by Olivia Swift
“But very beautiful and you love her,” Sam smiled at his wife. She looked at the four felines. Abigail and Crystal were gorgeous Birmans and the two black and white younger cats had been dumped on her doorstep. The third kitten to be dumped was with Sam’s friend and working partner, Declan. He had three other cats of his own as well.
“When we go away this time, Rula will have both lots of cats to feed.”
“Christmas was magical in the café and spring is on the way. I’m looking forward to seeing Ireland again.”
“And you will have a holiday while Declan and I renovate the bungalow,” Sam pointed out.
“I know,” Magda laughed. Sam threw a cushion at her and Crystal decided that the camera moment was over and she could safely step down the staircase.
The cream-colored Birman stalked past them both with a swish of the tail and knocked a magazine off the coffee table and onto the floor.
“Don’t start,” Magda said to the cat but picked up the magazine anyway and looked to see what was on the page. Crystal was often uncannily accurate in telling them about things that were about to happen or things they should know about.
“Family matters,” Magda read out. “Ancestry is a growing craze worldwide and DNA means you can find out that you have relations in the far-flung corners of the world.”
“I don’t want to find that out, thanks very much, Crystal,” Sam said.
“I guess we’re going to renovate the family cottage that belonged to Aunt Alison,” Magda mused. “That blessed cat is so often right that it frightens me. Alison would like photos of the before and after stages of the cottage. I can see your vision for making the old loft into a modern attic apartment. She’s happy to stay here and leave us to it.”
“I think it was more of a wrench than she thought to come back to the USA,” Sam mused.
“I need to get everything at the café up to date before we leave. Katie and I will have to make truffles as if there were no tomorrow.”
“We don’t go for another four weeks. I will finish the extension I am working on by then,” Sam added, “and take our personal tools but hire anything bigger locally when we get there.”
“Jonno and Branna will point you to the right places. They had people work on the holiday park. I’m dying to see what they’ve done with it.”
Sam picked up the plates and loaded them into the dishwasher. Then he came back and kissed the top of her head. “See you later, oh Queen of Chocolate Land.”
Magda smiled and stood up as well. He picked up the toolbelt from the chair as he went and fastened it around his waist.
“Nothing like the sight of a handsome man with a toolbelt,” she laughed. Sam waved as he went out through the door.
Magda checked the cats were safe and had food and water. Then she left for The Chocolate Magic Café that was her pride and joy.
Her friends Rula and Katie were already opening the wrought iron gate to the alleyway which led to the courtyard. It wound its way between the hiking shop on one side, which was owned by Rula’s husband Mikey, and by the bank on the other. It opened into a courtyard with brightly colored tables and chairs and the wonderful double doors of the old stable building that now was Magda’s café. It looked old on the outside but had a gleaming and modern interior. They flung open doors and shutters, let in light and switched on the colored lanterns overhead.
Katie opened up the small shop extension that Sam had built before Christmas. Magda took out her cell phone and started the model railway that ran overhead. Rula found some background music. Another day in the magical café was underway.
The café’s main idea was to sell the truffles that Magda had made famous. They were all handmade by herself and Katie although Rula and the men could all lend a hand if need be. There were regular customers who came almost every day and others who came when they needed special gift-wrapped boxes of chocolate delights.
Mikey came in from the shop next door, sat on his usual stool and his wife put a mug of his favorite brew in front of him. Seconds later the local news reporter, who had become a firm friend in the last few months, slipped onto his stool against the counter where he could observe life as customers came and went.
“No breaking news then?” Magda asked. Bart Marcato looked serious and she felt a little surge of alarm. “What?”
“I did hear, but have no confirmation as yet, that the bank building is to be sold.” He pointed across the courtyard to the rear of the stone building. The others all came closer to hear what he had to say. “Sorry folks that’s all I have. Since the robbery, they have apparently decided the main branch can handle everything.”
“But anyone could buy it and it could be bad for business,” Magda said.
“What do you mean?” Katie asked and Magda pointed out that they could be faced with a fast food outlet or a bar. She also remembered that they had access by agreement with Mikey and the bank.
“Or another camping shop could open as opposition,” Mikey added.
“Get your investigating hat on, Bart, and find out if they have had any offers,” Rula suggested.
“I’ll do my best,” he answered. He took his to-go mug and stood up. “What’s it like inside? I never went in there.”
“It’s bigger than it looks from outside. Goes sideways and upwards,” Rula replied.
By the time Sam and Declan arrived for lunch, Magda had worked herself up into a real state of agitation.
Then Bart arrived back with some news.
“Found out which real estate people are dealing with it. It is up for sale and so far they have had a few general inquiries. I scrounged some of the pics they are using to make a sales pitch.” He put them on the table. “I guess they just treated me as another inquiry. They always need publicity.”
They picked up the photos and passed them from one to another.
“Only one support wall in a place like that,” Declan pointed with his half-eaten sandwich.
“Does that mean you could make it one big space?” Katie asked him. He nodded as his mouth was full. “Make a lovely art gallery or exhibition center,” she added.
Magda leaned over Sam’s shoulder and looked at the photo. He looked up at her and smiled.
“Okay, wise guy,” Magda smiled back. “What am I thinking?”
The others looked at Sam because these two were quite a team at knowing what the other was feeling.
“I am guessing that Magda’s next question would be to ask if the wall could be knocked through to make a door to the courtyard.”
“You never let me down, Wonderman. Well, would it knock through?”
“You mean could it be part of this?” Rula caught on. Magda looked around at her best friends.
“Couldn’t afford it on our own.”
“You mean we all chip in?” Mikey queried. They looked from one to another with Rula absentmindedly still serving customers and Magda moving away to sell some truffles and come back.
“What do you think Katie?” Magda said.
“This was your idea really,” Katie laughed.
“So, you can all blame me if it goes wrong.” Then she added that her dad would put up some money for her or help her get a loan. “Don’t know how much though.” She looked at Declan. He nodded.
“Count me in. I love knocking down walls.”
Mikey looked at Rula and she smiled. He said that they were in as well.
Bart had sat silently through all of this, but he was taking it all in and spoke out in the end.
“Room for another investor in there?” he asked, and they all shouted yes together.
“Selfie,” he said. They clustered around as a customer asked if he could please get a coffee around here.
“You know how long all these things take to get organized,” Magda added a note of caution, “and we might get outbid by some big corporation.”
“We each need to go away and find out how much we can raise, then get together and work out how we could make it operate,
” Mikey added.
“Let’s meet up later in the week and see if we can actually afford it,” Declan said.
“Meanwhile gotta finish this job or we won’t get away to Ireland,” Sam said. The two men left and Magda set about making more truffles. The ones with brandy syrup were proving unbelievably popular and the small local distillery that made the syrup for her had asked for a big batch. Their other outlets were selling a great many.
Katie was covering the chilled centers, which she had made this morning, with chocolate and leaving them to cool.
“Do we want to try out the gin and tonic ones?” she asked. Magda nodded and said that she would make a few trial ones after she finished the order for the distillery.
“We are staying in the holiday home park while they do this renovation, aren’t we?” Katie asked. “I can almost taste the dust in the cottage.”
“Most of it will be in the attic once the staircase is in place,” Magda replied. “I know the staircase has arrived and is waiting there.”
“There will be two spaces when they finish,” Rula joined in. “The modern attic and the country cottage down below.”
“She has some penciled in bookings already from people who have stayed before or come to the RV site. The booking system is online now and we can access it from here as well as there.”
“Back to the new RV place, is she really calling it Spookydown Holiday Homes?” Rula laughed. “That girl is desperate to have more ghostly goings on.”
“That plus luxury. She took heed of what Merle told her at the dude ranch and decided to add hot tubs, a small gym and a sauna.”
Magda suddenly thought that they should tell her cousin Branston, who was now married to his boss at the dude ranch, about the idea to maybe try and buy the bank building. She mentioned that to the other two.
“They are really good at running that place. Their ideas will be useful,” Katie answered.
Rula laughed and said Branston would be really upset if Magda started another venture without telling him.
“Even if we have to look at his jeweled cowboy outfits and his oversized Stetson,” Rula laughed.
Branston seemed to know what the folks who stayed on a dude ranch wanted to see. He overdid everything. He and Merle were a great working team. Merle also had a wonderful sixth sense about things and often ran séances for them, something they all liked to do.
“I must tell her that Crystal is telling me about family matters,” Magda told the others. “She knocked a magazine down deliberately this morning. I try not to take any notice, but that blessed cat is very determined.” She clicked on her cell phone and looked at the inside of the house. “Look,” Magda said to the others. “She knows that I’m checking on them.” The screen showed the gorgeous cream Birman staring straight at the camera with a decidedly huffy attitude.
Bart came back into the café in a hurry and dropped them some photocopies.
“Gotta cover an accident. Chat later.”
2
Magda picked up the pictures and looked to see what the journalist had found. The newspaper archives contained old photographs of what Main Street was like in the past. There were the two buildings, exactly as they were today with the alleyway between Mikey’s shop and the bank.
She called to Rula to look at one of the pictures. Mikey’s camping shop had once upon a time been a grocery store and there were boxes of fruit and vegetables on the sidewalk and a man in a white apron with a bowler hat on his head standing at the door.
“Oh, wow,” Rula said. “We should get Mikey to dress up and recreate the scene.”
“I don’t think he would agree to that,” Katie added as she picked up the pictures as well. “The bank was a townhouse.”
They looked at the papers that Bart had left them and smiled at the views down the street where they could see the buildings that were now completely changed but still easy to recognize. He had scrawled a note on a sheet of paper that said the family that owned the townhouse were called Hoffstander and the father had gone out one day and never come back.
“Will download the story later and send it to you,” he had added.
“A mystery then,” Rula said and gave her friends a smile. “Something to investigate.”
Magda checked on the cats again. Crystal looked at the camera. Magda saw that she had pulled down the magazine and could swear that it had opened at the same page. She showed the other two.
“Little madam is showing me family again.”
“Can I take ten minutes to show Mikey?” Rula asked. Magda smiled and handed her the photos. There was a quiet spell in the café, so she took the time to call Sam and bring him up to date.
Katie went into the shop area to rearrange a display. Her artistic talents were put to good use and the paintings that she created were always good sellers. Katie had joined the café crew because it was hard to make a living as an artist - even a good one. She had become a central part of the group.
Magda could see that Katie was thinking as she dusted the pieces and straightened the display.
“You are thinking hard there, Katie,” she said.
“If there was a big open area, it could be an art gallery most of the time but if it was booked for say a wedding event or a fashion show, the art could be stored away upstairs.”
Magda watched the model railway going around above their heads. She had gotten very attached to all things railway when the idea of the model train had originally been just for Christmas. It was now permanent with a larger one outside the café.
“The model railway organization was saying that there was nowhere safe to put on exhibitions.”
“This would be safe. It was a bank,” Katie remarked. “I really like the idea.”
“Me too. It’s quite an exciting prospect.” She laughed, “Sam would have a fit if I asked him to make an entrance and a track for the outside train.”
“I would keep that one to yourself,” her friend said. “Putting the track outside was bad enough.”
Rula came back and told them that Mikey said there was no way he would wear a bowler hat.
“He can’t say the same about the apron. He wears one in here,” Magda replied. “It’s something to look up and research on the internet. Hoffstander is an unusual name.”
Her cell phone rang. Cousin Branston said that he would be there in five and to have his hot chocolate ready. He did stroll in five minutes later wearing a flashy, glittery shirt and boots with jangly spurs but no oversized Stetson.
Rula handed him the hot chocolate complete with cream, marshmallows, chocolate shavings and brown sugar on the top. He straddled one of the stools as if he was riding a horse and took his first taste.
“Genius,” he said.
“And Merle had a funny feeling that something was happening and wanted to find out what it was,” Magda stated.
He smiled and took another drink through the wide straw tucked into the chocolate.
“She’s always right. What is going on?”
The three girls brought him up to date in between serving clients.
“Wow! Buy the bank building. That is ambitious.”
“What do you think?” Rula asked him.
“Could be fantastic or could be a money pit,” he answered seriously.
“If we get in there, we could have a séance and see if there was anything to find out,” Katie added.
“I will go back and inform the boss,” Branston said. “Let us know if we can help.”
The girls waited until he had gone and then smiled at each other.
“The boss,” Magda repeated. “Merle has him just where she wants him.”
“Ah, but that is where he wants to be,” Rula added. “He has been in love with the woman since the day they met.”
“The Christmas dance at the ranch was a fabulous evening.”
“Then despite all the shows they put on for everyone, they went off quietly and got married in secret,” Rula added.
“
I remember somebody else that didn’t want a great big fancy wedding.” Katie joked and Rula nodded.
“When you just want to be together, it seems the best thing to do.”
“Together with who?” Mikey’s voice asked. “You leavin’ me already?”
“No chance, Mr. Bowler Hat. You don’t get rid of me that easily.”
By the time they were closing up the café for the day, Sam, Declan and Bart had all arrived back. Mikey had closed his shop up and sent his staff home. They spread the papers and photos out on the work surface in the kitchen.
There was a genuine air of excitement in the air. They talked about the possibilities of what they might do with the building. Magda said it needed one of them to take on the running of the place if they did manage to acquire it.
Mikey said that he was keen to be part of it but did not have time to run it. Sam said the same although he was quite happy to take on any building work.
“As long as Declan is happy with doing that as well.”
Declan nodded.
“If Katie would take on the management of the place, that would suit me fine,” Magda said. “I know you are a key worker in here, but we can hire extra help when we need it. If it’s going to be an art gallery, you would be the right person in charge.”
Katie looked surprised at the suggestion. The others told her that Magda was right.
“It’s a lot of responsibility,” Katie answered.
“What about if you and I took it on between us?” Declan joined in. “The others are all there to help with whatever needs doing. We would have to deal with the organization, talking to people and planning for events.”
“I know it was my suggestion that started all of this but I needed somebody to give me confidence.” She looked at Declan who nodded his head at her. “If Declan will do that, I would like to start an art gallery.”
“Woo!” Magda said and clapped her hands. “What next?”
“We need to find out what sort of offers they are expecting,” Bart said.