The Bee Charmer

by Jamallah Bergman

  She knew it could only mean one thing….he’d brought her something good.

  She grabbed hold of the bag, opening it up to reveal what looked like a piece of cake but when she took out the Saran wrapped paper plate that she realized that this was no ordinary piece of cake. This was a piece Bernice’s famous Apple Honey cake. “Oh, you tell Mrs. Jones I said thank you for the cake. I’ll have a piece when I have lunch and the rest I’ll save for later.”

  He gave her a smile.

  Mr. Dawson decided to put his two cents into the conversation by saying, “You better not eat too much of that cake, it’s very addictive, plus you don’t want to put too much on those hips of yours.”

  Pamelia watched as he walked right past them and even though she could’ve went and made a comment, she never did, because it would mean her job.

  “Don’t mind him Pamelia, he didn’t mean what he said. He’s just had a rough case last week with a client and lost.”

  “It seems like every week he loses a case that I seem to be the only one he places blame on with his rude comments.” The phone rang and she answered it.

  About fifteen minutes later, Mr. Steiner and Virginia walked in. “Good Morning Pamelia,” Virginia greeted with a smile as big as a Cheshire cat.

  “How was your weekend? Good Morning Mr. Steiner, you had a call.” She handed him the slip of paper with the number she’d wrote down.

  “Oh thanks Pam.” He walked away leaving the two women alone.

  She watched Virginia crane her neck to make sure that he was gone. “Let’s just say that this weekend was rather enjoyable.” She twirled a strand of long chestnut hair around her index finger, a devilish smile spread across her lips.

  Pamelia knew just by the way she looked that she had got lucky…with Mr. Steiner.

  Yeah, that’s right. Mr. Steiner and Virginia had been seeing each other for a little over six months now. Mr. Steiner was a handsome young man, with model good looks, tailored suits and ties. His family was very influential in town and even though he could have gotten a job at bigger law firm, he decided to start off small.

  Pamelia had always thought the fact of him having an affair with his own secretary was a bad idea. Mainly because of the fact, that Mr. Allen Steiner had a Mrs. Allen Steiner to which he’d been married to for going on five years. She would hear off and on about the getaways every other weekend at his boathouse by the lake or one of his family’s homes along the beach. Pamelia always avoided getting annoyed by how she always felt that Virginia was rubbing it in her face that she had a man who took care of her needs and wants and she didn’t. Pamelia wanted to have a man that would love her for her and take care of her too. But she wasn’t about to make herself act like she was desperate and cheap. She had her pride. “So, where did you guys go to?”

  “Went to his cabin in the woods this time, oh it was beautiful there. He gave me this bracelet.” Virginia flashed the diamond tennis bracelet in her face, shaking it as it moved along her slender wrist.

  “It looks beautiful, I know it cost him a pretty penny.”

  “Over three grand he told me.” She gave her a wink. “Maybe I can get him to hook you up with someone. He has some lawyer friends as well who have big firms.”

  “Well, that’s good and all but I don’t think so.”

  Virginia shook her head as she always did when she would offer to hook her up and of course, she would make the snide comment of the day, “Why do you have to be so stuck up all the time when folks are trying to help you out?”

  All Pamelia could do was just shake her head. She had to deal with this on a daily basis. Either she had to hear about the sexual escapades of Virginia, the drunken escapades of Elizabeth or end up being the butt of Mr. Dawson’s snide remarks. If she could get a great paying job like this one somewhere else, she would’ve gotten one year ago but for now, she was stuck here.

  At times, it seemed like it would never ever happen.

  Lunchtime had come and she was thankful to get out of the office that day. Once again, she had Mr. Dawson on her ass about every single call that came in. It was her job take calls and direct them to whoever they were for, along with tending to the new customers that came in as well as making sure the front office was tidy and straight as well as the kitchenette in the back. He’d gotten on her nerves today, so Mr. Jones told her to go onto lunch and don’t bother coming back for an hour, even though her lunch break was only fifteen minutes.

  So here, she sat at the William’s Deli Shop, eating on some warm potato soup with crumbled bacon and cheese in a bread bowl, checking on her email from her Android phone. Pamelia was enjoying the time to herself, especially after dealing with crazy ass Mr. Dawson for most of the day. The phone rang and she noticed on the caller I.D. that it was her sister Veronica calling. “Hey girl,”

  “Why hey there, I didn’t disturb you at work did I?”

  “Oh no, I’m at lunch right now.”

  “I thought you were at work. Isn’t it kind of early to be at lunch?” Her sister Veronica knew her schedule just as well as Pamelia knew hers.

  “Well, Mr. Jones let me go to lunch early today. It’s been a hectic day in the office and Mr. Dawson was on the war path.”

  “I swear I don’t know why you don’t quit that job. Those people there are horrible as hell.”

  “I know they can be, but it’s really best to just ignore them because they have the issues and I don’t want to be like them, anyway.”

  “Well, you know you can always work over here with me.” Veronica owned her own restaurant that she named Margaret’s after their mother who’d passed away fifteen years ago. It turned out to be a very good business in the town where they grew up because everyone knew of their mother’s great cooking. Now she and Chris, her husband, had the place booming since she started to go into catering for weddings, office parties and other things.

  “You know if I work with you, I would probably end up killing you.”

  She heard her sister laugh.

  She knew Pamelia was right, even though they were sisters they had the knack for not getting along at times, especially when it came to dealing with the restaurant. “Yeah, we would probably end up arguing with each other the entire time we’re working. Besides, everything is going really good, if you ever want to quit that job, we can help you out until you find another one.”

  “Thanks for looking out for me, but I’ll let you know if I get there.”

  “Well, the main reason why I was calling is because I got a call from a lawyer name Mr. Millan, he is the executor of Aunt Marlene’s estate. He called to tell me that Aunt Marlene had named us both in her will and he wanted us to come to Oak Glen to read it.”

  Aunt Marlene Pamelia thought with a sigh, she’d loved her so much. Just like how it had been with her and Veronica, both their mother and Aunt Marlene had been close sisters. She remembered spending her summers in Oak Glen when she was a child. They would always go into town to pick up fabric to make dresses and pants for their dolls. Sometimes, they would go to the candy kitchen, where Mr. Callahan and his wife would have every single candy imaginable along with yummy honey fudge and they would get the honey from the Hewitt Honey Farm. When they went home, she would have already prepared something for them for lunch as well as dinner. She would always make Pamelia’s favorite snack, fried green tomatoes, something she could eat forever until her stomach wanted to burst. But her favorite time with her Aunt was when she would braid her hair. Aunt Marlene was always gentle with her hair which was naturally curly and she would often braid it up during the summertime, because it would be too hot to have it down. She would listen to her hum some church hymn since she also made them go to church every Sunday. It was soothing and nurturing for her because Aunt Marlene never had children.

  “Both you and Veronica are my babies,” She would tell Pamelia whenever she would ask her about why she never had children. It wasn’t until she got older that she found the reason why Marlene never had childr
en. It was due to something in her past that no one in the family discussed.

  “Are you there Pamelia?”

  “Oh yeah, I was just thinking is all. Did he say anything other than the fact he wants us to go to Oak Glen?”

  “He told me that if I talked with you that he wanted us to try and come on Friday, if possible.”

  “I’ll see if I can but I know it won’t be a problem for me since it’s dealing with family. Do you want to come and pick me up or we can just meet up that way?”

  “I’ll come and pick you up and we can ride there together. At least I can get a break from work and Chris.”

  Pamelia chuckled, “Well, let me know what time you want to come.”

  “Actually he said he wants us there by noon, it won’t take us more than two hours to get there and all, so I’ll come and get you around eight thirty or nine.”

  “All right then, I’ll talk with you later on in the week.”

  “Sure thing sis, love you bunch,”

  “Love you too, goodbye.” She hung up and continued eating her soup, thinking about times with Aunt Marlene and Oak Glen.

  When Pamelia got back to work, both Mr. Steiner and Virginia were heading out for their ‘lunch’ as Virginia came over and told her, “Beware of Mr. Dawson, he’s been on the war path again.”

  “When isn’t he on the war path?” She quipped as the couple walked out of the office.

  Soon, Elizabeth came from the back as well. “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. I’ve got to run a few errands.”

  “Of course, I’ll see you then.” She went on with answering calls and sending off calls to Mr. Dawson but it was a call from a woman she’d sent over to him that really seemed to ruffle up his feathers.

  He made his way up to her desk, puffing like a steam engine, with a look in his eyes that showed his anger even more. “Who in the hell told you to send me a call from Mrs. Belle,” He was fuming so much he was turning a bright shade of candy apple red.

  Pamelia stared at him as if he were crazy. “What are you talking about?”

  “You gave me a call from that stupid woman who has been trying her best to sink her nails into my son. I told Elizabeth that I didn’t want a call from that woman!”

  “How was I supposed to know to not give you the call from her in the first place? Elizabeth never told me not send you a call.”

  “Elizabeth has plenty more sense than you do at least she knows what the hell she is doing unlike you who are just an absent minded idiot!”

  “Now wait just a minute Mr. Dawson, don’t you dare go off on me because of something that I wasn’t told about in the first place.” Pamelia hammered back at him. She was tired of his constant tirades at her. There was only so much that one person could take and she’d taken it from him for too long. “I don’t understand you, you have never gone off on Elizabeth, or Virginia, since I’ve been here but you feel obligated to go off on me constantly.”

  “Because you are nothing more than a—”

  “Stan!” Mr. Jones came in before he said another word. “What the hell is wrong with you? I can hear you all the way in the back for Christ sake man.”

  “You need to tell this stupid girl who doesn’t know how to work the damn phone much less follows simple damn directions. I don’t know why in the hell you even bothered to hire her because she can’t do a God damn thing to save her life! If you know how to answer your cell phone, how hard is it for you to answer the damn phones here at work? Maybe you don’t want this job?”

  “Stan, I’ve talked with you about your constant belittling of Pamelia. Did Elizabeth tell you about not accepting the call from this person?” Mr. Jones asked her.

  “No, she didn’t.”

  “Of course, she’s going to say that to cover her own ass. Listen, I don’t have the time to be bothered with your troublesome stuck up self Pamelia. Just make sure next time to not screw up!”

  All Pamelia could do was gawk at what just happened and what had been said by him. He was getting worse by the day and she was getting sick and tired of his constant badgering tirades against her. “Mr. Jones, I really and truly don’t know how much longer I can deal with him. He’s been doing this crap to me for years now, and I don’t see it getting any better.”

  “I’m sorry Pamelia, Allen and I have both talked with him about his behavior towards you and told him that he needed to stop because we would lose you. We’ve even told him about getting anger management classes because there’s something else wrong with him and he’s not telling us. Listen, while Elizabeth is gone, just write down his messages and when she comes in give her the messages to give to him,” Mr. Jones whispered to her.

  She nodded her head. “Oh, and I need to ask for Friday off because my sister and I have to go to Oak Glen for the reading of my Aunt’s will.”

  “That’s fine. We’ll see you back here on Monday then.”

  “Thank you sir,”

  Chapter Three

  Oak Glen had a population of a little over five thousand people. Their destination was that of the office of Mr. Joseph Millan, Attorney at Law. When they drove through town, Pamelia noticed that even though things had changed, most of Oak Glen had remained the same. The Candy Kitchen was still there but it looked a bit updated on the outside as people were sitting along the front and the side of the building.

  “Do you see his office?” Veronica asked as they slowly went along the main road. When they finally came to Colfax Avenue, the street they’d been looking for, Veronica turned onto it.

  Pamelia began looking at the numbers on the mailboxes. She suddenly remembered that when she was growing up Colfax was nothing more than homes but now, it seemed more businesslike instead. “I think that’s the place right there.” She pointed towards a red brick bungalow with a wraparound white porch and a handicap ramp.

  They parked right along the curb, got out and made their way up along the wooden steps.

  An older lady, probably in her sixties sat behind a desk. Her hair was teased up like those ladies back in the sixties would wear their hair. She wore glasses with a prescription that probably no one’s eyes could handle. They literally looked like the bottom end of Coca Cola bottles. “Why hello there, how can I help you?” Her voice sounded as if it had gone through a cheese grater it was so rough.

  Even poor Veronica grimaced once she heard her talk.

  “We are here to see Mr. Millan, I am Pamelia Stewart, and this is my sister Veronica.”

  “Please wait right here, he’s been expecting you.”

  As the old woman got up from her chair, Veronica rolled her eyes and cringed while she tried her best to stifle her laughter.

  “You can come in ladies.”

  Both of them followed in behind the other as they saw an older man sitting behind a large mahogany desk. He stood up and he was about the same height as Pamelia, which was five eleven with a cowlick of brown hair tossed over to his right side and was in need of losing some pounds, but he did have the kindest look in his eyes “Why hello ladies, please come and sit down. Would you like something to drink maybe some water or tea maybe,”

  “Oh, no sir, thank you,” Veronica told him as Pamelia also declined.

  “Well, let me get the file here…” He went into a drawer, pulling out a manila folder along with a CD disk and began to walk over towards a large screen television that was hooked up to the wall. “Your Aunt had made a video will.”

  “A video will?” Pamelia smiled because that’s just how Aunt Marlene would do things, completely out of the norm.

  Once he popped it into the DVD player and pressed a button to close it, he grabbed the small remote and walked back to his desk. He pointed it towards the player and tapped on a button as the two women looked back at the screen.

  “Is this on?” Aunt Marlene came into view as she sat in her large red armchair.

  Pamelia felt her throat tighten a bit when she saw her sitting there. She looked all dolled up, her hair, which at one time
was long going all the way down her back was balding from the chemo. She wore her pearl earrings and necklace along with a black turtleneck that made her look regal. Even though she’d lost so much weight due to the cancer, she still looked the same.

  “Hello Patty Pat and Dimples. I hope that you both are very well and enjoying yourself like I know you are. Well, I know that you are probably wondering why I have you here today to listen in on my will like this. You’ve both known me to be a bit eccentric so I thought up this little thing to get you here, so that you both could have some time to yourself from work and all. Now, if Joe has everything ready, we will begin. My darling Veronica, I leave you my priceless recipe book with all of my dinner and lunch recipes in it. I know that you’ve always loved it when we all cooked in the kitchen together and plus, I know some of those recipes will be winners at your restaurant. I know Margaret would have been proud of all you’ve done. I am also leaving you twenty five thousand dollars to do with as you please.”

  Veronica looked over at Mr. Millan as he handed her the leather bound book with tattered edges as well as an envelope that was sticking out from the book itself.

  “Patty Pat, my darling girl. I know that you will love this. I leave you my pearl earrings and necklace that I know you use to always ask me about wearing. I would tell you that you couldn’t wear them until I thought it was time. Well…now it’s time for you to have them for your own. I also leave you twenty five thousand dollars along with my home.”

  Pamelia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She got her Aunt’s home?

  “Now, I did leave some things in the house that I know you loved so much but I did give the rest of my belongings to some families that I knew needed it the most. But the most sentimental things I left for you are in a small storage unit. I know that you’ve always loved my home and I know that you loved being here in Oak Glen. You can make a new life for yourself here. The home is all paid for, so there’s nothing more for you to do except to move in when you feel like it. I love you both so very much and I’ll make sure to say hello to your momma while I’m up in Heaven with her. Hell, we’ll probably end up by the pool sipping on drinks and enjoying the sunshine.” She giggled.