New Beginnings

Act 4 ch 18

"I mean, they were extremely common until just recently-historically recently, not recently like metrosexual is a word now recently, but recently" Lorelai goes on a rant at Friday night dinner.

"Are we still talking about anvils?" Victoria asks her. "Yes, where did all the anvils go?" Lorelai asks.

"You're talking about those big, heavy, metal things?" Emily asks her daughter. "That blacksmiths hammered horseshoes and stuff on. Everyone had them" Lorelai insists. "They were featured prominently in every movie western, so where did they all go?" she asks.

"I don't know that they were that common" Richard chimes in.

"Wile E. Coyote used them. That's how common they were" Lorelai replies. "Who?" Emily asks confused.

"The cartoon. He was always trying to drop an anvil on the Road Runner's head or shoot it at him out of a giant slingshot or fire it at him out of a cannon" Lorelai explains. "Inevitably, the cannon tilted up, shot it in the air, it fell down, and made an anvil-shaped impression on Wile E. Coyote's head" she continues. "This is a cartoon?" Emily asks.

"No, no, this just happened to me the other day. I was walking down the street, and this giant anvil-yes, mother, it's a cartoon" Lorelai answers.

"I know she sounds nuts, but it's a very common cartoon" Victoria defends her mother. "But that doesn't prove that anvils were so common" Richard insists.

"It does. It proves that anvils were so ubiquitous at one point-is that the word, ubiquitous?" Lorelai cuts herself off. "It depends on where you're going" Rory tells her. "That they knew that children would know what they were and delight in them. That's how common they were-children watching cartoons" Lorelai finishes.

"That was the word" Rory confirms.

"I've forgotten your point" Richard says. "Where are all the anvils? I mean, is there some sort of secret anvil storage facility the government is keeping from us?" Lorelai asks.

"Or they fell into disuse with the advent of other technologies, and so they melted them down and they're gone" Richard suggests. "But they're not supposed to melt. They were made to withstand the red-hot hammer of the town blacksmith" Lorelai points out. "This is easily the most pointless conversation we've ever had" Emily says.

"I don't hear anyone chiming in with rational theories" Lorelai tells her.

"Please change the subject, I beg of you, anyone" Emily begs. "Well the girls don't know the big news about Jason and me" Richard says.

"You're pregnant?" Lorelai guesses. "We're acquiring another company" Richard corrects her. "You were close" Victoria tells her mother.

"Already? You just started yours" Rory asks.

"The insurance business is changing so rapidly, you have to adapt to keep up" Richard explains. "It's a dog-eat-dog world, Grandpa" Victoria says.

"Don't get the wrong idea. It's not a big company" Richard starts. "It's smaller than ours, but very powerful" he adds. "Wait, the company is smaller than yours? Your company is two guys-you and Jason" Lorelai points out.

"This company is a one-man operation-Bob Sutton" Richard explains.

"So, you're acquiring Bob?" Victoria asks. "We're acquiring his company, and his company is him" Richard answers.

"Did he have to give himself two weeks' notice?" Lorelai asks jokingly. "No" Richard replies. "Is there gonna be a sad little going-away party where he brings in his own cake and blows out his candles?" Lorelai asks.

"We are all celebrating with a dinner tomorrow-us and the wives" Richard tells them.

"Ugh" Emily groans at the thought. "You're not big on the Bob?" Victoria asks.