Betty's First Trip To Rome – The Return - Chapter 10 Always Pack a Black and White Cookie
Gio gulped down his seventh double espresso of the morning, desperately fighting a persistent fatigue from too many long workdays, and picked up a plate with each hand, a pair of breakfast wraps for the young couple at a table by the window. Hearing the door chime, he looked up and saw Betty coming into the deli. It was well before lunch time, earlier than normal for her to come in.
"There she is … the fiancé," sang Gio brightly.
Betty waved her hand to Gio, "I have something to tell you!"
She waved her left hand, a bare hand, a naked finger! Gio gasped, startled. Was his exhausted brain playing tricks on him? No, the elegant gold and diamond ring, a custom made copy of his grandmother's ring, the one he'd given Betty at the romantic viewpoint overlooking the Tuscan valley, was not on her finger. But it was always there! Why wasn't it there? Was that what she was going to tell him? He felt a knife pierce his chest. He looked down and saw the plates he'd been holding falling to the floor, smashing into pieces, his ears ringing from the sound of rushing blood. How could his heart beat when cut in two?
Gio escaped to the back room, his world tilting, off balance, grabbing a broom for support. He forced himself to think rationally, considering the possibilities. Did she take off the ring to end the engagement? Betty leaves him! A woeful life, a future with no Betty, flashed through his mind. Did she lose the ring? Relief, joy, Betty loves him! The ring is lost, but no matter, it's replaceable.
Sweeping up the debris, Gio's thoughts swung back and forth between the alternatives - she leaves him, she loves him, she leaves him, she loves him - as though he was pulling petals off a daisy.
When done remaking the discarded wraps, he immediately went to Betty, who stood by the drink cooler.
Opening the cooler door and getting out a drink, Betty was acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Yet, when seeing Gio approach her, she held up her hands and said, "Don't kiss me!"
She leaves me. Stricken, Gio studied Betty's face intently, desperately wondering what had gone wrong.
"I've got a sore throat," explained Betty, noticing Gio's distress. "Don't kiss me or you'll get a cold."
"Oh," croaked Gio, still confused about the missing ring. He took her hand, holding it in his palm, stroking the ringless finger, on tenterhooks, "Why no ring?"
"I took it off," replied Betty. "I'm going to Regal Park and Fiona said I shouldn't wear it there so I put it in my purse where it's safe." Betty patted her purse reassuringly.
She loves me. Recovering his senses, Gio said, "I don't care about catching a cold, I want to kiss you."
"That's sweet, but be sensible, Gio!" said Betty, flattered, "You can't work in the deli or the hotel kitchen with a cold. Look, you have customers, take care of them, then I'll tell you my news."
Betty sat on a stool at the counter and drank the cold drink to sooth her rough throat and waited for Gio to finish serving sandwiches.
When done, Gio wiped the counter and came around it to sit beside Betty, putting his arm around her waist, relieved everything was fine between them.
"Let's get married," said Gio impulsively.
"Oh, I thought you'd never ask!" Betty laughed, but a little puzzled, "Aren't we already getting married?"
"No, I mean right away, this weekend, no, not then, I'm busy, but as soon as we can arrange it."
"Relax, Gio, there's no rush," replied Betty, heeding Sondra's advice. "We're working on our careers and we have lots of reasons to wait." Before, it was always Betty who wanted to move the date sooner and Gio saying they should stick to the plan and wait.
"I suppose," said Gio reluctantly, putting on a brave face, realizing just how much his peace of mind was in jeopardy by waiting.
"Hey, guess what? I got permission to work on the charity and to do the play!" said Betty, excitedly.
"Congratulations!" said Gio, proud for her. "I knew you could do it."
"Now I have to write the play," said Betty, "and I'm coming down with a cold, bad timing."
"I'll help anyway I can," offered Gio. "I'll bring you chicken soup. Do you think Banjo will let me in the apartment?"
"That reminds me … Sam gave me this for you."
Betty reached into her purse and brought out a thick pamphlet and handed it to Gio. The pamphlet was called "How to make friends with a dog" and the instructions went over several pages. Gio read the first section of the first page.
"Have you read this?" asked Gio. "It's going to take hours to work through this. I don't have time!"
"I know," said Betty. "And, it all has to be done on neutral territory. We can't do this at the apartment because that's Banjo's territory. And we can't do it at a park because Banjo would be distracted."
"We can't do it here because animals aren't allowed in the deli," said Gio, stroking Betty's back, feeling her soft hair, silky and fragrant, "… government regulations and all …" His voice trailed off as he wondered how he could keep from kissing her.
"And you can't be distracted either," giggled Betty, noticing Gio's longing look.
"With you around," Gio smiled, "how's that even possible?"
"If we can't fix it by ourselves," said Betty, "Sam will give us an appointment, but he doesn't have an opening for two weeks."
"That's a long way off," said Gio, sighing. "Sondra will probably be back before then."
"Yeah, I know, but he said he'd call if there's a cancellation. Say, do you know who Carlos Delgado is?" asked Betty.
"Sure, Mets first baseman! I'm a big fan! Who doesn't know him?" replied Gio.
"Me," said Betty, rolling her eyes. "I found out he's Sondra's friend, he was in her class at school!"
"Wow, lucky her! She grew up in Puerto Rico? I suppose that means Sondra is thirty-six," said Gio, "or maybe thirty-seven."
"No way!" exclaimed Betty. "You know that? Do you know all the players' ages?"
"I know everything about them," said Gio proudly, adding eagerly, "Go ahead, ask me anything, test me!"
"How can I test you, Gio?" said Betty. "You could say anything since I don't know the answers."
"But I'd still be right," said Gio, enthusiastically. Then, knowing that Betty didn't share his enthusiasm, he added, "Maybe another time."
More customers were entering the deli so Gio got up and went back behind the counter to make sandwiches. When they had gone Betty got up to go too.
"I'll be working at the charity in Regal Park for the next few weeks so I won't be able to come here for lunch."
"If you come by in the morning I'll pack you a sandwich. I'll make you one for today, what do you want?"
"Today my favorite is smoked turkey on baguette!" said Betty gaily.
"Custom made to your specifications, coming right up!" replied Gio, his eyes twinkling as he snuck a black and white cookie into the bag.
* * *
On Saturday morning Betty put the library book explaining art therapy and her laptop computer on a table beside Hilda's salon chair. Hilda had a full day booked and couldn't take time separately to help Betty work on her play for the charity competition.
Hilda was washing a client's hair in the sink that Gio had hooked up. The sink he installed after Henry's attempt ended with water all over everything.
Turning pages in the book, Betty coughed and got out a cough drop, sucking on it. She had a box of tissues close at hand.
"You should be taking time off with that cold," said Hilda. "How are you going to get better?"
"I can't take time off," replied Betty. "There isn't enough time in the schedule. I promised to work as hard as I can. Anyway, I'm not very sick, just a tickle in my throat and a stuffy nose."
"Make sure to take some honey and lemon for it," said Hilda. "And don't let Papi know."
"Sure," said Betty.
"How's Sondra's friend?" asked Hilda, pouring shampoo onto her client's wet hair.
"Oh, well, there's good news and bad news," said Betty. "Carmen woke up, she's not in danger anymore, but there's some brain damage. She's going to need therapy for months, and she may never recover completely."
Hilda shook her head sadly, lathering the soap into foam.
"Sondra is scheduling all their friends to look after her kids and make meals so her husband can be with her in the hospital."
"She's a good friend," murmured Hilda, spraying water to rinse the shampoo out.
"She said Bungee saved Carmen. He's helping too."
"It's good he's there for her. Now, let's talk about the charity competition."
Because of her bad experience in multicultural club when she was in junior high, Betty had learned from Hilda, a talented listener from years of doing 'hair salon talk therapy', how to interview the kids so she could hear their stories without upsetting them too much, which was inevitable as they related their disturbing memories.
"It's been an interesting week," said Betty. "When I told them that my parents escaped from a terrible situation in Mexico and snuck into America illegally, hoping for a better life for you and me, the kids became more willing to open up. Now they all want to meet Papi. These kids have fascinating and terrible histories."
Wrapping a towel around her client's wet hair and squeezing the water out, Hilda said, "Tell me about them."
"Flash and Bling are two boys about fourteen from the same country and speak the same language. They made up their names to be cool and American; they don't like their real names anymore. Flash has been hear longer and knows some English but Bling knows very little and they always hang around together. Bling's mother and step-father were from different ethnic groups, currently warring ones, so his mother's family killed her husband. Bling and his mother, Joy, escaped before her family killed her too. They lived in a refugee camp for over a year and only just arrived in New York a few weeks ago."
"It's hard to believe stuff like that happens," said Hilda, pausing to look at Betty. "Why would her family want to kill her?"
"Joy was pregnant with Bling's little sister Patty so she brought dishonor on the family," said Betty.
"What a shocking story," said Hilda.
"Joy's not quite thirty and already widowed twice, and a refugee camp is the only home Patty has ever known."
"Makes you count your blessings, I've only lost one man and never my home."
"Now she's a single parent with no English struggling very hard to keep what's left of her family together."
"Mmm," murmured Hilda, shaking her head sympathetically.
"And there's a girl, Pauline, who was sad and crying and I hugged her. Fiona came in and told me to stop because there's a no touching policy! I'm not allowed to touch the kids!"
"Oh, I know," said Hilda. "I think that's in all the schools now."
"I don't understand it," said Betty.
"They can't allow touching or they'd be liable to lawsuits," said Hilda, carefully tucking an apron around her client's neck. "Suppose it was a man hugging Pauline, it'd be inappropriate, right? Same if a woman was hugging a boy that age. It's just easier to disallow it completely."
"Well, its crazy," complained Betty. "She needed to be comforted. How can you comfort someone without touching them?"
"I don't know," agreed Hilda, sympathetically. "It's just the way it is; you have to obey the rules."
"And I've met a lot of people there, besides the kids. Every one has their own story."
"Uh huh," said Hilda, concentrating on combing her client's hair, "go on."
"Well, there's Fiona. She's the organizer but is so tied up with grant applications right now she scarcely has time to work with the kids, the work she really loves. She's trying extremely hard to save the program from cutbacks, trying to find another space."
"No doubt a thankless task, poor thing. Who else?" asked Hilda.
"There's Nick, the squirrel feeder. Every time I go through the park, he is sitting on the same bench under the oak tree feeding nuts and seeds to squirrels and birds. I can see him from the windows, sitting there all day long, every day. I give him money for squirrel food every morning."
"Squirrel food?" exclaimed Hilda, selecting a pair of scissors, "So you think he spends the money on squirrel food?"
"That's what he says," replied Betty, shrugging. "He always has food there."
"Betty, you know the man sits in that park all the time. Think about it, he's probably buying drugs or booze. I'm just saying."
"Oh," said Betty. "But he seems nice."
"He probably is nice, that's different."
"One day, when Flash and Bling were walking beside me, Nick said to a squirrel 'You're an artist' but I knew he was talking to me so I said 'You think I'm an artist?' and he said 'No, not you, him' and he pointed at Flash."
"And …?" said Hilda, adeptly cutting hair while listening intently to Betty.
"I asked Flash and he said he didn't know, so later when I was alone I asked Nick what he meant and he said 'Go look at the side of that building there' and pointed to one of the brick buildings beside the park."
"Did you go see?" asked Hilda.
"Yes, I walked around to the other side and saw this amazing mural - beautifully painted - showing a prairie landscape with grasslands and strange, exotic trees. There were dried out crops, parched fields, and wisps of clouds in the sky. I guess Nick knew he had painted it, but it was graffiti and that was why Flash wouldn't admit it."
"Why don't you ask Flash if it's a real place or not," suggested Hilda, sweeping up the hair from around her feet.
"Good idea," said Betty, typing a note about it on her laptop. "Then there is Harold, the guy who runs the store. I'd been buying cough drops from him for a few days in a row and he'd been real nice and then I went in with Flash and Bling to buy them gum and he was totally different."
"Different how?" asked Hilda.
"First chance he got, he whispered to me, 'Why are you with them?' as if they were bad kids and I said I was volunteering at the charity they were at, and guess what he said then?"
"What?"
"He said 'Why would a nice person like you want to help that charity?' like it was disgusting. So I explained to him how the charity was good for the community but he wasn't convinced. He said he was hoping the building will be torn down soon, since it brought bad people into the neighborhood, and that the kids were stealing from him whenever his back was turned. Can you believe it?"
"Yes, I can," said Hilda. "They might be."
"What?" exclaimed Betty. "Not you, too! Why do you say that?"
"Do the kids have any money?" asked Hilda.
"No, probably not," said Betty.
"And all the stuff at the store is going to look pretty good if you've just moved here from an impoverished country, right?"
"I suppose," said Betty.
"It's got to be very tempting. A lot of people might give in, even you, given the same circumstances."
"Oh," said Betty. "So you think Harold had good reasons to suspect them?"
"Yes, I do. Sorry Betty, but I'm going to side with the small business owner on this one," said Hilda. "Well-meaning charities and government policies can hurt nearby businesses and no one compensates them. They just get the fallout, nothing good, from having those facilities in their neighborhoods."
"Oh, I didn't think of that. Well, anyway, so I say to Harold that I'll pay him back for what they stole and I pull out my bank card, and he points to a sign on the counter that says 'Cash Only' and I swear to him that I never saw the sign before - although it is right beside the cough drops - and I say 'what kind of business doesn't take plastic anymore', and he's looking at me like I'm from outer space or something. I gave him my business card and said I'd pay him later and he just stared at me with that look, the 'I'll believe it when I see it' look, you know that look?"
"Not only do I know that look," said Hilda, turning on the hair dryer in her hand. "But I'd be wearing it too, if someone walked in here and said they'd give me money for nothing."
"Oh," said Betty. "But I will give him money, next time I go there."
"Yeah, Betty, I know you will," said Hilda, a brush in one hand and the hair dryer in the other. "That's one of the ways we can tell you're different from a regular person."
Betty shook her head at that, and continued reading the book in front of her.
"What we have to come up with is something that helps the kids understand and think positively about the changes in their lives," said Betty.
"Don't worry about it, Betty," said Hilda. "I'm working on it. Just give me a little time to let the ideas gel."
"You have to hurry, the deadline is coming up and there's so much to do. It's really important. Susie will be coming in on Wednesday to work on costumes!"
"You keep teaching them English and I'll work as quickly as I can," said Hilda. "Now, tell me more about the kids."
Later, when Betty was packing up to go back to Sondra's apartment, Hilda asked, "Gio is good with kids, is he helping you with them?"
"No," said Betty, looking down as she shoved books into her bag. "I hardly ever see him."
"Oh?" said Hilda. "Why not?"
"You know he's got that other job," said Betty. "He's working all the time, every day."
"Yeah, but he still has to sleep and you've got your own place now …?" said Hilda, expectantly.
"He never comes to Sondra's apartment," said Betty, blushing as she recalled the incident with Banjo. She didn't want to tell Hilda that embarrassing story, "I told you already, I don't want to talk about Gio!"
Recently, when Betty found her mind wandering at work, she didn't think of kittens and ducklings like she used to, now her thoughts were dominated by Gio, and not just any Gio, a sexy naked Gio. Distracting and inappropriate, she was shocked by the daydreams, which were becoming increasingly frequent and explicit. Never before plagued by raunchy fantasies she didn't understand what was wrong with her.
Examining Betty's puzzling expression, Hilda wondered about Betty's missing engagement ring, hoping there wasn't another reason besides working in Regal Park that made her take it off. She decided to ask Daniel about it the next time he called her for advice about Renee. Daniel was good friends with Gio and he'd be able to tell her what was going on, or not going on, between the pair.
Ignacio came into Hilda's salon from the adjoining kitchen, "Before you go, Betty, I have some food for you to take."
"Yay!" said Betty. "Thank you, Papi!"
Ignacio cupped Betty's face in both hands, looking at her intently, "Hey, do I smell cough medicine? Are you sick? You better come back home so I can look after you."
"No, Papi," said Betty. "I'm fine. I have to stay at Sondra's and look after her pets. But there is one thing you can help me with," said Betty, pointing to her laptop screen, "the program icon disappeared from the desktop and it's a nuisance finding it in the start menu. Can you fix that?"
"Sure, go get the food from the refrigerator and I'll take care of it," said Ignacio, proud of being the top student, recently graduated from his senior center's computer class. "Do you want me to add it to the quick start bar too?"
"Yes, please!" yelled Betty from the kitchen.
Betty packed up everything and headed out the door, "Thank you for all your help. Talk to you both soon, bye!"