Quake Chapters Two & Three

We arrived at the Lonely Pelican right on time. I was ushered inside, thrown a notebook and a maroon colored apron and put to work. I was extremely rusty since it had been several years since I had waited tables at the Pelican though I still knew most of the customers by name. The locals were very curious as to why the owners son and now daughter were back working at the Pelican and asked no end of polite but probing questions. By lunch time my feet were swollen and my cheeks were sore from smiling so much. I caught a glimpse of Dirk lounging out back and headed towards him. Instead of tall, dark and handsome, Dirk was long, light and lean. He was tall like our mother with strikingly defined features, also like our mother. He had light blue eyes and pale blonde hair. His shoulders were not broad but they supported lean muscular arms. He looked quick and light on his feet. Whereas Dirk got his hard good looks from Mom, I must have gotten my features from my Dad though no one had ever told me so. I am average height with features that are rounded and soft. My lips are fuller and the only way you can find my cheekbones is by touching my face until you find them. My eyes are rounder and the blue of my eyes are dark turbulent waters compared to their sunlit ocean. I did get the trademark pale blonde hair but if I dyed my hair brown no one would ever guess I was related to the striking Maebell Glick or her achingly handsome son Dirk Littleton.

“Lunch break?” Dirk asked as I approached.

“Yes.” I said and let out a long sigh. “I am wore out already.”

Dirk laughed. “Been a while since you have done actual work huh?”

I made a face at him.

“So…when did your money run out?” He asked smirking at me.

Dirk was referring to the money our mysterious Uncle gave us at every visit. Our Mother always split the money down the middle and put them into separate accounts for us. She sure didn’t need it. When we turned eighteen she gave the money to us. Dirk got his three years before me but Mom still split the next three years down the middle since the amount was unchanged. Dirk took his money and moved to Atlanta. Mom paid for him to go to Georgia State so the rest was his to do whatever with. When I turned eighteen I went straight to Hollywood and went to acting school. The money was enough for us to live on without having to work much if any.

“About five months ago. I would say it was a major factor in Sean’s decision to split.” I said though really I had just worked that part out myself. “I had been looking for work, acting work, and couldn’t find any so I had to start relying on his paycheck because he had a dedicated role in a soap opera.”

“Wow.” Dirk exclaimed, impressed, “Mine ran out over two years ago.”

“Well Dirk, I wasn’t trying to live in penthouses.”

“Me either, it just kinda happened.”

“Riiiiiight.” I said rolling my eyes at him. “Want to go grab lunch with me?”

“I would but I have already had my lunch hour. This is my last break then I leave in an hour. You know you should really check out the new bakery across the street, Colossians, they have really good sandwiches and some pretty awesome bakery things too. Plus there is this really hot girl that works there that I have been, you know” He leaned over and winked at me. “trying to ask out.”

“Trying? I have never known you to have to try before.” I laughed.

“Well there is this guy that works there and he looks to be her age and I didn’t know if…….” He trailed off. “You know, if they are dating or not. They don’t seem to be. I go in there almost every time I am working and I have never seen them act all touchy feely or look at each other with that…..look.”

“So what makes you think they could be dating? Does she not respond to your…look?”

“You would just have to see him and she responds just fine. I just want to be sure. I don‘t want to have to fight the guy if I try to ask her out and she‘s his.”

“Ok.” I said, my curiosity peaked. “I will go scope it out over a rueben.”

“Thanks sis and their ruebens are tha bomb.”

I grimaced. “Aren’t you a bit old for slang?”

“Nope never too old.” He said and winked at me again. “Peace out, my sista.” He threw up two fingers at me and walked back into to Pelican.

I rolled my eyes. There was just something about my brother that made me roll my eyes more in five minutes that I usually did in a year.


I pushed the button on the street pole and waited for the light to change. I studied the deli/bakery with the funny name across the street. It used to be a souvenir shop with airbrushed t-shirts and gaudy knick knacks in the windows. Now the windows were devoid of the clutter but replaced with decals advertising their selection of meats, sandwich styles and baked goods. The little walking man appeared on the crosswalk sign and I crossed the street. A bell chimed overhead when I swung the door open. The intoxicating smell of deli meat and bakery bread assaulted my senses. My stomach groaned in anticipation. The shop was tastefully decorated with a few posters of old deli menus and pictures in black and white and sepia of old time delis and bakeries. They had a handful of round bistro style tables and chairs, now empty, and two long glass displays separated by a counter where the register sat. The left display held slabs of meat and cheeses while the right offered several different types of bread along with cannolis, doughnuts, cupcakes and other delightful baked goodies. I sidled up to the counter and looked up at the menu board.

A pretty dark haired girl emerged from a doorway to the right, behind the counter and smiled broadly at me. Her nametag declared her to be Robin and I could tell right away she was the girl Dirk was after. Dirk liked fragile flowers he could protect and treat like they were endangered species. He took the ‘southern gentleman’ cliché to the next level with women. Well all women with the exception of his sister. I liked it that way. I was no fragile flower and while some women liked being treaded like one, I was not one of them. Robin was short and petite, with long, thin brown hair that framed a face of small, delicate features. Her eyes were an odd shade of hazel that was almost green under long luxurious lashes. I could just picture her looking up mournfully at Dirk, batting those lashes and him rushing to get her anything she wanted.

“Hello, welcome.” She said in a distinctively northern accent. “What can I get for you today?”

I smiled back at her. “A rueben for sure. My brother says they are wonderful.”

She cocked an eyebrow at me. “Oh? We just opened a few weeks ago. I will probably remember him. What does he look like?”

“Tall, lean, blonde hair and blue eyes.”

“Works across the street?” She asked.

I nodded. “Yep, that’s him.”

“Oh yes he comes in quite regularly. He also likes the BBMT.”

Was that a slight blush coming to her cheeks, I wondered? I was pretty sure it was. That was a good sign. I glanced up at the menu to see what a BBMT was. Bacon, Basil, Mozzarella and Tomato. “Yum that does sound good but I will stick with the Ruben for today. What is the soup of the day?” I asked.

She gestured to a blackboard on the far left of the wall where “Minestrone” was written in pink chalk.

“I’ll take a small cup of that too.” I said.

“Would you like anything else?” She asked.


I walked over to the bakery section. “I am pretty sure I can’t leave without something in this case. It keeps calling me.” I grinned at her. She grinned back knowingly.

“Imagine working here.” She said.

I groaned longingly. “I would love it until I stepped on a scale. Baked goods are my weakness.” I confessed. “What is this little lovely here?” I asked pointing to a dusty white biscuit looking confection with a buttery cream on top.

“I really can’t help you with this side of store. I am not the baker.” She smiled at me. “But my cousin is and he will help you.” She walked to the doorway and yelled for Simon. I heard a gruff male voice call back that he would be right out. “I will go ahead and get your soup and sandwich going while you decide.”

I noted the word cousin and was bursting to tell Dirk he had nothing to fear after all. “Thank you.” I said and began looking at the pastries again. The front door chimed and a small group of old ladies came bustling in. They chattered happily, ohhhing and ahhhing over the meat case and Robin told them she would be right with them. I smiled at one of the ladies who I recognized from having served just that morning at the Pelican. Only then she was accompanied by her husband. She smiled back at me then her smile faltered and her face went a little slack as she looked at a point above my right shoulder. I turned to see what caused her distress and I am sure my face made the same maneuver has hers. Before me in the doorway to the backroom stood a man straight off the cover of a cheesy romance novel. Tall, maybe six foot one with broad shoulders, he wore a white button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up almost to his shoulders displaying arms with neither too much nor too little muscle. Soft hazel eyes surveyed the room. His full mouth wore a small half smile. His chiseled features were framed by a mane of dark almost wavy hair. He was pretty, too pretty to be real. All we needed was his shirt to be unbuttoned, showing his chest and a light wind to ruffle his hair and we’d be set. He was wiping two massive hands off on a white half apron tied around is waist. I tried so very hard not to dwell on those hands. Big and manly, they were a working man’s hands. They looked like they would be equally at home swinging a hammer or clamped around some evildoer’s neck. I found it hard to imagine those same hands in the backroom working dough and forming delicate confections. He was wearing light blue denim jeans that hugged muscled thighs. I couldn’t see his rear but if the rest of him was any indication then I was pretty sure it was a fine specimen as well.

He grinned at me, flashing his perfect pearly whites and I had the mad urge to giggle like a schoolgirl. I was so glad Dirk wasn’t there and totally understood the basis for his concern. Dirk was handsome but this Simon was…….breathtaking. Not to mention he looked like he would be ruthless in a fight. I wouldn‘t want to tango with him either.

“What can I help you with?” He asked also with a north of the Mason Dixon lilt.

I pulled my actress face down like a mask and gave him a small, friendly, not giving any emotion away smile. I was certain this man was used to women drooling over him and I would not give him the satisfaction of seeing me do the same. I asked about the buttery confection and he started to explain its name and what was in it but I must admit that while my face looked as if I were listening I heard not a word. I was marveling at how the light from the overhead pendants seemed to create a soft haze around his chiseled features and put an almost mischievous twinkle to his eyes. He looked at me and for a second our eyes locked and held. I held my breath and a knot formed in my chest. This man was mine. Why the word flashed in my head I will never know but looking into those twinkling eyes I thought “Mine”. I knew it with absolute certainty. For some reason I thought of how explorers used to sail around the world, claiming land for their home countries by sticking a flag into the ground. I desperately wanted to find a flag and suction cup it to his forehead. I looked around frantically, having temporarily lost my mind, for a napkin and a straw so I could fashion a flag and claim him for my own. My gaze fell on his again. His grin was stretched so wide I thought it would crack. Then it did just that. He doubled over laughing. I looked at him confused and horrified. Had I done something? This diatribe I had had in my head only lasted a few seconds what could I have possibly done that was so funny? The realization hit me.

“Did I just say that out loud?” I asked the room in general. Robin and the old ladies were looking at us quizzically. Simon laughed so hard he had to lean against the counter for support. After he regained a little composure he excused himself and retired to the backroom but I could still hear him sniggering.

Robin walked over to me grinning. “No, he’s a mind reader.” She said in a low voice so that only I heard her. “I must tell you that women have thought all sorts of things at him and he never breaks down laughing. He has conditioned himself to maintain control no matter how bad the thoughts are.”

I really wish I could have seen my own face at that moment. I couldn’t speak, I didn’t know what to say. She handed me a tray with my food on it. “On the house.” She said.


“Um, can I get it to go?“ There was no way I could eat in there.

She nodded sympathetically.





I don’t remember the walk back across the street. I sat down at the break table in the back of the Pelican and stared at the brown bag. It had a round stylized logo with Colossians Deli and Bakery written on it in bold black type. I thought for half a second about not eating it. I thought about driving home, curling up in my bed and never getting out again. Unfortunately I was more mortified by the fact Simon had read my mind instead of the fact that he could read my mind. Looking back I didn’t even see where it was that funny. I guess I got points for originality or total lunacy. I am sure of all the things he has heard women think they want to do to him, suction cupping a flag to his forehead wasn’t high on the list. And what was with that strange feeling of possession that came over me when our eyes met? It was unlike anything I had ever felt before. It was probably my actor side playing up the drama of the moment. He was so totally out of my league it wasn’t even funny. I am passable, he is fantastical.

“Mine.” My mind thought despite me.

I shook my head trying to clear it. The smell of the corned beef and minestrone was intoxicating. I caved and ate every bite.





Chapter 3


From that moment on my world totally and irrevocably changed. Through all my twenty odd years I have never met, known or heard of anyone else with powers like ours outside of Hollywood make believe. To say it rocked my world was putting it mildly. Sure I figured there were more of us but being confronted with one, possibly two counting Robin, was a different matter entirely.

I thought about telling Dirk but decided against it. I wanted to find some things out first. Like how they knew they could tell me Simon was a mind reader without fear of me not believing them. I also wanted to know if there was an anti mind reading trick I could learn and quick.

Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep that night. I wish I could say it was because the thought of there being others like me thrilled and terrified me at the same time and that is party true. But no, I was up mainly because of the mortification I felt every time I thought of Simon and unfortunately I thought of him often.



The bell chimed merrily over my head when I walked in the deli the next day. I was a little later than the day before owing to a huge lunch crowd I couldn’t get away from at the Pelican. It looked like they had all come to Colossians for dessert. The place was crowded with most of the patrons clamoring around the bakery side. It took me a second to realize why. The whole crowd consisted of ladies. Old ladies, young ladies and all ages in between ladies. All vying for Simon’s attention. It took a massive effort but I didn’t roll my eyes. It was becoming a habit.

As if drawn to each other like a magnet our eyes found each other and locked. Luckily for me I had put my acting face on before I came in. I saw Simon didn’t have an acting face. He grinned at me, a glint appearing in his hazel eye. My face remained unmoved and I began humming furiously in my head. I was trying to mask my thoughts. Either it was working or it was amusing him because his smile ticked up a notch.

I avoided all pretense and walked straight up to the counter and looked him straight in the eye.

“I need to speak with you. In private.” I said in my best business-like tone.

I was so frustrated by the devilish grin he gave me I was a heartbeat from southern girl arm waving.

“Certainly.” He said and gestured for me to join him behind the counter. “Robin, can you cover for me a moment?”

Her eyes were huge as she looked at us. “Ummm, I’m a little busy at the moment Simon.”

“Thanks ok, I will just wait in the back.” I said as I walked around the suddenly still and silent gaggle of women. They looked at me with evil eyes as I passes them. I had the unthinkable urge to bare my teeth at them and growl. I forgot to keep the humming up and I heard Simon laugh. I felt my face and neck grow hot. I felt heat flush my face and neck. I was a trained actor, meaning I had one hundred percent control over my emotions, meaning there was no way I was blushing! I stalked past him with my eyes looking anywhere but at his face.

It took about twenty five minutes for him to join me at the small table in the back. The small work areas were meticulously clean. There were trays of already made pastries and one tray of delicious looking chocolate and caramel drizzled doughnuts.

Simon strode in from the front, picked up a small sheet of pastry paper and swiped one of the doughnuts from the tray. He walked over to the table and placed it in front of me. I groaned. “Is the humming not working at all?” I asked him.

“Oh yes the humming works just fine. I can only read what is at the foremost in your mind. You were concentrating on that doughnut so hard I could have picked it up outside.”

He walked over to a counter and poured two cups of coffee. Do you take cream or sugar?” He asked.

“Do whales blow bubbles?” I asked.

“I believe so.” He said, smiling as he poured cream and sugar into my cup. He took his black.

He sat the coffees on the table and sat down across from me. “So who told you about the humming?” He asked.

“Nobody.” I replied. “Just a guess.”

He smiled. “I would have liked for you to have never found that out.”

I felt my face trying to go hot again. “Is Robin coming soon? I wanted to speak to both of you.”

“She should be along shortly.” He said.

“I only have an hour for lunch and I have used up forty minutes of it already. I don’t think it is going to be enough time for me to ask all the questions I want to ask you two.”

“We can meet you and your brother for dinner if you would like.” Robin said walking into the room. “I think we all have some questions.”

“Where do you want to meet?” I asked.

“Let’s go to Rivera’s.” Simon suggested.

Rivera’s was a high end restaurant on the square. It was a popular place to take a date or celebrate an anniversary. I gaped at him. He must be joking. Before I could protest Robin spoke.

“Let’s meet there at eight o’clock.”

“Sounds good to me. Would that be suitable for you Shia?”

I was momentarily awestruck by the sound of my name coming from his lips. “I have no problem with the time but wouldn’t you rather meet at the Burger King instead?”

“Not a chance.” He replied. “It’s a date then.”

“A double date.” Robin said and blushed a little.

“Um, I just have one question before I go.” I said.

“What is it?” asked Simon.

“How do you know my name?”

“Lets leave that for tonight.” Simon said and gave me a cryptic smile.

“Fine, whatever. See you all then.”

Quake Chapter One

The earth trembled and bucked around me. People started pouring out of buildings, clogging the streets. In the state of California and especially in this neighborhood everyone knew the drill. I clutched my cell phone in my hand so hard my knuckles were turning white.
“What a low life bastard!” I thought, clenching my teeth. “How dare he break up with me and on my facebook page!” Luckily my phone alerts me when I have a new wall post so his note “I think it’s time for us to see other people because baby, I already see one I like” comment was deleted after only being in cyberspace a few seconds. I was not naïve enough to think that out of my two hundred and fifty friends that no one saw it. I just couldn’t believe that after three years together he could just throw me away so easily and so callously. I thought I knew him. I thought I might even love him. My phone vibrated in my hand and it wasn’t caused by the earthquake.

“Honey.” A woman’s sooth southern voice said from the receiver. “I just got a notification on my phone and read what Sean wrote.” The earthquake went up another notch on the Richter scale. “Baby you need to calm down. Take a deep breath. I am on my way to work so I can’t turn on the TV. But I am assuming there is an earthquake going on right now?”

I took a deep breath. “Yes.”

“Oh Shia, you have been doing so well. How long has it been, three months? Please calm down. Think about all the people you could be hurting. Think of all the priceless family heirlooms crashing to the floor right now as we speak. He is just a boy, baby. Trust me there are lots of them.”

“Ok Mom. I am calming down.” I said still deep breathing.

“Imagine yourself sitting on the beach. How about laying in your hammock. Hear the waves crashing against the shore? Maybe you should come home for a nice long visit. It would do you good to get away from all that Hollywood drama.”

“I’ll think about it Mom and call you back.”

“How’s the quake?” she asked.

“What quake?” I asked and hung up. I turned my phone off, not wanting to risk hearing from anyone else and started walking again towards the flat I shared with Sean. A little ripple of energy escaped me as I thought of the possibility of him being there. I doubted it. I was just getting home from a week in South Beach with a friend and auditioning for a part in a daytime soap opera.

“See this is what happens when you leave a guy alone for an extended period of time.” I berated myself aloud. “They find somewhere else to put their private parts.” I rolled my eyes. I had thought Sean was different, even perfect but on reflection he is an aspiring actor so his acting skills must be pretty good right? Was our whole relationship an act? Had I just lived with Sean the actor and Sean the real person was someone I never met? I mulled this over as I rode the elevator up to our fourth story flat. I unlocked the door and tried to brace myself for whatever was inside. It didn’t work. As expected he had already moved out. He had left all of my things in the exact place I had left them. But that wasn’t the shocking part. The shocking part was the whole flat was covered in paint. It looked like he had went to the big box store and bought every paint color from SpongeBob Squarepants. Gallons of bright orange, lime green, neon pink and electric blue were thrown all over everything. My 42 inch plasma was a brilliant shade of yellow, the floor to ceiling windows gave a new meaning to ‘stained glass’. Our bedroom door was open and I saw my beautiful white lacy duvet splashed with electric blue. On reflection it was a pretty good color to describe that area of our relationship. I stood there gaping like an idiot for several minutes then the anger that flashed up in me caused the earth to shutter violently around me and all the windows in the building exploded at once.


****




I sat in the airport awaiting my gate to be called watching the news. Of course the airport was too loud to hear it but I was reading the captions.

“……earthquake in Anaheim a 4.0 on the Richter scale came at 12:56 pm today. The aftershock came in a 4.9, twenty minutes later. The aftershock blew out all the windows in the Shady Palms complex which was particularly devastating for a young tenant who had just come home to find out her boyfriend had dumped her on her facebook wall and had thrown gallons of paint all over the apartment they had shared.” Here the reporter smirks and they show a slow sweeping view of my apartment. My cheeks burned but I kept my energy under control. “Curiously this region of Anaheim has been particularly prone to quakes in the last decade. Fortunately other than the broken windows the damage was minimal with no injuries other than a broken heart perhaps.” The news anchor smirked again at his own joke. My seat shook a little at this and I turned away. I had called the cops before I left and filed charges. The landlord was understandably too busy with glass installers to help us right away but he assured me he would get the hallway surveillance videos to the police. The cop was pretty sure I had an ironclad case against him. It really was silly of him to wreck the flat. I mean we didn’t even break up on bad terms. I rolled my eyes again “Actors….so full of drama.”

****


I arrived in Gulf Shores Alabama six and a half hours later. It was suppertime but I knew as the taxi dropped me off Mom would still be at work. I dropped my suitcases at the backdoor and walked down our old weather-beaten boardwalk to the beach. The sky was clear and a cool breeze ruffled my hair. I collapsed in my favorite spot, the hammock strung between two palm trees. As I lay there I evaluated my life; a twenty seven year old aspiring actress who after ten years had starred in a grand total of two commercials with very minor parts and three scenes in a now cancelled soap opera with the distinguished title of “Bar patron number three”. Never married, no kids, no talent and no future. Oh and lets not forget freak of nature. Can’t forget that little juicy tidbit.

I tried not to. I really did but once a few tears leaked out it was like a dam failing and it all just gushed out. I stared up at the sky with my vision blurred by tears when a man’s head leaned over me, blocking out the sky. I was so startled my body jerked and I flipped spectacularly off the hammock landing on all fours in the sand.

I looked up at the handsome blonde who had wrecked my pity party. “Damn it Dirk. I hate it when you do that!”

Dirk was doubled over laughing. “I’m…sorry….” he got out between guffaws. “was…only trying….to say…hello.”

“Riiiight. Like I believe that.” I said brushing sand of my knees. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“I was wondering the same thing about you little missy. I happen to live here now.”

I looked at him incredulously. “You live here? Mom didn’t tell me that. I thought you were living it up in Atlanta with some politician’s daughter.”

“And so I was.” He said puffing out his chest. He reached for my hand and led me back up the ramp to the patio where we sat down together. “She was a sweet thing.” He said looking up to the sky ruefully. “But alas she started saying these sentences with words like ‘love’ and ‘marriage’ in them so I had to say goodbye to the high life.” He sighed dramatically.

I laughed. “Dirk your such a jerk. Your telling me a rich pretty girl loved you and wanted to marry you so you split?”

“That about sums it up.” He stretched his arms and legs and yawned. “Really sis I just didn’t love her so instead of stringing her along because I liked being with her I packed up and moved home. I thought I was being noble. It hasn’t been easy on me you know, going from caviar living to this.” He turned and gestured to our multiple thousand square foot, beachfront familial home. “This is a far cry from Atlanta penthouses.”

I laughed again. “It’s good to be home. I missed it too.”

He nodded appreciatively. He reached across the table and poked my arm. “Tag, your it.”

So I told him all about the cheating bastard actor Sean. I thought about leaving out the news report but I couldn’t help telling him. He jumped up and went inside with a hurried “be right back”. When he reemerged he had his laptop in hand. He scooted his chair next to mine and pushed play on the screen. We watched the news report on you tube again, and again and again. It had over a thousand hits already. We laughed until we cried. It was so much more comical hearing the news anchor’s voice instead of reading it.

While we were laughing a tall slender woman with short blonde hair and a pretty but lined face walked around the house. Her heels making a clicking noise on the patio stones.

“What’s so funny?” she asked in her smooth as honey southern drawl.

Dirk swiveled the computer screen around and pushed play. My Mom sat down and watched. Her lips quirked but she didn’t laugh out loud. “You got to admit baby, he’s got and eye for color.”

I was horrified but Dirk fell out of his chair laughing. “Gee thanks Mom. Nice to see you too.”

She got up and kissed the top of my head. “I missed you too much baby girl. I am glad your home. You hungry?”

“Yep.” Dirk chimed in before I could answer. “Come on sis, last one to the door is a dead opossum.”

I rolled my eyes but ran after him anyway.

Mom fixed us peanut butter and banana sandwiches, chips and sweet tea. We all stood in the kitchen talking and joking. It was so good to be home. It had always been like this. Just the three of us. Our dad had split on us when I was just over one year old and Dirk was three. Dirk had only a couple vague memories of him and I didn’t have any. Mom didn’t talk about him as a rule. Our Mom was and is a strong woman so we never felt like we were missing anything by not having a father. She came from a well to do southern family and was an only child. When Maw maw and Pawpaw Glick died before we were born Mom got all their wealth and property. She didn’t have to work anymore but she did anyway. She bought a southern cookin’ restaurant on the strip called The Lonely Pelican. Growing up the only family we had was each other and a mysterious Uncle on our dad’s side that visited us every year while until we hit eighteen. He was the only relative of our dads we had ever met or heard of. We never knew when he was coming, he just showed up. He stayed one night with us, gave us money from our father and left. The first few years we asked him about our dad endlessly and asked if there were any other Littletons we could meet. He never answered so we stopped asking. He never talked about himself or his family. He only wanted to know about us. How our schooling was getting on, etc. When we got older he would ask us when Mom was out or occupied how we were getting on with our ‘other’ studies. We didn’t know what he meant at first until he formed a three foot high tornado on the living room carpet. Dirk and I walked around the tornado in awe, plunging our hand or foot into it’s core. Dirk, being a wind worker also proudly showed him all he could do. I however told him that I could do nothing. He was surprised at this at first but kept telling me it would come in time. Dirk didn’t question me on why I wouldn’t make the earth quake for him, he already knew. My abnormality was not something I could hide in my room and work on perfecting like Dirk could. I had no control over my power and spent all my time learning to suppress it while Dirk spent his learning to prefect his. I was jealous of him and his ability growing up but it never made me bitter or resent him. I just wanted to know why I had to be the freakier one. Why couldn’t I just be normal freaky? Uncle Strep, as he told us to call him began to stare long and hard at me when I, year after year maintained I had no ability. I don’t think he ever believed me but at age fourteen he stopped asking. He said if it hadn’t happened by then it wasn’t going to.



The next morning Mom woke me up early and told me to get ready for work. I groaned and grumbled but did as I was told. Mom popped a few frozen waffles into the toaster for me. “Your brother is already gone to open up the Pelican. He gets there at five so the ladies can start making biscuits for the breakfast crowd. It’s Friday so we will be busy. You can take lunch at one till two then get off at four thirty. You will be waiting tables today so you can keep your tips plus a dollar an hour. We are leaving at seven.”

I looked at her cross-eyed. “That is way too many words this early in the morning. You have coffee somewhere?”

Mom sighed and poured me a cup. “Do you still take cream and sugar?”

“Do monkeys eat bananas?”

“Absolutely”. Mom replied passing me the mug. She dug some cream from the fridge and the sugar bowl from the counter and handed it to me. “I am really sorry about Sean. I thought he was a nice boy even if he was an actor.” Mom distrusted actors as a rule and now I was beginning to see her wisdom in it. “But sugar I can tell you why the relationship didn’t work out if you want to hear it.”

I groaned. “What Mom? Should I have cooked him three meals a day? Set his clothes out for him for work the next day? Rubbed his feet after a long day of prancing in front of a camera?”

“The cooking thing sure wouldn’t hurt. There is no quicker way to win a man’s heart than through his stomach.” Mom replied.

“Not any man I ever met. They only want one thing and it isn’t my crème brulee.”

“I said to a man’s heart not his pants baby. And there in lies the problem. As it is ordained by God, and your mother, you should find a man who wins your heart and you have won his and then you get married.” She put extra emphasis on the word. “You will never have a satisfying relationship if you keep shacking up with whatever guy you happen to like at the time. Trust me baby, it will never work out. If a man really loves you he will have the crème brulee first and wait for the rest until your married.”

“There are no men like that anymore Momma!” I said waving my hands in exasperation. “That is not the way the world works anymore.”

“And that is exactly why the world doesn’t work anymore. Everyone wants to do what they want to do, when they want to do it. No one cares about anyone else. Well I am not buying it and I hope and pray I have raised my babies to do the same. Now eat your dad gum waffles and lets go to work.” She strode out of the room, her heels clicking furiously.

I had heard this same speech from Mom several times and it usually ended like this. With arm waving and Mom reduced to her special brand of cursing. This time I must admit I felt finally mature enough to see it’s wisdom and thought God must be on to something, as he usually was. After this horrific blind sight to what Sean truly was I was beginning to realize that I needed to stop looking for love. I should just hang back, lay low and let love find me. Or something like that anyway.