"Of course! We could have taken it home! That would have been so much easier!" Efi face-palmed as she realized they should have taken the TV back to Aunt Orisa's house in order to allow Efi free reign of it.
Efi munched on some kind of off-brand cereal called "Lucio's". It seemed to be similar to Fruit Loops but they were all either green or yellow or frog-shaped. She wasn't complaining however as they were surprisingly tasty.
She bit into another spoonful aggressively, frustrated with herself for forgetting to ask to take the broken television to the garage. Orisa, who jumped at her outburst, resumed her oatmeal breakfast and offered, "I could just go tomorrow and bring it back."
Efi looked up hopefully, "Really? That would be great!"
"Yes, of course," Orisa swallowed a shallow spoonful of oatmeal, then continued, "We are going to the appliance shop at one, by the way."
"Yay!"
The two ladies ate the rest of their breakfast in companionable silence. Orisa finished her meal first, stood, and strode to the dishwasher to place her dirty dishes inside. Then she went off to do whatever chore she had scheduled for herself. Probably laundry. However, Efi knew it was only a matter of time until she had chores of her own. She pursed her lips; she hated chores.
Efi crunched on the last piece of frog-shaped corn meal and drank the slightly green milk straight from the bowl. Following her aunt's example, she placed her dishes in the dishwasher and strode out of the room. She traveled down the shadowy hallway to the sun room, where her laptop slept on the coffee table. Plopping herself on the plushy couch, Efi grabbed her laptop onto her lap and waited as it woke up. Once it did and she punched in the password, she immediately checked her email for any new messages.
There were two, the first being the one she had already read when she first came into the country, just to assure her parents that she was fine and in the care of Aunt Orisa. The second was also from her parents. Opening it, she began to read.
Hi sweetheart! Are you doing fine? We hope you are. Are you and Aunt Orisa getting along? Your mother said that she and Orisa always got into fights when they were little, but that's besides the point. Just promise you will be good. Also, we finally fixed the window! Hurray!
All our love, Mama and Dad
This email was definitely shorter than the last, she would have guessed they were in a rush. For what? She had no clue.
Efi smiled at the sweet email and replied to it, recounting her past three days in the little town, mostly about her day at the police station. She also mentioned her suspicions of the cat that was lurking somewhere in the neighborhood. They would laugh at that. Yeah, they would.
After she sent the email, she switched to Youtube to watch whatever garbage was in the recommended box.
Before she knew it, Orisa walked into the room saying that it was the agreed time to make the trip to the appliance shop. Efi looked at the time on her computer; it read 1:00. Huh, she spent four hours watching cute animal videos.
Locking the door behind her, Orisa lead the way to the punch buggy, this time unlocking the doors, and the duo climbed in once again for the drive into town. Not without the car making a sickening pa-pa-pa-klunk.
They pulled out of the driveway, and traveled down Hanamura Drive and onto Hollywood Lane with the shops and the gardens passing by. Once on the end of the street, instead of turning onto Route 66, they pulled into the parking lot of the appliance shop. It was a small building, only being about 18 feet tall, and the front was mostly made up of big windows that shown off the many appliances in stock inside, such as TVs. Efi couldn't help but smile. She always felt comfortable in these types of places.
Orisa parked into an empty slot, cut off the ignition, and they both climbed out of the car. Orisa locked the car doors and they walked to the front glass door. Opening it, they were immediately greeted with a cold blast of air.
"Hello, how may I help you," a Hispanic voice sounded with a bored and rehearsed tone. Efi turned to see a lady propping her elbow on the counter, resting her cheek on her nail-polished fist. The left side of her head was shaved while the rest of her hair flopped down the right, the ending half highlighted in light purple. Purple lipstick and eye shadow adorned her lips and eyelids. Unfortunately, a beige collared shirt and khakis were what she wore, not matching her hair and face one bit.
Efi all but skipped to the counter and addressed the cashier, "Hi, do you have any parts for TVs?"
The cashier slightly raised a brow and her lip twitched upward, hiding her interest in what a kid would want with TV parts. She straightened her back and waved in hand for Efi to follow her as she said, "Sure, follow me."
Efi followed the cashier and Orisa followed her as the cashier led them through the pale yellow lit store until they came to an aisle filled to the brim TV parts. Wires, and plugs, and screens, oh my. Each shelf packed with each! Wires in so many colors! And so many remotes to choose from. So many buttons! Not to mention that there were completed TVs in display at the other end, but that was besides the point.
This was an Efi candy store.
Efi walked down the aisle with a dazzled expression. Where to start? Oh, right! She made a list the night before. Fumbling with her pocket, Efi pulled out her neatly folded notebook paper and searched for the first item; USB wires.
The employee turned to Orisa with a smirk on her face and inquired, "So, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, my niece is fixing a TV."
The purple-haired employee raised her eyebrows in surprise, but nothing else changed in her facial expression. "Seems strange that a kid is fixing a TV all by herself," she commented.
"I'm really smart!" Efi called as she stuffed four packs of wires and two packs of plugs into her arms.
"There was a broken TV at the police station and she wanted to fix it," Orisa clarified to the employee.
"Oh, I knew I recognized you. You're an officer, aren't you?"
"Yes, Officer Orisa," she smiled.
"Hmm, so why is your niece in town with you?" the employee asked. Something about her tone did not feel quite right, though.
"She's staying with me while her parents are still trying to move," Orisa answered.
The employee just raised one eyebrow this time, with a smirk still on her face, and questioned, "Why does she have to stay with you? Why can't she stay with her parents?"
"Um, just financial troubles," Orisa explained somewhat hesitatingly.
"Hey, do you have any, ummmmm," Efi narrowed her eyes at her notebook paper list to look for the missing item while other items slipped in her grasp, "microchips?"
Efi's interruption seemed to have ended their conversation, and the employee responded, "Yeah, we keep them in a box at the counter." She muttered something else under her breath, but Efi could not make it out.
They walked back to the counter and Efi and Orisa waited as the purple-haired employee bent down and came back up to reveal a cardboard box filled with green, yellow, and gray microchips. Efi gaped and stared helplessly at the box as the employee dropped it onto the counter. Then she groaned. It would take ages to find the right one! What kind of disorganized mess is this?
Orisa seemed to come to the rescue though and said, "Maybe we can come back later when you've finished most of the TV, Efi?"
Efi pouted sadly and muttered, "Okay." She placed her other items on the counter to be scanned and bought while Aunt Orisa fumbled in her purse for her credit card.
Once all of the TV needs were bought and paid for, Efi glanced at the name tag of the employee for she never got her name. On the small, black piece of plastic, though, wasn't exactly a name.
Sombra? What kind of name was that?
They left the store and entered the car once again with the plastic bag of wires and plugs settled on Efi's lap. Orisa turned the key in the ignition and the engine made a ka-ka-ka sound, but it didn't start. She tried again, but it still refused to start. "Huh, that's strange," she commented before turning it once more. Suddenly, an eardrum-cracking boom erupted from the engine where a white smoke now wafted from under the hood.
"Get out of the car!" Orisa commanded, though it was not needed as Efi was already jumping out.
Efi scrambled a fair distance away as Orisa swiftly opened the hood. More wispy smoke sprung from the engine and blinded her in its wake. Orisa quickly stepped back while waving an arm to ward off the smoke and coughed.
Orisa whipped out her flip phone and dialed a series of numbers before lifting the phone to her ear and spoke, "Hello? Yes, my car is smoking from the hood. No, not the-"The back of the car bucked up and the white smoke was now coming from the tailpipe, too, "Make that a yes, smoke is coming from the tailpipe also. . . . Oh, yes, I am in front of the-Efi, stay away from the car!" Efi, with the bag of wires and plugs cradled in her arms, was slowly creeping up to the hood to see the damage, but quickly backtracked. "Sorry, we are in front of the appliance shop," Orisa paused as she let the person at the other end speak. "Yes, thank you."
She flicked her phone off and turned back to her beloved punch buggy. "Oh, this is probably going to cost a hundred dollars! How am I supposed to go to work? I could drive a police car, but that could pose some problems. . . ." Orisa continued to mumble to herself as Efi decided to sit on the curb and shuffle through her bag just to waste time.
"Hey, Aunt Orisa, how are we going to get back?" Efi asked about a minute later.
Orisa looked up from her staring at the pavement and answered with some hesitation, "I suppose we are going to have to walk."
Efi groaned and put her head on top of her knees. It really wasn't that much of a burden, it was less than a quarter mile, but it was still an annoyance. The ability to travel by car was simply easier on the feet.
They waited for about five more minutes before a rusting white tow truck rounded the corner and bumped into the parking lot. By now, the car had mostly stopped smoking if not for a tiny wisp that looked like it belonged over a pot of spaghetti was coming from the tailpipe and engine.
The truck parked itself a few spots down and stopped humming as the ignition was switched off. The sound of a door opening and slamming was heard from the other side and the shortest man Efi as ever seen walked around the hood. The short, fat man had a beard separated into two plaits and wore boots that clunked with each step, but the thing that stood out the most was his left arm. Or lack there of. Instead of a normal, fleshy arm was a giant prosthetic that ended in a big claw.
Efi couldn't help but stare as the man walked up to her aunt and questioned in a thick Swedish accent, "So, yer the one with the broken car, huh?"
Orisa nodded. "Yes, are you going to have to take it back?"
"Well, I'll have to look at it first," the short man quipped irritably. He clunked to the hood and peered in. "Hmmm, well, it looks as if . . ." the man muttered to himself and kept muttering under his breath as he leaned in for a closer look. Over a span of a few minutes, he trifled about the engine and once at the tailpipe before concluding, "Yep, gonna have to take it back to the shop."
"How long will it take?" Orisa asked nervously.
"A couple days, at worst a week," the man guessed.
"Oh, alright, thank you, mister . . ."
"Torbjorn Lindholm."
"Thank you, Mr. Lindholm. Oh, and here. You will need my phone number to let you have me know when it's done," Orisa took out a pen and paper from her purse and scribbled down the needed numbers and gave it to the man.
The man known as Torbjorn only tutted as he grabbed the paper and walked back to his truck, drove it to the back of the yellowish-green punch buggy, got out once again to hook the car to the truck, and drove away with the sad, little car being pulled behind it.
Efi turned to her aunt. "He didn't offer us a ride."
"He probably just forgot."
"Yeah, forgot on purpose."
The duo then began their annoying trek back to Aunt Orisa's house.
Hey, hey, it's Angelfishcake once again!
Yay, I introduced two more characters! Yeah, MammothKing, you were right about Torbjorn being a mechanic, but I bet you weren't expecting Sombra to work at the appliance store! Haha, I love surprises!
I can't help but feel like I went too fast with this chapter. I did not expect Sombra to be so hard to write. Oh, I don't really plan on having each chapter be weekly, just post the chapter when it gets done. I think, at worst, you'd have to wait a month for the next chapter.
I'm gonna be away for a couple of days, so it might be a bit of a while for the next chapter.
And as for the war of police and criminals, RRS-15, you'll have to wait and see.
Alright, please review and stay creative.
