Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or it's characters.
Chapter 11,
Stella decided to take Miriam to El Patio, because Mr. Hyunh was the head chef there. Stella knee that he would help keep an eye on Miriam, and he would inform her if Miriam snuck some alcohol after she promised not to.
"So tell me about your daughter Olga." Stella tried again when they were seated.
"Well, what do you want to know?" Miriam asked and Stella shrugged.
"I guess I'm curious as to where she is. I mean with Helga in the hospital, I would think that she would want to come and visit her sister." Stella said. Right before Miriam could answer, Mr. Hyunh ran to the front door.
"Mai!" He said excitedly and Stella giggled when she watched Mr. Hyunh hug his daughter. Miriam turned to look at them and she smiled too.
"Oh, they're so cute." Miriam said.
"Yes, I agree." Stella said.
"You were asking about Olga, well, she looks about as old as that young lady there." Miriam said. Stella glanced at Miriam and she rose an eye at her.
"You know we can ask Mai if she would like to join us for lunch, if you'd like." Stella offered and Miriam hesitated.
"Oh, I'm sure she doesn't want to hang out with a bunch of wives." Miriam said and Stella smiled at Miriam.
"Hey, Mai. Want to join us?" Stella waved to her and Mai came over to them.
"Hi, Stella; whose your friend?" Mai asked as she sat next to Stella and smiled at Miriam.
"This is Miriam Pataki. She's the mother of Helga." Stella said and Mai blinked.
"Arnold's girlfriend, Helga?" Mai asked and Stella nodded.
"I'm sorry about your daughter, Mrs. Pataki." Mai said, reaching out and gently resting her hand on Miriam's. For a brief moment, Miriam Starr's at Mai's hand; as if the touch surprised her.
"Um..." Miriam hesitated and she slowly pulled her hands away from Mai's.
"We were talking about my daughter Olga. She's about your age." Miriam said, she pulled out her wallet from her purse and showed them both a picture of Olga. Here, she was holding a bouquet of roses and wearing a gorgeous formal gown.
"That's when she performed at the Bridges Hall of Music in California. I wasn't able to go personally, but she sent me a video of it. She played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Clair de Lune, Nocturne in E flat major, and Kinderszenen; just to make a few." Miriam said and Mai whistled, impressed.
"Those can be pretty hard." Mai said and Miriam nodded.
"Maybe for most people, but Olga had always had a knack for doing the best and brightest stuff around." Miriam said.
"Smart and insanely pretty." Mai commented, biting a small portion of her lip when she looked back at Olga's picture. Stella rose an eyebrow at Mai, but decided to ignore this reaction.
"So, what is she doing now?" Stella asked. Miriam pulled back her wallet and looked at the picture.
"She's on a charity tour. Her idea, you understand. Performing classical music for the different orphanages across the states. Giving the kids front row seats to the show, while 70% of the profits go to the kids." Miriam said.
"Wow." Mai said and Stella nodded.
"I understand that's very honorable work. I can sympathize and see why she would want to stay on the tour instead of coming down to be with Helga in the hospital." Stella said and Miriam put her wallet away and then she stared at her hands.
"She doesn't know." Miriam admitted and Stella and Mai looked at each other.
"Why not?" Mai asked and Miriam sighed.
"Bob doesn't want me to tell her. Something about Olga being too sensitive to handle the news. Why bother her with something like this, when it won't do any good. Either she stops the tour to come down and be with us, or she stays to finish her show, but she'll be too sad to perform well." Miriam said.
"Well, I don't see anything wrong with her pausing her tour. She can always pick it back up and finish it later." Mai said and Miriam rolled her eyes.
"Bob pulled some strings to get some talent scouts at her final performance in New York. They'll see her and represent her, and she'll get rich and famous and take us with her." Miriam said sadly and then she stood up and looked around.
"I gotta pee... where's, uh... the pee room?" Miriam asked and Stella sighed.
"The restroom is in the corner there." Stella said and Miriam nodded.
"Ok." She said and she started walking that way. Stella reaches over and grabbed Miriam's purse.
"Can I look at your address book?" Stella asked.
"Whatever." Miriam said, with a dismissive wave. Stella looked through the purse and she found a tiny booklet and handed it to Mai.
"Listen, I'm gonna make sure she doesn't drink anything. I want to see if you can get a hold of Olga. If you can, I'd like you to talk to her and tell her about Helga." Stella said.
"Won't that make Stella mad?" Mai asked and Stella took a deep breath.
"I don't know. But quite honestly, Miriam tends to light up when she talks about Olga. Being around Olga might help to get her to stop drinking, or at least go to AA meetings." Stella said as she stood up.
"Besides, their family is kinda divided. You should have seen all the pictures and trophies of Olga's. And it's like Helga doesn't even exist. If this family is gonna heal at all, they should at least try to do it together." Stella said and Mai sighed.
"Alright." Mai agreed.
"Do you need money for the pay phone, or do you have one of those mobile cellular devices?" Stella asked and Mai giggled.
"You really got to pull yourself out of the 80's, Stella. Yes, I have a cellphone." Mai said and Stella rolled her eyes.
"I know, I know, I'm working on it." Stella commented as she followed Miriam. Mai pulled out her phone and dialed Olga's number.
"Hello?" Mai blushed when she heard the Marilyn Monroe-esq. tone of Olga's voice.
"Uh... Olga Pataki?" Mai asked.
"This is she." Olga said happily and Mai nodded.
"Listen, you don't know me, but my name is Mai Hyunh." Mai said and Olga's giggle made her smile.
"Pleased to meet you, Ms. Hyunh. What can I do for you?" Olga said and Mai rubbed the back of her neck.
"Well... I'm actually calling you to tell you what happened to you sister, Helga." Mai said slowly, and Olga was silent for the longest time. Mai could hear the faint sound of typing and some voices in the background.
"I can be on a plane tomorrow night. I can rent an electric cat today if it's more serious. Now... tell me everything." Olga said, and once again, Mai was impressed.
-
When the final bell rang for P.S.118, Arnold quickly let up with Phoebe, with Gerald following him. Arnold has a large smile on his face.
"I still have to go feed Helga's monitor lizard. I guess we can walk there together." Phoebe commented and she grabbed Gerald's hand and they all started walking. Arnold was walking faster then his friends and he tried not to get annoyed when he turned back and saw them walking behind him.
"Man, relax." Gerald said and Arnold shoved his hands in his pockets to hid the way they were quaking with the excitement of being able to hold and read Helga's diary.
"I'd relax more if you guys walked faster." Arnold muttered under his breath.
"I'm sorry." Arnold said simply.
"Oh, we're almost there, now. Here's the key, Arnold. Why don't you go ahead and unlock the door." Phoebe said, handling the key to Arnold, and he took it without question. He rushed on ahead and unlocked the Pataki home. He took a deep breath in and sighed happily before he went up to Helga's room.
His eyes instantly landed on Helga's closet. He recalled Helga writing about making a statue of him out of ABC gum and how her closet was looking like a shrine. He hesitantly went over to the closet, opened the closet door, pushed aside her clothes, and saw... nothing. With the house, he closed Helga's closet door and went over to the bed.
"Arnold?" Gerald said, poking his head into the room and Arnold smiled at him.
"I can't describe the feeling of being back here." Arnold said and Gerald walked over to him.
"Give me the key while Phoebe feeds that lizard." Gerald said. Arnold bit his lip, still unwilling to let the key out of his sight. But even though he didn't know why Gerald wanted they key, Arnold still trusted him enough to take good care of it.
"Here." Arnold said and Gerald grabbed it.
"Alright, I'm gonna walk Phoebe to the hospital and I'll be back with the key in about an hour." Gerald said and Arnold nodded slowly.
"Ok." Arnold said and Gerald left the room. Arnold soon heard the front door close and Arnold grabbed Helga's diary and started reading.