The Sunday Dinner that week was, by all measurable standards, the quietest in household history.
Kevin's decibel meter recorded a peak of only seventy-four—significantly lower than the eighty-three decibels achieved during Eleanor's legendary toast at the Dumpling Summit, or the eighty-two decibels Sophie had generated during the Gerald ribbon ceremony. The ambient noise level hovered in the mid-sixties for most of the evening, punctuated by occasional bursts of laughter and the soft clink of wine glasses. It was, Kevin noted in his final report, "consistent with a household transitioning from crisis mode to sustainable peace."
