"You have to return it!"
"I couldn't do that," said Elise. "This is the last model and the company won't make another one like this again. Besides, it's already a little broken."
"Are you serious?" Karmen said. "How broken?"
"The telescope's fine," Elise reassured us, "but the glass is scratched."
"It's defective!" I cried. "They have to take it back!"
Elise looked vaguely ashamed. "Well, it kind of happened when I dropped it myself."
"Now what?" whispered Karmen desperately.
"She's still our only hope, be nice," I hissed. "Neither of us can come up with fast money like Elise."
"Oh, kill me," said Karmen. "You're asking the girl who went out and blew off $2,000 over a nerdy hobby."
I shrugged lamely and turned to Elise again. I cleared my throat.
"Elise, uh, you wouldn't happen to have any money left, would you?"
"Sure." She took the purse out and a shower of coins hit the floor, along with a few make-up kits and paperbacks. She looked down for a quick count. "On second thought, I'm broke."
"Well, how about that!" Karmen said sarcastically.
"Oh no, Eliska!" I moaned. "We've got kind of an emergency. Our rent is due on Wednesday next week, and we're short more than $1,000."
"I remember I already gave my share of the rent?"
"Uh...the thing is...you know...Karmen was fired from her last job...so..." I said.
"Don't ask her! I would rather eat my shoes," Karmen said.
"Karmen, even if you ate all the shoes in your closet, it wouldn't pay off our rent," I scolded her.
"No need to argue." Elise just shrugged apologetically. "I'm as broke as you guys now."
"I know," I said, shoulders slumped. "What are we going to do?"
Sleep would not come, so I lay awake. Only a miracle could bring us that much cash.
But nothing in the world prepared me for the shock the next morning. Before I got down to open the deli, I told Karmen if my mom called, she should tell her she'd got the wrong number. There was no way I could fake a good mood today.
When I arrived at the restaurant, I found myself in the middle of the wreckage. Broken pieces of the ancient brick and shattered glasses spread on the ground. Inside, the tables and chairs were overturned and scattered in brokenness.
My jaw dropped. Our deli was vandalized! It looked a bunch of baboons had come at night and caused all this mess. Did I remember to lock the doors? I was too caught up in all the drama between Karmen and Elise last night that I must have forgotten.
"Celia is going to kill me," I whimpered.
I had to sit down as I felt like breathing into a paper bag. As the first rays glinted off the shards of broken glass that lay at the front doors, I watched the Jogging Grandma went out for her morning jog, but the nearsighted old lady still hadn't noticed that anything was out of place. She just muttered about poor street-cleaning. Her cool sneakers that looked brighter than my future crunched over the broken debris.
I went to the kitchen and looked forlornly at everything that was the center of my passion. Luckily, nothing had been broken. It seemed the criminals didn't know what to do with the kitchen stuff or that they had no time. Then the phone rang. I almost jumped out my skin but managed to answer it.
"So, Miss. Kononovich, how's my restaurant?" came Celia's voice.
"Kind of slow this morning," I said, trying to control my voice from the shock. A better answer would have been, "What restaurant?" Or "Can I pay your rent next year?"
"Slow? How slow?"
How could I tell this poor, sick, old woman that she was out of business?
"Don't worry," I said and gave a high-pitch laugh. "Last night it was really hectic."
Understatement.
"You're a good girl, Miss. Kononovich," said Celia. That was the first civil word she'd ever said to me, and for the first time, I hadn't deserved it. I hunger up feeling even lower than before.
Clarice came into the deli half an hour later, and I could hear her gasp perfectly from the front doors.
"Oh my god!" she cried. I was sitting on the counter, which was the only place in the deli that was free from the debris.
"I know," I said dejectedly. "Will you drive me to the nearest cliff where I can jump?"
Clarice stepped over the overturned chair and came towards me. Then she did the most heart-warming thing. She hugged me. Her arms wrapped around my waist and her head rested against my chest. Her blonde hair smelled of some divine perfume that lifted my spirit, but just a little.
"Azra, tell me what happened?"
I told her everything from start to finish.
"At least nobody got hurt," she said and rubbed my back.
"I guess," I mumbled. "But how could I tell Celia this? She's in the hospital. Her deli ruined, and now we have to walk out on her because there's nothing else we can do."
"Sure there is!" Clarice vehemently. "After we report to the police, we can clean this up, no biggie."
I looked at her in disbelief. "There are times when being an optimist is just plain naive. Look at this place! I wouldn't even know where to start!"
Clarice pouted, looking hurt. I wanted to apologize to her, but Ms. McHugh entered. She had been absent for a while because of her poor health, but now she looked a lot better. The former waitress looked around the place and frowned.
"Oh my, is this the same place I worked in?" she said.
~*~
After we reported the vandalism to the police and everything, we sat around the table amidst the mess, having a meeting with Ms. McHugh, Clarice, and my two best friends. The deli was closed for now.
"I bet it's the work of that witch, Monica," Ms. McHugh said, pointing her thumb across the street. "She's the only one who hates Celia as much as Celia hates her."
"We don't know that for sure," Karmen said. "Let's the police work it out. But the insurance company can look into this."
"I don't remember Celia ever got any insurance," Ms. McHugh said.
"Oh well, that's it, looks like we might go home, Azra," Karmen said.
"No! I don't want to go home!" I groaned and dropped my head in my hands.
"Is that serious?" Clarice asked.
"Well, on top of the misfortune today, we're also short of money to pay the rent," Elise explained. "We're most likely to be homeless soon."
"If only you didn't buy that ridiculously expensive telescope," Karmen said.
"And that is my fault you didn't care to keep your job?" Elise shot back.
"Okay girls, this is not the time to fight," I said. "We need to think of something."
"Well yes, but first we need to clear this place," Ms. McHugh said and got up. "No sense keeping these around anymore."
Then with one grunt, she wrenched the entire line of broken booths from their moorings and out of the way.
"Whoa, Ms. McHugh, you're the female Hercules!" Karmen said.
"I've been hitting the gym a lot lately," she said. "The doctor said it's good for my health."
I stared. There! It was that easy! Where the booths had been lay bare floor, all nice and clean. All it took was a little brute strength. I looked at Ms. McHugh and smiled. A lot of brute strength.
Clarice stayed with us to help put things back in order. Just then Karmen's voice came from inside our landlady's apartment behind the deli.
"Hey, everyone, you'd better come in here."
I couldn't stand the suspense. "Just break it to me, Karmen! Will her insurance company cover it?"
"You have to see it to believe it!"
Elise and I joined Karmen in Celia's living room. Clarice and Karmen were standing by a two-drawer filing cabinet that stood amidst the overstuffed Victorian furniture. The grin on my best friend's face was pure unholy delight. She showed us a file folder three inches thick. On the top was scrawled Insurance.
"She's covered?" I barely whispered.
Karmen shrugged. "Not enough of a magic wand
to wave the whole thing anew, but that still helps a lot. The rest we'll have to remodel it."
"We can make use of these cool Victorian goodies," Clarice added, tipping her slender finger on her chin thoughtfully.
"Azra, we got to leave it to you."
"Me?" I said.
"Who else?" Elise shrugged. "None of us knows anything about designing."
Clarice looked at me in disbelief. And then she smiled. That was it for me. The smile. The second heart-warming thing she did since the whole ordeal started, and just like that all that happened a few hours earlier felt like a hundred fifty thousand years ago.
Chapter Seventeen
In the movies, the hero jumps off a burning boat before the bomb blows up in a couple minutes, and gets to swim to the shore in safety, but in reality, I feel like I jump off a burning boat and get to float in triumph for a few seconds before I see the alligator.
That's life for you.
Before we came to America, we thought we had our goals figured out. Everything was clear and straight. But look at us now, going down detours and dead-ends while trying to beat the odds.
Clarice and Elise both took the day off work. Although Karmen was unemployed, she still insisted that it was also her day off from her day offs. With Ms. McHugh, we completely emptied the deli.
The sooner we got the work done, the less chance there was of word getting back to Celia that she'd had a disaster visiting her deli. There had been nothing in the papers, and the police reassured to keep it that way. The whole business would suffer if we weren't quiet about it.
Then we waited for the confirmation from the insurance company. It might take about three business days to let us know how much we would get to cover the damages.
For the meantime, we did the only thing we could. We killed time. But one of us had to be busy, and that was me. I was responsible for designing the whole restaurant.
Working on my laptop and a simple sketch book, I drafted a list of what needed to change and then drew the first blueprint. I later found out so many problems that Celia had.
Usually, customers don't want to sit at the tables near the kitchen entrance, restrooms, and front entrance, but Celia didn't seem to care about that. And she ended up losing customers by default. Also, people need privacy even they are in public place.
Tables smacked in the middle of the dining room were not always popular. I had to divide the space by putting up plants between tables. I wanted the walls to be repainted white, so it would make the place brighter. I also wanted it to be cozy and welcoming by adding brown and green to the background. The flower pots and the wooden counter would do.
I was making a miniature scale of the model out of the dough and chocolate when Clarice entered the kitchen.
"Hey, what are you doing?" she asked and came to my side.
"Taking over the world with my evil plan, can't you see?"
But this time, she didn't laugh. I could feel her eyes on me until I looked up.
"Azra, why aren't you nice to me anymore?" she asked. The question came out like the atomic blast from Hiroshima. I realized Clarice was looking at me with that hurt look again. I felt terrible. She had been nothing but helpful and supportive to me.
"I'm sorry, Clarice. It must have been the stress," I said.
"No, Azra, it's because I kissed you," she said, and I heard myself gasp. Glancing around us, I was relieved that there was no one in the deli.
"Shh...be careful," I hushed her. "You don't want Karmen and Elise to hear that."
Clarice bit her lips. Those lips, gosh, they were so tempting. No wonder there's global warming. If it went on like this, tons of penguins and polar bears would have no place to live.
She held my gaze longer than usual, and I had to avert my eyes from her face and focused on my model. Then Clarice scooted closer to me. I tensed up when she leaned over my shoulder. The global warming seemed to rise inside my body.
"That's the new deli model, isn't it? Oh my god, it looks delicious!" she squealed.
I had just finished a few tables made out of chocolates and now was adding the marshmallows cushions on the chair.
"I have no other tools to make it, so please don't eat our deli," I said then remembered that I should be nicer and added, "You can have it until we all agree with the plan."
"They look so cute. Why didn't you tell me you're an architect?" Clarice said.
"You never asked." I shrugged. "Besides, I’m more of an interior designer, but I was trained in an architect school. My parents were so disappointed when I quitted my first job at their friends' firm and moved here to be a model. But look at me now! So much for trying to run away from their bakery."
I laughed at myself.
“You know, you should just combine your architect-designing skills with your pastry skills," she said. "I think people love seeing something different."
I molded it over in my mind and realized that she had the most brilliant idea ever.
"Yes! Why did I think of that?!" I exclaimed. "I could upgrade my pastry art with those geometric constructing principles!"
As the realization became clearer, I got even more excited. With expanding shells in a spiral, herb structure, or the form that bubbles take, I could make cakes and all sorts of desserts imaginable.
No one could even come up with this idea. I could make all the worldly goodies that people can't even stop to Instagram it before digging in! This would be my entrance to the world of pastry chefs. Foods evolved just as much as humans. In today's world, everyone wanted something new and unique.
That guy who invented the 'cronut', or the 'rainbow bagel'? They became the viral sensations overnight. Well, not overnight, but you get my point. Uniqueness and great flavor are the keys to culinary success!
Clarice was right. Why not fuse my passion with what I know best?
I had found my true calling!
I was so excited that I turned and hugged the blonde model.
"Thank you, Clarice," I said, but when I realized what I was doing, I pulled away. She looked a bit surprised but then she smiled. We stood nose to nose with each other.
"No needs to thank me. I didn't do anything," she said. "You're just amazing, Azra."
I blushed and lowered my eyes from her.
"When the deli reopens, you can continue your baking lessons if you wants," I said.
"If I'm still welcome."
I looked at her again, and this time, our eyes entwined.
"You're always welcome here."
She smiled and nodded.
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she said. I nodded back. Clarice lingered a few seconds longer before she turned slowly to walk away.
"Clarice," I called to her. She turned to me again. "Why did you kiss me that day?"
There was a silence. I could hear the sounds of the classical music from the Pole Dancer's apartment.
"I thought you already knew," she replied softly and then turned to leave.
~*~
The insurance adjustor arrived and was so pleased not to have to deal with Celia that we settled on the spot. As part of the big cover-up, the company was paying for the most part, so all we had to do was clean, fix, and remodel, and have the bills sent to the insurance guy.
"It's a pleasure working with you girls!" exclaimed the adjustor in a surprised, happy tone. "Ms. Celia is lucky to have you to look after her interests."
"Now, we don't want her informed about this," said Karmen tactically. "Her health is very delicate."
"Hey," said the adjustor, "no crying, no screaming, and no groveling, I'll do anything you girls say, so we're good."
"Yes, of course," I said as we saw him off.
"I guess now we just have to put things back to the way they were so that Celia wouldn't notice," Elise said.
Well, I can't describe the expression I was wearing on my face. Suffice it to say I was very very excited about the rest of the process.
"Not exactly everything," I said.
<
br /> "What do you mean, not exactly?" Elise asked suspiciously.
"Get that look off your face, Azra," Karmen said. "You're making me nervous."
My leer must have deepened because now they were both concerned and rather freaked out by it.
"Remember," warned Ms. McHugh, "this is Celia's money. If you do something screwy with it, she'll track you to the end of the universe with hellhounds!"
I laughed. "Trust me."
Chapter Eighteen
I racked my brains all day yesterday trying to figure out how to pay off the rest of the deli refurbishing, plus our rent. Elise suggested she should just go to the ATM and withdraw from our parents' account, but I strongly protested the idea.
"We're not gonna depend on our parents' help, remember?" I said. "We have to make it on our own."
Karmen and I realized we were going to have to do this a different way to make our entrance to the business world.
I figured we could just create flyers and put them in every mailbox in our neighborhood. All we needed was some cool description and graphic art to get us started. I did some math, and it would cost us at least a couple hundred bucks to make enough flyers for the whole block alone. But we had no choice.
"Think of it as an investment, Azra," said Karmen. "You can't catch the big fish if you don't have good bait."
I guessed she was right, so I told Elise to write something refreshing and different to attract people's attention. So she came up with this:
GRAND OPENING
Experience the elusive taste from your childhood
Balance your diet with our special ice cream cakes in each hand
Our authentic European-ish cafe's the best offers:
Queen of Tarts, Game of Scones, Cafe au Late-Anyway
OPEN 10:00 A.M to 10:00.PM
Ms. McHugh and I loved it. We laughed and thought it was very clever, but Karmen wasn't so impressed.
"I could write better," she said with a cool shrug.
"Oh, yeah?" Elise challenged.
"Well, if only you knew what I wrote to Clarice every night, you'd be green like a pea!"
"You meant green with envy?" Elise said, and Karmen looked caught on then she just shrugged.
"Whatever, but if you don't believe me, here's my love poem to Clarice," she said and pulled out a piece of paper.
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