normal-sized dishes.

Nick turns to Alex. “Where’s Karlsson?”

Alex turns to him. He then makes a shocked expression before covering his face with his hands in embarrassment.


The End.

Notes