"Hey, Earl, will you marry me?" the precocious voice comes from the door.
"If I'm still alive when you turn 18, baby girl," Earl answers happily. "Haven't seen you in here in awhile. Or was I just too high and forgot?"
The blonde girl laughs. "Nah, my Gammy was up visiting for a few weeks, and she woulda snitched to mom if I wasn't home."
Earl nods knowingly. "Well, some things done changed around here while you was gone."
"What?! This place never changes!" she says walking backwards through the diner. Almost to the counter, she turns around, only to stop abruptly as she finds an asian… person… a couple inches shorter than her, standing with hands on … their…. hips.
"Where your parents, little girl?" they ask.
Maya puts her own hands on her own hips. "Working and too busy to keep track of me. Where are yours, little girl?" she asks.
The person throws their hands up in the air, exclaiming "I am fully grown man!"
Maya cocks an eyebrow and purses her lips, running critical eyes up and down them. Mockingly, she says, "Yeah, alright." before stepping around and behind the counter to grab her usual cup of coffee.
"What are you doing?!" the high-pitched voice asks.
"Getting coffee, obviously," Maya says, setting the mug down at her usual spot at the end of the counter before pulling the spare order pad from under the counter and writing out her order on it. "It's not like I'm about to wait for Max to do it."
As if summoned, Max appears from the direction of the bathrooms. "Yeah, Maya knows how to get good service around here - do it her damn self." Picking up the half-cold food that's in the window, she throws out a playful "Hey girl." as she walks off to drop it off at a table.
"Hey girl hey," Maya responds just as playfully as she clips her order to the spinny thing. "Hey, Oleg, one Maya-special tuna melt!"
"Oh, hey Maya! I vill try. Might be harrd, de odder vaitress is so on tvop ov cleaning, deeshes sometimes gyet vashed hofvay trew myaking dem."
"What?" Maya says through the window incredulously. "A waitress that cleans? In this dump?"
"It's the meth." Max says, coming up beside Maya and pouring a couple mugs of coffee. "See?!" she says happily, tipping the now-empty carafe so Maya can see the bottom, which is now clear of the baked-on gunk that used to obscure the bottom of it.
Impressed, Maya says, "Nice." before moving to grab a cupcake for pre-dinner dessert with coffee.
"Max!" the as-yet-unnamed asian person exclaims. Maya wonders if they have any other volume setting. "Since when do we let customers serve themselves?!"
"Since always?" Max answers, as she starts making more coffee. "Anything that gets me out of doing work is encouraged."
"Who's the new kid, anyway?" Maya asks Max, nodding toward the asian person as she bites into her coconut cupcake.
Max purses her lips. "The Russian mob guy that used to use this place as his front got busted. Han here bought the place a couple weeks ago."
A guy at one of the tables by the window calls across the diner "Uh, excuse me, we've been waiting for our coffee for like 10 minutes!"
Not missing a beat, Maya shouts over her shoulder "This isn't Starbucks! You'll get it when you get it, and if you want it faster, come make it your damn self!"
With a proud look on her face, Max looks at Han and says, "And THAT is why Maya gets good service."
"But she served herself!" he exclaims confusedly.
"Exactly." the two girls state at the same time. Han throws his hands up and scurries back to the office.
*dingding* Oleg ring the bell. "One Maya special tuna melt."
"Wow, you kept meth-face from cleaning the plate away?" Max asks as Maya gets up to fetch her plate from the window.
Oleg shrugs. "I distract her by pyointing out ze refrridgerratorr cood yooz a gyood scrrub dyown. Shyood kyep her byezzy fyor at least tyen more minutes."
Maya finishes her pre-meal snack and starts eating while Max takes the prissy bitches their coffee. When Max gets back, she asks, "So, how was your grandma's visit? You scam lots of pocket candy outta her?"
"Pocket-candy is so 3-years-ago." the blonde girl says indulgently. "Try pocket money. I have her convinced that New York is so expensive that she gave me a 10 for the ice cream man every couple days. And that's not even counting what I pulled out of her actual pockets when I did laundry. Which reminds me…" Maya reaches into her jean pocket and pulls out a plastic baggie, which she tosses to Max. "Saved those for you, I know they're your favorite."
Unwadding the baggie, Max's face lights up. "Pocket pills!" there's almost 2 dozen assorted pills in at least 5 different shapes and colors. "Have I mentioned lately that you're the coolest 10-year-old since I was 10 years old?" she says excitedly, clutching the bag to her chest for a moment before tucking it away into her purse under the counter.
Just then, a too-skinny girl with matted, dirty hair of indeterminate reddish-blonde color busted out through the far swinging door from the dishwashing area, stopping abruptly and shaking as she stares with glassy eyes at nothing. At nearly-10, the diner is mostly deserted, it being past the dinner and late dinner rushes, but before the late rush as drunks start getting kicked out of bars and clubs and want greasy food. So, Max says, "Hey, Rhonda, why don't you go grab a fix before your dealer gets busy, then clean the bathrooms?"
"Okay!" Rhonda says, smiling and scurrying off. Maya and Max try not to wince at the missing teeth.
After dropping her empty plate in back at the dishwashing station and refilling her coffee, Maya gathers all the ketchups, and the salt, pepper, and sugar shakers, while Max brings out the big containers from the back, and they start filling them all up at the counter.
"Think she'll come back tonight?" Maya asks about Rhonda.
Max shrugs uncaringly. "Eh, it's not like she'd be helping with tables if she was here, and if she doesn't, I don't have to find shit to keep her busy. Though, she IS really good with the cleaning stuff."
Maya finishes filling the last salt shaker and moves onto the peppers. "Well, I can hang out to help until like 1:45. Mom's off at 2 tonight, so I have to be home by then to make sure it looks like I've been there since I left Riley's after dinner." Maya's mother, Katie, holds down multiple different waitress jobs, all on Manhattan island, to pay for the dingy little two-bedroom apartment about a block away from Max's place. Maya'd had the run of the neighborhood - and, from Max's understanding, the city - long before Max had moved here three and a half years ago.
For all she talks a big game about her shitty childhood, her wild-child times had been in a relatively safe smallish town in Rhode Island, and Max tries to keep an eye on Maya, worrying about a little girl more or less on her own in the city. "If it's not busy, I'll bully Han into closing a little early and we can walk home together."
They continue to chat through Max's side-work, filling and re-distributing everything, then rolling silverware and stacking it in a bucket, talking about school starting up for Maya soon. She's going into 4th grade, and not particularly looking forward to it. Not for any specific reason, but just because school. Earl and Oleg both assure her that she's still in the easy part of school, while Max reminisces about her 4th grade shenanigans. Rhonda doesn't show back up, and the drunks start coming in around 11:30. Maya and Max work together seamlessly, giving enough attitude to make it seem like they aren't doing their jobs while actually doing it pretty well, and splitting the tips. Han comes out from the office at one point and freaks out about Maya working, to which she responds that, if he'd like to pay her for it, she won't say no, but, otherwise, he should enjoy the free child labor, which he can't come up with an argument against.
At 1:40, Oleg puts the last burger of the night up, but there's too many people for Max to justify closing, so she goes in back.
"Hey, Oleg?" She asks, trying to sound uncaring.
"Yes, Max?" he asks, hanging up his apron.
"Can you do me a favor?" She asks. He automatically reaches for his waistband. "Not that." she insists, holding out a hand.
Looking confused, he asks, "Vat else cyan I hyelp vith?"
Smiling with amusement, she says, "I can't leave yet, there's too many people here, would you mind walking Maya home? It's only a couple blocks, but I don't like her being out on her own this late."
"Ah." he says, understanding. "Ov courze."
"Thanks, Oleg." Max says, grabbing a couple small plates and moving into the fridge to get cheesecake.
"Maya-boushka!" she hears Oleg proclaim as he exits kitchen. "Kitchen's closed. Let's ditch Max and you cyan buy me zome ov dat Polar Bear ize cream syanvich." Max briefly thinks she might have to re-evaluate how smart Oleg is. The closest place Klondike Bars are available is the 7-11 right across the street from Maya's building, which is a surprisingly sneaky way of both getting a kid to buy him ice cream and walking her home without making it obvious.
"Y'know, Earl, there's a lot of countries we could run away to and get married now." Maya says as she walks in the door.
"But you'd have to fight Max for me, sweetheart," he says, "And I honestly don't know who'd win that one."
Maya smiles indulgently, "Don't be silly, Earl, we'd just have to pick a country where you could have both of us." she says before walking further into the diner only to stop as she's confronted with a new waitress turning away from one of the back booths.
Girl and woman eye each other for a moment before the woman asks in a thick accent that sounds similar to Oleg's "Lookink for yeor modder, leetle gyerl?"
Maya only cocks an eyebrow before responding. "Wrong diner. I'm gonna guess $10 for a hand job, $15 for a blow job, and $20 for a quickie in the bathroom."
"Awwww." Max says from behind the counter. "I'm so proud. You can already guess a hooker's going rates in under a minute."
A guy at one of the tables that had been listening pulls a $20 out and holds it up, and Maya turns and moves to the counter to gather her coffee and cupcake dismissively while the new waitress hauls the guy back to the bathroom.
"How's school going? Beat anyone up yet?" Max asks. Maya'd been back at school for three weeks now, and at the diner less during the week. Max kinda missed her being there most days.
Maya shrugs. "Not yet. Had to get up in one kid's grill for teasing Farkle, though."
"That's the one that's super rich that you have to pretend you don't know is super rich, right?" Max confirms after thinking for a moment. Maya nods around a mouthful of red velvet. "Rich people name their babies stupid stuff. It's like they WANT them to get beat up."
Swallowing, Maya rolls her eyes. "Yeah, it's like Mr. and Mrs. Minkus did it JUST to make my life harder."
"WAIT." Max spits out, delighted. "His full name is FARKLE MINKUS?!"
Maya sighs. "Farkle GINSBURG Minkus." The older girl looks like she's just won the lottery. They are momentarily distracted by the waitress coming back out of the bathroom and swooping behind Max to grab the food that's been sitting in the window for a few minutes. "Anyway," Maya continues, "School's still just as boring as I remember. Mostly trying to stay awake and keep Riley from breaking her face tripping over her own feet."
"Max, why aren't you - oh, you're back," Han says as he comes walking out from the office. "I was hoping you were gone for good." He hadn't been appreciative of having a mini-Max around through the end of summer.
"Don't worry, little guy, now that school's back in session, you only have to deal with me on the weekends." Maya says condescendingly.
Now that school's back in session, Friday and Saturday night shifts are her mom's best tipping shifts; her only ones at Jerry's, worked overnight, the 24-hour diner being near a ton of bars and clubs around Madison Square Park, leaving Maya free to entertain herself any of those she isn't roped into staying at the Matthews. Katie rarely gets off work before dawn on the weekends. Weekdays are a different matter, with Katie working the breakfast/lunch shift at one diner from 7-1, Mon-Fri, and the dinner shift at another from 2-9, Sun-Thurs. Depending on how busy the dinner shift is, Maya will either sit at the diner after school with Katie or be sent over to the nearby Matthews' apartment until Katie gets off work. Either way, Maya has less freedom on weeknights.
"Thank God for that," Han says before deciding to give up the fight to get Max to at least pretend to work for the moment and turns to head back into the office.
Max and Maya chat around Maya eating her usual and Max occasionally working, catching up.
At one point, Maya points out, "You know, for as much as she disappears to service customers, whats-her-face is actually a pretty good waitress too." She's not wrong. Sviatlana rarely takes more than 5 minutes per quickie, and her tables never wait longer than Max's to get food or drinks.
Thinking about it, Max responds, "Yeah, you're right. Damnit. This bitch is making me look bad."
The next Saturday, Maya walks into the diner as usual. "We married yet, Earl?
"In some alternate dimension, sweetpea." he says idly, counting out some cash into the till.
Maya gets to the counter and stops short as a perky blonde in the ugly waitress uniform chirps "Hi! Welcome to the Williamsburg Diner!" at her.
Looking the older girl up and down critically, Maya guesses she's about Max's age, early 20's-ish. Looking at Max, Maya waves her hand vaguely up and down in the direction of chirpy girl. "What the hell is this?"
Max looks pleased at Maya's obvious disapproval. "This is Caroline."
Maya turns to Han, who is coming out of the office. "Couldn't you just get the meth-head back?! At least she was good at cleaning!"
"I could be good at cleaning!" the chirp-whine comes from the new girl.
"You're wearing pearls to work at a diner in Brooklyn." Maya rolls her eyes without looking at the girl, before meeting Max's gaze as she moves to get her coffee.
"What are you doing?" The clearly oblivious girl asks, watching the child move behind the counter.
"Obviously, accepting my Nobel Peace Prize," Maya quips, pouring the liquid into a mug.
"Maya-boushka!" Oleg leans halfway through the food window. "You neffer call, you neffer wrrrite, iz lyike you dyon't loffe uz annymorre."
Wrapping her hands around the mug, Maya says, "Oh, Oleg, I never loved you to begin with." with a soft smile. Oleg dramatically puts a hand to his chest and pretend-falls away from the window.
"How was school, pipsqueak?" Max asks, leaning casually against the counter.
"Wait, Max, is this your daughter?" Caroline asks, fake-whispering.
Eyes wide, Max looks at her and asks, "How old do you think I am?!"
"Maya is Mini-Max. Max's only somewhat less evil clone." Han explains before fleeing the scene.
Maya holds up her coffee in a toast. "Well, here's hoping my boobs look as great in a few years."
Max picks up the open beer she has under the counter and clinks it against Maya's mug. "They come in mighty handy, but I'm warning you now, there's a lotta back pain." They drink. "You never answered me about school."
"You don't care about school." Maya says.
"True." Max shrugs.
"Anyway, you never answered me about that." Maya nods vaguely at Caroline.
"That is standing right here and can answer for herself!" Caroline says indignantly, crossing her arms over her chest.
Maya ignores her studiously, staring at Max, who smirks. "Han didn't wash Sviatlana's uniform before giving it to Caroline, and Caroline thinks it's a mayonnaise stain."
Tired of being made fun of, Caroline snaps, "Well, Max found out her boyfriend was cheating on her and had to take me in to pay her rent."
Max's face immediately goes blank as she grabs waters for a table that came in and sat behind Maya and walks off. Maya's face falls into a glare that Caroline finds surprisingly vicious on a 10 or 11 year old. "Oleg! Make my tuna melt To Go tonight!" she calls over her shoulder before moving to sit at the counter. Caroline, unsure what to do, stands awkwardly until Maya snipes, "Hey, miss 'I'm obviously a professional waitress', there's dirty dishes sitting on empty tables. If you clear them and wipe down the tables, that's called bussing. It's part of your duties. You should maybe go do that."
"You think you know my job better than I do?" Caroline asks, still copping an attitude.
*dingding* "She does." Oleg says. "Peekup, tyable 7." Looking over to Maya at the counter, he continues, "Ay'll haff yore tyoona myelt up in a fyew myinutes, Maya-boushka."
Maya again looks at Caroline, this time with a tiny, insincere smile. "Table 7 is against the wall, closest to the door."
Later, Maya is long gone, Max is still ignoring Caroline, and Caroline feels like crap. At one point, she goes to give Earl a couple checks and ends up with a reality check for her.
"Caroline, you think you're the first lost little kitten Max has taken under her wing? She's been lookin' after Maya for a looong time now, and if you can't deal with them pokin' fun at ya, then you should be findin' somewhere new to hang them pearls o' yours. Throwin' somethin' hurtful in Max's face when she done nothin' but help you ain't gonna accomplish anythin' but makin' you enemies. An' girl, the LAST thing you need right now is MORE ENEMIES."
"But, Earl -" Caroline starts to defend her actions, despite knowing she shouldn't have brought up Max's now-ex boyfriend.
Earl shakes his head firmly. "No, do not 'but, Earl' me. You're the one likes to brag about that fancy degree you got, so put them brains in ya head to use and don't piss on the people that are helpin' ya." He hands her the change for one of the checks and waves her off.
After some thought and looking at her meager tips, Caroline is forced to admit that the little girl, Maya, had had a point. Caroline's only made $7 in tips in 5 hours. Knowing already that words aren't going to get Max's attention, Caroline tells Earl she's taking a break before the next rush and runs to the corner store, using a couple of her precious dollars to buy a jumbo Snickers bar. Back at the diner, before she can eat it, she walks up to Max and shoves it in the other girl's hand.
"What's this for?" Max asks, though it sounds like she already knows.
"You really going to make me say it?" Caroline asks.
Max looks at her like she's stupid. "Of course I am."
Caroline rolls her eyes, sighing dramatically. "I'm sorry I threw him cheating on you in your face when you have been nice enough to take me in off the street."
Max purses her lips and stuffs the giant candy bar in her apron. "I forgive you, but Maya probably won't. She's kinda great like that."
Caroline smiles tentatively. "But… we're okay?"
Max shrugs a little, smiling as well. "Yeah, we're okay."
Since that first night she'd met Caroline, Maya rarely comes in for more than a few minutes anymore, so Max is happy when the girl takes off her coat and settles in with a cup of coffee a few days before Christmas.
"Wassup, mini-me?" Max asks, dumping some dishes in the bin. "Not hangin' out with the friends over break?"
"Wait, Maya actually has friends?" Caroline says snottily as she walks by to put in an order. She and Maya still just do not get along, despite her and Max making up.
Ignoring her, Maya answers Max. "They're off doing rich people stuff for Christmas break. I'm on my own until after New Years."
Turning around after spinning the order thingy in so Oleg sees, Caroline exclaims, "OK, friends I can ALMOST see, but RICH friends? NO WAY."
"Way." Max says, defending the younger girl. "At least one of them I know HAS to be rich, just from the name. It's too weird to be poor."
Caroline rolls her eyes. "That is SUCH a stereotype. Just because it's a weird name does NOT mean they are rich."
"Farkle Ginsburg Minkus." Maya says knowingly.
This pulls the older blonde girl up short. "As in Minkus International?"
Maya bobs her head as if Caroline has stated the obvious. "And the Minkus Tower in the Upper East Side. Where they live in the penthouse, with a view of Central Park."
"And you're trying to tell me you KNOW the Minkuses?" Caroline is incredulous.
Maya shrugs nonchalantly. "We call them Minkii when there's more than one. Farkle's been one of my two best friends since 1st grade. Riley's the other one; her parents and Farkle's dad have known each other since THEY were in 1st grade back in Philly, though they apparently weren't exactly friends back then. More like frenemies, from what they say."
Caroline tries to shrug it off. "Well, they're new money, so we never really associated with them."
Smirking, Maya says, "Well, new or old, at least they have money, and didn't rip anyone else off to get it." Caroline looks down and busies herself rolling silverware, not seeing when Max gives Maya a chiding look, which Maya does nothing but shrug at. Caroline had started it, after all, and a 23-year-old starting fights with an almost-11-year-old is going to get what she gets.
Trying to get back on topic, Max asks Maya, "So, what are they off doing, anyway?"
"Riley and family are at her grandparent's house in Philadelphia. The Minkii do destination Christmases. I think they are in like Norway or something this year so the twins can see reindeer." Maya answers.
"Your mom working?" Max asks, careful to keep her voice even and free of any pity as she refills Maya's coffee as well as her own.
Instead of answering, Maya asks, "What are the chances of you making this coffee Irish for me?"
Max grins. "Only if I get one too!" she says as she moves over to the little bar off to the side.
"Max!" Caroline exclaims as Max splashes some whiskey into Maya's cup before turning the bottle to her own mug.
"Relax," Max says placatingly. Splashing some Bailey's into Maya's cup as well. "It's barely any!"
"She has a point. She barely put a few drops in mine." Maya says, stirring her coffee before taking a sip. "I put more in at home."
"YOU'RE A KID! YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO HAVE ANY!" Caroline keeps freaking out. "What your mother lets you do at home is beside the point!"
Maya chuckles. " haha… 'let's me do'... As if my mother is ever home to have any idea what the fuck I do."
"Well your father, then," Caroline snips.
Maya's face goes stony. Blankly, she says, "You're pretty much always on thin ice with me anyway, you spoiled little princess. If you don't want this cup of hot coffee in your face, I'd strongly recommend shutting your trap about things you do NOT understand."
Caroline's eyebrow cocks and she opens her mouth to respond. Before any sound can come out, Max grabs her arm and yanks her through the door back through the kitchen and into the walk-in. "What the hell, Max?" she asks, pulling her arm from the surprisingly tight grasp.
"Look," Max says seriously. "Her parents are even more of a sore subject than yours are, okay? Yes, I gave her a splash of alcohol in her coffee, but it was barely enough to give it a little flavor. She and I have an understanding that if she ever wants to do illegal shit, she comes to me so I can make sure she's safe about it. The Irish coffee thing is like, a tell, or something. A way for her to let me know that she's upset and tempted to do bad shit."
"So you just give her alcohol?!" Caroline's still indignant.
Max rolls her eyes. "I buy her a shitty bottle of wine that's like 4% alcohol, then water it down even more by mixing it with fruit punch, and we drink it while sitting around and watching youtube. She doesn't get drunk by any stretch of anyone's imagination. At least not when I buy for her, she might actually be serious about drinking at home, she's a pretty good thief, I need to talk to her about that. But it relaxes her, and distracts her from whatever she's upset about. She's almost 11, she's been basically raising herself since she was 4. She's me, 11 years ago. Except I didn't have someone around who understood."
There's a moment of silence as Caroline absorbs all that before she slumps a little in acceptance. "Is she really that bad off? I thought she was just a mouthy brat."
Max sighs. "That's because you still think like a rich person." Max turns, gathering herself before deciding to tell some basics. "Maya's dad walked out on her and her mom years ago. Her mom works three jobs to pay rent. Maya has been pretty much taking care of herself since preschool."
Caroline now officially feels bad. "And I've barely been doing it for a few months." she says, self-pityingly.
"And you've pretty much been a bitch to her the whole time." Max says. When Caroline looks offended, she goes, "Are you really gonna argue that?"
Caroline concedes the point. "Should I apologize."
"No!" Max says firmly. "She'd hate you even more. Just stop being so condescending." With this, she throws the door to the walk in open and makes her way back out, noticing that Maya is now up waiting the tables they've been neglecting. "See, she's even a better waitress than both of us." she points out to her roommate.
"Yeah, she is." Oleg chimes in as he flips something on the grill.
New Years Eve, the diner is surprisingly busy, and Maya is helping Max wait tables, since Caroline kept getting shit wrong, so she had been relegated to just the 4 counter seats and keeping the coffee pot full and silverware rolled, which she couldn't possibly get confused by.
When the girls sit at a booth to count their tips, Han even hands an extra $20 to Maya since she's not getting any wages, saying, "I do not like you, but I know if we had been depending on only Max and Caroline tonight, we would have lost a lot of customers."
Trying to make friendly conversation, Caroline asks Maya, "So, gonna buy yourself something nice?"
Maya's face remains neutral as she continues counting her singles into piles of 10 to trade into larger bills with Earl. "Well, I think this, plus the Christmas money my Gammy sent me, might be enough to get the power turned back on, which will be nice, so, I guess."
Caroline pauses briefly, looking up to meet Max's eyes. Max just shakes her head with a warning look, telling her silently to let it go.
Later, Max is trying to figure out how to best approach it without upsetting Maya, when Maya solves that problem for her.
"I'm taking care of it. More than just putting my own money towards the bill."
"Okay. Let me know if I can do anything." Max tells the girl as they reach the front of her building, waiting until Maya's inside before calling "Happy birthday, kid." and turning to head a block over to her own apartment.
Maya pauses in the hallway, listening to make sure Riley and Auggie are both still in the living room watching tv. She'd slipped away pretending she needed to go to the bathroom. Instead, she knocks on the Matthews' home office door.
"Come in." is the answer she hears from inside.
Maya slips inside, closing the door gently behind her, finding Mr. and Mrs. Matthews each at their own desks working to catch up after being gone for the holidays.
"Maya," Mr. Matthews sounds a little surprised as he turns away from the papers he's grading. "What do you need, sweetie?" Mrs. Matthews hadn't paused in her tapping at her laptop, and Maya purses her lips looking from Mr. Matthews over to her. Sensing Maya's need for his wife, as well as her hesitation to interrupt something important, he does the deed for her. "Topanga."
It takes a second for Mrs. Matthews to pull out of her concentration and look around. "Oh, hi, honey. Can we help you with something?" Maya unfocuses her eyes, unable to bear the kindness in theirs as she asks for help.
Swinging her backpack off her shoulder, having grabbed it from the kitchen as she came in, she opens it, rifling for the paperwork she'd brought from home while she quietly starts explaining. "The power was off most of last month. I used my Christmas money from Gammy to turn it back on a few days ago." She doesn't mention pickpocketing or working at the diner. Seeing Cory open his mouth, knowing he's about to say she should have told them sooner so they could've helped then, she pulls out the papers and thrusts them towards Topanga. "It's because my father hasn't been paying child support. He's always missed a month here and there, which wasn't a huge deal, but he hasn't sent anything since last June." Topanga takes the paperwork, finding it to be the the legal agreement of how much Kermit had been ordered to pay monthly in the divorce ruling, and Katie's bank statements since June, showing no deposits for child support from July onward. "I know you do law with business and stuff, but…."
"Of course, sweetheart," Topanga says. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"
Maya shrugs, looking down at her feet as she zips her backpack back up and hooks a strap back over her shoulder. "Mom kept saying she'd take care of it."
Evenly, Topanga tells her, "I'll start on the paperwork tomorrow. I just need to talk to one of my coworkers and confirm a couple steps I need to take. It's been awhile since I have done this type of filing."
"Thank you." Maya says, as quietly as everything else has been, before quickly turning and hurrying out of the room, shutting the door behind her as softly as when she'd come in.
Cory stares at the closed door in contemplation as Topanga drops the pile of papers on her desk, removing her reading glasses to rub her eyes through a tired sigh.
"The power was off for most of the month and she used her Christmas money to turn it back on before coming to us for help." Cory sounds defeated as he rehashes the situation.
Topanga twists in her chair and reaches a hand over to rub his shoulder. "You know how independent she is."
Despairingly, he says, "She's barely 11, and she knew exactly what paperwork you'd need to sue him for back child support!"
"Well, to be fair, she DOES know how to use Google. She could've easily looked it up at the school library before break, or even yesterday at lunch or recess."
Cory nods, conceding that point. School computers only block inappropriate content and social media sites, after all. Legal references would've been perfectly fine, if slightly odd for an elementary school. "I just wish she'd let us take care of her." he sighs out.
Topanga matches his sigh. "Well, unfortunately, Katie and Kermit taught her a long time ago that the only person Maya can rely on is Maya. All we can do is be here for these times when she reaches a roadblock that she can't bulldoze down on her own, and hope she eventually learns she can come to us sooner. At least she trusts us enough to come to us at all, Cor. Even if it's as a last resort."
"Kermit? His name is KERMIT?" It's Cory's turn to twist around, reaching past his wife and grabbing the paperwork from where Topanga'd dropped it on her desk and looking. Sure enough, he finds Maya's father's name is Kermit Hart. Unsure whether to be amused or disgusted, he puts the papers back down and turns back to his grading. "I know there's probably nothing I can do, but…."
"I'll keep you in the loop." Topanga assures him as she goes back to her own work.
"I cannot believe you went to them, Maya Penelope!" Katie rants at her daughter as they storm into their little apartment. "I told you I would take care of it!"
"You said that for 6 months, mom! The power was off for almost all of December, and I had to use my Christmas money from Gammy to get it back on! I know you don't care about it being off, because you're never here, but what did you really expect me to do? Just keep taking freezing showers? Eat cold soup straight from the can for every single meal? Face it, mom, we need the child support, and you weren't doing shit to make him start paying it again! So I asked for help from someone who would do something!" Maya half-yells back.
Katie stops abruptly and spins on her heel, shoving her finger into her daughter's face. "DO NOT USE THAT LANGUAGE WITH ME!"
Maya scoffs. "Or what? You'll ground me? And who's gonna enforce that? The Easter bunny?"
The finger swings out to point toward the hallway. "GO TO YOUR ROOM!"
"I'm stopping to pee on my way." Maya says calmly, walking that direction.
"FINE!" Katie yells. Once she hears the bathroom door close, she goes to the kitchen, finding a bottle of whiskey she doesn't remember buying in one of the cupboards. Thinking it must've just been there so long she forgot - Maya isn't entirely wrong about how little Katie is here, she rarely does more than stop in to sleep and shower, even doing her laundry between shifts at laundromats - Katie doesn't question it and pours herself a couple fingers before collapsing on the couch, thinking about the court hearing Topanga had surprised her with that afternoon.
Topanga had shown up near the end of Katie's morning shift that Friday, carrying a simple dress, and Katie had thought she was just there for lunch after picking up dry cleaning. Oh, how wrong she'd been. Topanga had informed Katie's boss that Katie needed to leave a little early for a court appointment and ushered Katie into the ladies room pushing her into a stall with the dress and ordering her to change. When Katie had emerged, Topanga had quickly twisted Katie's hair up and thrown a little makeup on her, pulling a pair of ballet flats from her purse and motioning for Katie to change shoes as well, packing everything away in the beat-up backpack that goes everywhere with Katie - 3 uniforms and extra socks and underwear required to make it through the week.
On their way out of the diner, Topanga had gotten a call about a case that had kept her occupied through hailing a cab - a luxury Katie can't remember the last time she could afford - and walking into the courthouse. Katie hadn't actually found out what was going on until their case was called up by the the bailiff and Topanga ushered her forward from their place on the benches where they'd been waiting.
"Katie Hart vs. Kermit Hart!" called the bored-sounding bailiff.
Katie's head whipped toward Topanga, but the other woman just shooed her out into the aisle and up through the little gate, before pulling Katie to sit at one of the tables, another guy in a cheap-looking suit following them and settling at the other table.
The judge, an elderly-looking woman, spoke at this point. "Alright, Ms. Hart, it looks like you have filed for back child support unpaid for 6 months and requested a review with regard to the amount to be paid monthly by Mr. Hart, is that correct?"
"Topanga Matthews representing Katie Hart, Your Honor. That is correct." Topanga at this point removed a stack of supporting paperwork from her bag to hand off to the bailiff. "I have bank statements showing that no child support was received for the months of July through December - also, so far, not in January - and copies of Mr. Hart's tax returns showing that he began claiming a significantly higher income beginning four years ago, but the child support he is responsible for paying is still set at his income level from seven years ago. For convenience, I've also included information and backup from three independent market research companies regarding current cost of living in the area Mr. Hart currently resides."
The judge took the papers from the bailiff and looked them over, asking, "Very thorough. And what does Mr. Hart have to say for himself?"
The other man in the ill-fitting suit spoke up. "David Campbell, representing Mr. Hart, Your Honor. Mr. Hart lives and works in Oklahoma and was unable to be present on short notice. He claims that the support payments were set up to be automatic and their stoppage was a clerical error on the part of his employer."
"And he just didn't notice his pay going up or bother looking at his pay stub for 6 months?" Topanga asked incredulously, not even bringing up the sporadic missing payments before this.
The other lawyer looked equal parts annoyed and tired. "I haven't had time to do an in-depth inquiry."
"Well," the judge said, still leafing through the paperwork from Topanga, "Without Mr. Hart present to speak, or any reasonable explanation, and with the complication of this now being an inter-state matter, it will take some time making a determination on the updated amount of child support. However, Mr. Campbell, you can inform your client that he has 30 days to pay what he currently owes Ms. Hart before he will begin incurring the penalties set forth in the original determination, and, for his sake, I hope his January payment doesn't get put on that tab." she said, looking over her paperwork and glasses at the other man, who nodded, writing a note. She switched her gaze to Topanga and Katie. "I need to do some review and make calculations; please count on having an updated support determination by the end of February, to be effective no later than April."
"Thank you, Your Honor," Topanga replied, snapping her bag shut as the judge banged her gavel, and both lawyers stood, Katie getting pulled up after Topanga to exit. The lawyers traded cards out in the hall while Katie silently fumed.
When they finally exited the courthouse, Katie asked, "What the hell?!"
Topanga turned to Katie, hand on her hip, lips pursed. "I know you work hard, Katie, but when Maya comes to me with paperwork asking for help because the power's been off for weeks in the middle of winter and she had to use her pocket money to get it back on because he isn't paying child support and you aren't doing anything about it, I am damn well going to intervene. You should have done this months ago."
Back on her couch, Katie drinks her whiskey, knowing she shouldn't be mad at Maya for going to Topanga, or at Topanga for essentially doing everything for her. Knocking back the last sip, she looks at the clock on their old VCR and notes that she needs to get moving, or she'll be late for work. There might be a veritable windfall on the way in the form of 7 months of child support, but it isn't here yet, and she can't afford to miss it, so she rinses out here glass, quickly guzzling two full glasses of water before going to change into the uniform for Jerry's, hoping for a busy night to keep her brain occupied.