The Heavenly Grille Café

by J. T. Livingston

  Amanda finally found her voice and shot a glancing glare toward Kris. “Well…I wanted to talk to you about something, to get your opinion about... well… I wanted to see what you thought about me moving in with Kris. I mean, it would help us both out, you know. We could split the cost of her duplex, which would save us both some money, and I could be there with Kris... you know, the closer it gets to her having the baby and all... what do you think about that idea, Doug?”

  Bertie had reached the table and set the cup of steaming coffee in front of Doug. She looked at Doug, offered a sideways glance at the couple in the corner, and nodded her head indiscreetly.

  Doug took a sip of coffee, fought off a third stream of the involuntary shudder, and said, “That’s a great idea… I think you should do just that, Amanda.” He looked up at Bertie, who nodded her head once, looked at the couple again, and walked back toward Max.

  “You do, really?” Amanda seemed surprised at his quick response.

  Doug looked deep into Amanda’s questioning gaze. “Yes, Princess, I do. In fact, the sooner the better. I’ll even help you.” Doug thought that the last involuntary shudder surely had to be evident to everyone, especially the couple sitting at the rear of the café.

  CHAPTER 15

  -Heaven-

  Max and Bertie Visit Home

  They had spent the day in Heaven, but it was almost time for Max and Bertie to leave and return to their responsibilities on earth. They both always looked forward to their trips Home on Sundays because it gave them each the time they so desperately needed to recharge and regroup. There was no need to come up with a weekly strategy plan because they knew it wasn’t their place to do that. Neither of them had the power to change things that had happened in the past or things that might occur in the future. Their duty was to guide and protect the humans in their care with their day-to-day contentions; however, under no circumstances, were they to interfere with God’s destiny. Max and Bertie knew exactly where the line was drawn and they had no intentions of ever crossing that line.

  “Oh, Max…” Bertie sighed. “Don’t you ever feel like turning over the reins to someone else so that you can stay up here? It gets harder and harder every Sunday to leave here and to return to all the rush and fuss on earth. It’s just so peaceful here.” Bertie sighed again. “Tell me again why we do what we do.”

  Max had been sorting through data on Martin’s large, white screen and looked up when he heard Bertie’s exaggerated sigh. “Don’t tell me you’re growing tired of your assignment at the Heavenly Grille, Bertie? I don’t even want to have to think about replacing YOU!”

  Bertie stuck out her tongue and laughed. “Not by a long shot, big fella! Hell, you know as well as I do that you’ll never find anyone who could replace me.” She grinned and relaxed as she enjoyed the easy camaraderie they shared. “But, you know, Max…even though it doesn’t feel like it, I have been doing this for fifty years; and, you’ve been at it twice as long as I have. Don’t you ever worry that someone will eventually come along, and who has been living long enough, to recognize you and the café from times past? It amazes me that it hasn’t happened yet?”

  Martin suddenly materialized beside Max and nodded toward Bertie. “What makes you think it hasn’t already happened? Don’t tell me you haven’t told her, Max?”

  Max grabbed the skinny black man and embraced him in a bear hug. “There you are, my old friend! I was beginning to think we might not see you this week.”

  “Like that would happen…” Martin mused. “I seriously doubt if you could manage an entire week without my input.”

  Bertie glided up next to her two favorite black men and punched Martin’s skinny shoulder. “Oh, no, you don’t buster! You can’t come shimmering in here like dew on grass, say something like that, and then not explain what you mean. Come on... spill the beans!”

  Martin laughed as he welcomed Bertie’s subsequent embrace, which was quickly followed by another thump on his shoulder. He looked over at Max and pursed his full lips together. “Well, my friend, do you want to tell her the story or should I? You know she won’t give us another moment of peace until one of us…how did she so eloquently put it… spills the beans.”

  Max nodded and laughed in his deep baritone. “Well, since you’re a much more accurate bean counter than I am, why don’t you tell her, Martin?”

  Bertie plopped her adequate behind on the counter beside the white screen, sitting Indian-style, rested her elbows upon her knees, and cupped her chin in the palms of her hands. “I’m waiting and you both know that patience is not one of my virtues, so let’s get on with it. Besides, I love a good story. Let’s hear it, Martin.”

  “Well…” Martin began, “It’s true… it has already happened. In fact, you’ve actually met the persons in question, Bertie.”

  “Really?” Bertie was genuinely surprised. “I’ve been helping Max for fifty years now. I know I don’t have the best memory in the world, but I don’t recall ever running into the same person again, once we’ve moved on to a new location. I figured that’s what you were up here doing with all these buttons and gadgets you play with all day long.”

  Martin cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together in glee. He grinned at Max. “Oh, do you have any idea how much I’m enjoying this? Knowing something that Miss Naughty Angel here doesn’t know? Oh, my… that’s not a very Christian way of thinking, now is it?”

  “No, it’s not! Forget all that crap,” Bertie commanded. “Come, on, spill those beans, boy!”

  Martin exhaled and pursed his lips in a sly grin. “Well, as I said, Bertie, you do know the persons in question. It is the Brown brothers. You know… Amos and Andrew.”

  “Get outta here,” Bertie countered, ignoring his grin. “I’m not following you. I’ve never met them before we moved to the location we’re at now, and, I’m pretty sure I would remember those two sweethearts.” She placed her hand over her heart, showing genuine affection for the brothers.

  “Let’s clarify the story a bit,” Max offered. “It was way before your time at the café, Bertie, and it was me who has seen them twice in their life time. You see… I think I first met them around 1941. They must have been… what… about seven at the time, right, Martin?”

  “It was actually on their seventh birthday, yes,” Martin nodded. “Their father worked on a farm in Booneville, Mississippi. Their mother worked as a housekeeper for a moderately wealthy family, and the Browns were allowed to live in a small, two-bedroom shack located on the back forty of the property. The boys’ seventh birthday was on a Saturday and their parents wanted to treat them to some cake and ice cream at a new restaurant that had just opened up in town.”

  Bertie was quick to catch on. “Wait! Don’t tell me,” she grinned, “Was it called the Heavenly Grill Café by any chance?”

  Max guffawed. “Well, of course not. I do change things up every now and then, you know. As a matter of fact, it was called the Heavenly Halo Restaurant back then.”

  “Still with the floating halo, I suppose?” Bertie asked.

  “I see no reason to mess with perfection,” Max replied. “I’ve never understood why people insist on fixing things that aren’t broken. When something works, there’s no reason to go and change it. The halo has always been a staple of the restaurant, grille, café, and inn... whatever noun we attached to the name.”

  “Anyway,” Martin continued as he fluttered his hands about him, “Back to the story... I love a good story, too... let’s see...where was I?”

  Bertie raised her eyebrows at Martin and said, “Cake and ice cream... seventh birthday?”

  “Oh, yes!” Martin laughed. “Well… the entire Brown family came into the restaurant that day and proceeded to sit down at the only vacant table.”

  Max turned back to sorting data on the white screen. “We don’t have much more time, Martin, so you might want to skip all the gory details and just give Bertie the basic information on what happened that day.

&nbs
p; Bertie leaned over and punched Max on the shoulder as his fingers flitted across the screen, scrolling through pages and pages of data. “Oh, poo! Go ahead, Martin... don’t listen to him, we have plenty of time.”

  “Well…” Martin continued, “As you may recall, 1941 was not the best time to grow up black, especially in Mississippi – actually, it still isn’t if you ask me, but never mind that. Long story short, the white folks in the restaurant that day began to cause quite a ruckus when the Brown family sat down at that vacant table and opened up their menus. Max was in the kitchen because, even though he has always been in charge, well there have been certain times during the past one hundred years that he’s had to act more like just a cook and not the owner. There was another Spirit Guide who helped Max back then, by the name of Charlie Byce. Charlie was a big man, too, like Max, but he was white. Anyway, when Charlie heard all the fuss being made, he marched out there and told everyone in the restaurant that the Browns were more than welcome to sit at the vacant table and that if anyone didn’t like it, well then, they could just leave or deal with him.”

  “And did they leave?” Bertie asked.

  Martin wrinkled up his nose and shook his head. “Not the first one. They all settled down and whispered among themselves for a bit, but they didn’t argue any more – not even when it came time for the Brown boys to blow out the candles on the buttermilk cake that Max had sent out to them. Oh how those boys loved that buttermilk cake, yes they did!”

  “They still do, but…” Bertie queried, “Are you telling me the boys remembered Max from 1941? They were only seven years old!”

  “Oh, no, not the boys,” Martin grinned. “It was their Daddy!”

  Bertie allowed her head to roll back as she laughed out loud. “You’re kidding?”

  Max looked away from the scrolling screen and folded his massive arms across his chest. He smiled and nodded. “You met their father, Bertie. It was about the second week after we opened the Heavenly Grille Café at its current location. Joshua Brown and his twin sons came in together for cake and coffee one evening. They said they could see the glow of the halo from their living room window and came to check it out.”

  Bertie nodded. “Yes… I do remember when I first met them. What a wonderful man Joshua was; but, he passed away just after that, didn’t he?”

  It was Max’s turn to nod. “Yes, he did. But, if you remember, that first night they came in, after they’d eaten their cake, Joshua asked you if he could meet the cook.”

  “That’s right,” Bertie nodded. “I remember that. He said he’d only tasted cake that good one other time in his life... oh my goodness, he remembered you from 1941?”

  “That he did,” Max grinned. “We only met briefly back in 1941. It was after he and his family had finished their cake and ice cream. He asked Charlie if he could meet and thank the cook.”

  “And…” Bertie confirmed, “Lo and behold, when he met you seventy years later, you still looked the same as you did in 1941! Bet that was a shocker to the old fart, huh?”

  “BERTIE!” Martin exclaimed, looking around him in all directions, praying that no one else had heard her outburst.

  “Sorry, your highness... please, please forgive me,” Bertie pleaded, albeit somewhat sheepishly. “But I bet neither of you saw that one coming, did you?”

  “No, we certainly did not,” Max grinned. “There have been a few close calls over the years, but…”

  “So, did he ask if you were the same Max he had met back in 1941?” Bertie leaned forward.

  “He didn’t have to,” Martin chimed in. “He knew it was the same person, but he also knew that it wasn’t his place to question why things happened the way they did. He was just glad to have been given the opportunity to see Max one more time. He never confirmed his suspicions to anyone… that we know of…”

  Bertie laughed out loud, doubling over, and would have tumbled off the counter had Max not broken her fall. “Oh, oh…you don’t have to say it. Oh, this is too good! You don’t know if Joshua ever told his boys about Max, do you? Well, hey, there’s one way to be sure. He’s gotta be up here somewhere, right? Why don’t you just summon the old f…”

  “BERTIE!” Martin sighed, throwing up his hands in defeat.

  “Martin, you should be used to her shenanigans by now, my old friend,” Max smiled as he used one finger to assist Bertie off the counter.

  She floated slowly to the ground. “Oh, calm down, Martin, or you’ll be the first angel in Heaven to die twice from a heart attack! Where is old Joshua, by the way?”

  Martin threw back his shoulders and assumed his “in control” stance. “Just as Amanda’s father is still in the transitioning phase, so is our dear friend, Joshua.”

  “I see,” Bertie pursed her lips. “Well, I suppose I could just come out and ask Amos and Andrew whether or not their Daddy ever told them they had been served by angels on at least two occasions.”

  Max scratched his head and smiled at Bertie. “That would definitely make some interesting dinner conversation, I dare say. Actually, though, I have to admit, I have been curious to know what Joshua may have told his sons, if anything.”

  “Well, Hell then, we’ll just have to find out, won’t we?” Bertie winked and smiled simultaneously, as she grabbed Max’s hand.

  “BERTIE!!!” Martin yelled after the vanishing spirits. “Oh, that woman is going to be the second death of me yet…”

  “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

  -Proverbs 16:9 (NKJV)

  CHAPTER 16

  Here Comes the Baby

  It was Monday, September fifth, exactly one week before Kris’ due date. Once the decision had been made for Amanda to move in with Kris, things had moved quickly. Doug and Dean had worked together to make sure that all of Amanda’s belongings had been moved into the spare bedroom. Dean had left to make a pizza run, and Doug had remained behind to help Amanda get settled in her new home. He didn’t want to admit how much he would miss having her live next door to him, but he knew that the move to Kris’ was the best decision.

  “I’m going to hang some of those pictures for you, Amanda,” Doug offered. “Why don’t you and Kris take a break?” He smiled at them both as he headed in the direction of the small bedroom that would become Amanda’s new room.

  “You talked me in to it!” Amanda grinned as she watched him leave the living room. She quickly flopped down on the love seat and smiled as she watched Kris trying to get comfortable in the old, well-worn leather recliner.

  They both sipped on iced tea, trying to cool themselves after a long day of unloading and unpacking boxes. They were enjoying the comfortable silence, which didn’t last long. A loud thump, coming from the direction of Amanda’s new bedroom, startled them both.

  Amanda thought she heard Doug muttering to himself. She jumped up from the love seat and ran into her room. “Are you okay?” she shouted as she collided full force into Doug’s massive chest. It felt like she had hit a brick wall. “OUCH!” she moaned, rubbing her shoulder.

  Doug reached out to steady her. “Are you okay? I’m sorry… I guess I’m better at using a frying pan than I am at using a hammer. I keep hitting the wall instead of the nail. I think I hit my thumb a time or two. You might want to check those pictures before I leave. I can’t guarantee how straight they might be or if I got them exactly where you wanted them. I have to admit, though; it’s looking pretty good in here.”

  “Yeah, I’m okay.” She checked his offered thumb which looked perfectly normal to her. She smiled up at him before kissing the allegedly sore thumb. “Doug, you’re the best, you know that? You have no idea how much I appreciate your help in getting me moved in here. I mean, it’s Labor Day, and the café is closed. You should be relaxing, enjoying a day off. I’m sure you could have found something a lot more fun to do than this.” She spun around looking at her new domicile. “But…I love it! Everything looks great. It’s good to finally be able to have my things a
round me again. I didn’t realize how much I missed looking at some of these pictures.”

  Most of the pictures that Doug had hung on the wall were of Amanda and her parents, at various stages of her life.

  “It’s one good looking family, for sure,” Doug said. “I know how much you must miss your Dad. Your mother was very pretty. You...uh…you look a lot like her, you know?”

  “Do you really think so?” Amanda smiled. “That’s what my Dad always told me, but I figured he was just saying that. Sometimes I see the resemblance, but…well…I just wish I could have known her better. I can’t remember if I ever told you or not, but I was only seven when she died. I mean, I can still remember what she looked like, but I think it’s because of all the pictures we always kept around the house.”

  “How did she die?” Doug asked. “If you don’t mind me asking…”

  Amanda shrugged. “No, I don’t mind. Oh, it was a freak car accident. Daddy always said it should have been him instead of Mama. He had just gotten home from work and was supposed to stop by Walmart to pick up some fever medicine for me. I had the flu or something. Anyway, he forgot to stop and get the medicine. He told Mom he would go get it but she told him to relax and spend some time with me, said she needed to get a couple of other things, anyway. She asked him to keep an eye on dinner.... her specialty was Hamburger Helper and canned biscuits. Daddy said she kissed me on the forehead and him on the lips, and said she would be back in a jiffy.”

  Doug sat down on the twin bed that occupied half the room and patted the space beside him. “What happened next?”

  Amanda sat next to him and glanced at the pictures on the wall, smiling after each one. “Well, she made it to Walmart, got the items she needed and chatted with the cashier who was also our next-door neighbor. Mom left the parking lot and, from an eye witness’s account, was second in line at the red light. Doug, she was only five minutes from home.” Amanda sighed and continued with her story. “The light turned green, the car in front of her turned right and she followed behind him. We don’t think she ever saw the car coming. Some young kid was coming fast from the other direction, looking down adjusting the knobs on his radio instead of focusing on the road, ran the light just as my Mom pulled out. . .”