Chapter 3 - Envy, Enemy, Enfeebled (Part 2)

One of the older waitresses prayed, "My Lord, may this child grow up to be a good human being later on." The other waiters, waitresses, and even the customers agreed, saying, "Amen." Judith was too busy eating her cake to notice.

When Judith finally left, Michael put up a notice on the bulletin board headed: "CHILDREN UNDER 10 YEARS ARE NOT TO BE ALLOWED." Underneath was a brief paragraph explaining who was allowed and why. All the waiters and waitresses sighed with relief upon seeing the notice—there would be no need to deal with such trouble anymore.

The media people were still outside. They had taken videos and pictures of what had happened inside the cafe. They came in, took photos of the notice board, and started questioning and interviewing Michael. The cafe was crowded with reporters.

Michael remained patient with each and every news reporter, answering all their questions and allowing them to take photos and videos. He knew there couldn’t be another bad reputation for the cafe—there had been enough already.

A few days later, a staff meeting was held, as it was every month. After listing the complaints from the staff and discussing fixes needed for the cafe, Michael stood up to make an announcement.

"I would like to make an announcement," he began. "Because of the amazing way Ms. Susan performed in front of the rather troubling little girl on her birthday and how wonderfully she controlled the situation and satisfied the customer’s needs, I would like to promote Ms. Susan Sullivan to the post of head waitress."

Michael held out the badge of head waitress along with a new uniform for Susan. She was shocked at hearing this announcement. I have only been here for 5 months! And already a head waitress! she thought.

She walked up to receive the tag and uniform while everyone else cheered and applauded.

Except for Oscar—he was dumbstruck by what he had just heard. My nightmares have come true! he thought. There can be nothing worse than this.

Susan scanned the room for the former head waitress’s reaction. To her surprise, she saw that the woman was smiling happily, applauding along with everyone else. There was no sign of sadness, anger, or hatred on her face—just happiness and relief.

When Susan returned to her seat, Rose leaned over and whispered to her, "I knew it! I knew you were going to be head waitress! He’s been planning this ever since he saw you deal with that child."

"How do you know that?" Susan whispered back.

"I heard him talking to his dad," Rose replied mischievously.

"Rose! You’re not supposed to—"

"I know, I know," Rose interrupted with a grin. "But sometimes I just can’t help it."

When the meeting ended, she came across the former head waitress who looked at her coolly and said, "Good luck, ma'am." And then she smiled cunningly and went. Susan thought in her head, 'Is being head waitress really that difficult? She really looks happy not being a head waitress. What is this all about?'

Susan told Melody about how she became head waitress and her suspicions about Oscar that night. Melody agreed about Oscar being the one who made her trip and fall. But there wasn't proof. That was all there was left. Proof. But she will never be able to find out any proof.

The CCTV camera company changed that day and they were only starting to fix their cameras on the ceilings that time. "What sad luck!" Melody exclaimed, Susan simply nodded.

As days passed by and turned into weeks, Susan noticed Oscar had started working for longer hours than he was supposed to. He worked day and night, from the time the cafe opened to when it closed. Sometimes he was the last person to leave the cafe, he would be the one who closed all the doors and shut off all the lights and locked the door to the cafe. And he would also be the one who opens the cafe and starts brewing the coffee for the first order of the day.

'He's desperate,' Susan thought, 'He's working really hard to get the recognition that he wants.' All of a sudden Susan felt pity for him, 'Poor thing, look at what all he's doing to get a position. And he's simply not getting it.' Susan decided to forgive him, if he had done anything at all to her, he was just trying his best to be the best he couldn't be.

That day, it began to rain unexpectedly. "The government is going to sue the weather department today." Everybody said the same thing. Schools closed early, the sky became dark, there was thunder and lightning. It soon became a heavy rain, mildly flooding the streets. Everybody else in the cafe had packed up and went back home. It was night time already but Susan and Oscar had not left.

The rain was still pouring heavily. Oscar saw her gazing out the window, watching the rain. 'Why is she not gone yet?' Oscar thought, annoyed. He cleaned the tables and kept things back in its place. Susan was still looking out the window. He got irritated and asked,

"Are you not gonna go back home?"

"Oh, I couldn't catch the bus."

He sighed, absolutely annoyed. "Where do you live?"

"Umm, I live near the grocery shop, Kezia."

"Hmm, get in my car." He pointed with his head to a minicar parked perfectly parallel to the cafe.

"Huh?" Susan got confused, 'He's asking me to get inside his car? He's gonna drop me off at my house? I thought he'd never do that, especially me.'

"Get in the car!" He said almost forcefully.

"It's raining out there!" She replied. "Do you have an umbrella? I don't." She asked.

He looked around. 'No umbrella anywhere. Oh god.' He went to the counter and picked up an old tray. "This will be the umbrella," he said.

"You're gonna use that as an umbrella?!" Susan shouted.

"There is no other choice. If you can stay here for the night, I'd be way more happy. And I think you will be too," he replied.

She stared at the tray for a few moments and then looked at Oscar. 'He looks like a child being forced to eat broccoli. He is showing his genuine feelings.' 'Amazing.'

They both walked towards the car with the tray above their heads. Oscar walked along with Susan to the passenger seat with the tray and opened the door for her. She was surprised to see this. She had never expected this from Oscar. She sat inside the car and he closed the door. He walked around the car, got into his drivers' seat and threw the tray in the back.

As soon as he started the car, classical music started playing from his radio. 'He listens to classical music? Seriously?' Susan snorted with laughter. She covered her mouth in order to cover up her smile.

"What?" Oscar questioned, Susan continued snorting and giggling. "What? Can't I listen to this type of music?"

"Nothing, nothing," Susan replied, grinning widely.

After a while, both of them were silent. The harmonious sound of the violins and cellos got mixed up with the pitter patter sound outside. The classical music went very well with the sound of raindrops.

They came to a stoplight. The rain had reduced to a drizzle. Susan was looking out the window, watching life outside. In the wet darkness, she saw people silently walking by with their raincoats and umbrellas. Some shops were still lit brightly, with people inside them. They must've got caught in the rain, Susan thought. Beside her, she heard a sigh.

She turned to see Oscar, his head leaning back on the head of the seat, his eyes closed. He must be really tired. She too put her head on the head of the seat. She watched the swipers go up and down and up and down and up until BEEP BEEP BEEEEP. Oscar woke up startled and started driving. "Why didn't you wake me up?" He asked Susan. "Not even I noticed." She answered, shrugging her shoulders. He sighed again.

By the time, the symphony playing in the background ended. She thought another symphony would start but a talk show started instead. An interview with the very Hollywood actor she spilled tea on. The interviewer began asking his questions. The middle aged actor talked about his new thriller movie and about his vacation to Maldives.

Then the interviewer asked, "We've all heard about your experiences with restaurants and we all go there only if you give a good review about it. It is very much known that you have a great taste in foodstuff. How about we talk about your experience in The Billionaire's cafe? It is renowned for its amazing signature coffee and its services. It always got a five star review from everyone. But you gave a straight zero. Why was that so? What happened there?"

And the actor explained the incident, exaggerating the facts and dramatizing the whole event. She listened to his criticisms about her. Careless, stupid, clumsy, annoying. She turned red with embarrassment. She started curling up in her seat. Oscar was smiling. Success. He said to himself. Half. Half success. But still, success.

He looked over at Susan who was covering her face with her hands. He grew more and more satisfied with life. She deserves it. Taking away my place. This is exactly what she needs. The talk show ended. Only 20 minutes of this? Oh, come on. I was enjoying it.

He was going on a roundabout. He missed the exit to the lane to Susan's house. "You missed the exit." Susan pointed it out. "I know." He replied. He was going round and round, missing the same exit, until he gave up and took the exit after that. "You're not supposed to—"

"I know"

He started looking for another way. He turned this way and that until he reached a dead end. "I should've just stayed at the cafe for the night. Why did I do this to myself?" Susan asked herself aloud. 

"Just shut up." Oscar said annoyed. 

"Who are you to tell me to shut up?" Susan questioned. 

"A man." Oscar replied, taking a reverse. 

"I can cut your salary, do you know that? I can file a complaint about you and you could even get fired. So be careful with your words there." Susan started threatening. Oscar just gave a nonchalant look and rolled his eyes. 

"Did you just roll your eyes on me?"

"Yes, I did just roll my eyes on you."

"You better respect me."

"You better respect ME. I'm a full 4 years older than you. I have more experience than you AND I'm way better than you."

"So you think you're better than me? Then prove it."

"I've been working for five years. I was the employee of the month for 14 months straight."

"Well, I'm the head waitress of the cafe and I've been working for only 5 months!"

"So what?"

"So what? There was no use of you working for five years. You still haven't been the head waiter while I have been working for only 5 months and I'm already the head waitress."

He became silent at once. They both knew she won. She smiled at him. A winner's smile. He looked ahead of him. He didn't want to face it.

He went back to the roundabout and got to the exit. Finally she'll be gone soon he said to himself. 

There was silence. "I was just wondering…" Susan broke the silence, "if you've been working for five years then that means you were 23 when you started working here, am I right?" 

"Right." 

She was thinking about what I said? Unbelievable. "Hmm…" she continued, "you've been to school?"

"Why're you asking, though?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to know."

"I even went to college."

Just like plankton in SpongeBob. She thought to herself and laughed inside.

"Then how did you end up here? You dropped out or you failed?"

"I finished college! I just changed my mind about the job I wanted."

"You wanted to be a waiter?"

"Yeah, it's simple, less hectic and stressful and kinda fun too."

"Ha! And your parents were fine with that?"

"No. They never talked to me after I became a waiter. They wanted me to become an interior designer. I went against it."

"Oh."

Then they both became quiet. After a while they arrived at Susan's place. He stopped in front of her flat.

She was about to get out when the angel on her right shoulder whispered to her, "don't forget the magic word!" The devil on her left shoulder whispered, "there's no need to. He's not gonna care anyway. He doesn't deserve it either."

"Say thank you! Maybe his hatred towards you might disappear." The angel whispered again. "Thank you." Susan mumbled.

"What was that?" Oscar asked playfully.

"Thank you." She said louder.

"Didn't get that." Oscar said.

"Thank you!" She shouted.

Oscar started laughing. She got out and slammed the door shut angrily. She went to her apartment and went to her room. She called Melody and told about what happened.

"He's so unpredictable. He's good to you once and then bad to you again." Melody remarked. "I don't know where my life is headed." Susan said.