Chapter Five: The Christmas Arc: Finding a Gift Part III
Niffty was supposed to get a gift for Tina Mayberry. She was looking for some academic things for the former teacher. Niffty had only ever finished high school, but she had heard that most people, even women went to college now. It hadn't been that way in the 50s. Sometimes women went to college and took some basic courses to get what people jokingly called their MRS. Namely, so they could find a well-educated man to marry. It was just the way it worked back then. A woman didn't need a college education. Her primary job was to take care of the household and the kids.
It was important work, but it didn't require college. But Mrs. Mayberry… Well, she preferred to be called Tina Johnson. She refused to be called by her cheating ex-husband's name anymore. Niffty admired that. She figured that books would be a good place to start looking for a gift. So she went into a secondhand bookstore. She made good money cleaning. She didn't just clean the Hotel. She cleaned other places as well, and her ability to move so fast helped her with that. She went into the store.
"Hey! I'm the Secret Santa for a former teacher. Do you have any books she'd like?" Niffty asked.
The bookstore owner thought for a moment.
"What did she teach?" The owner asked. He didn't just sell books. He sold information. So he knew a bit more than was typical in Hell about the human world.
"I think she teaches 1st grade." Niffty said. She wasn't sure, but she talked about her former students like they were 5 or 6 years old. So that was what Niffty was assuming. The book seller thought again, taking longer this time. An elementary school teacher tended to teach all subjects.
"Maybe a book on the history of Hell? Or on the social dynamics of Hell? Maybe a book about current and past Overlords?" He asked. She kept shaking her head. None of those seemed right for Tina.
"A book teaching the Demon Language? Colloquially called Infernal?" The book seller asked, going to the back and bringing out a series of ten leatherbound books. They looked old and were written in neat, beautiful cursive. Clearly, they had been handwritten. They had charts inside and lists of vocabulary in the back of each of them. Each book was over 800 pages long.
They each were a different level of fluency in the language from beginner to fluent. Once she had learned the language, improving her vocabulary would be easy peasy.
"How much would you want for these?" Niffty asked, thinking that it was probably outside of her price range. The owner smiled at her. The series would normally be over 5,000 Pecunias*. But he could tell that given the fact that she didn't seem familiar to him, she probably couldn't afford that.
"How do you feel about janitorial work?" The owner asked.
"Cleaning, dusting the books, sweeping and scrubbing the floor, shining it. I need to keep my shop presentable. And instead of hiring help whom I would have to pay an ongoing paycheck, I find people who are willing to work for me in exchange for a product they want. Work for me for 3 months and. Come into the shop three times a week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and you can have the books." He said. She nodded. Then thought better of it.
"Ooh! I need these books in time for Christmas. Can I work until Christmas Eve, get the books then and then give you a written promise to continue working until I've paid off the books?" Niffty asked. She had a very excitable manner of speech. She spoke quickly and intensely. She had a squeaky voice like she was constantly on Fast Forward. He thought for a moment.
"You know what? I'll give you the books after you finish cleaning the shop today and we'll write up and sign a contract about your employment here at the end of the day." He said.
He may have been a Demon, but he knew the best way to get people to cooperate was to be reasonable as to their needs. She nodded happily, immediately starting to clean, finishing the entire store within four hours. The owner was amazed. Normally it took twice that long even for the fastest cleaner. She'd cleaned every book, scrubbed and swept the floor, waxed it and the shelves. The store was gleaming. She went to the back, covered with sweat and dust. She grinned happily. She loved cleaning and she hated when things were messy or dirty or dusty. The owner, introduced himself as Zenos.
He was a Fox Demon. He shook her hand, having already written up the contract. He sat down as she read it and nodded, signing the contract. He had her cut her finger and put a bloody fingerprint next to her signature. It didn't have any magical significance. But it was more of a gesture.
"Here. A Band-Aid." He said, giving her a Band-Aid for her finger. She nodded.
"So when should I come back next?" She asked. He looked around the shop and nodded. She'd even organized the books in alphabetical order. She was an incredible caretaker.
Maybe she was the right person to hire on permanently. He would talk to her about it when her six months was up. She left the store, promising to come back in two days to organize the books, sweep and dust again. His store got dusty very quickly with people shedding skin flakes and making dust all day. So coming every three days seemed like a good schedule.
"Of course!" She said, shaking his hand and heading back to the hotel with the books, keeping them well hidden until she had gotten up to her bedroom and started wrapping them in paper.
*Pecunia is simply Latin for Money.
-0-
Tina was in the bad side of town. She wasn't exactly familiar with this part of town. But she wanted to get fireworks for Cherri Bomb. She knew that Cherri was trying to give up her pyromania and obsession with explosions. But something relatively harmless like fireworks might allow her to get her eagerness out without hurting anyone. She went into a shady looking shop and looked around, getting some fireworks and bringing them to the front desk. The owner looked at them and took down some notes, doing some math. There weren't any taxes per se in Hell. But tithes were charged from each business owner.
And most business owners partially mitigated that by charging 'taxes' for their products. He added it up.
"425 Pecunias. She didn't have much money. But she was teaching young Demons and those who never learned to read to read. She was teaching math to Demons who needed the help. She considered it part of her redemption. Charlie encouraged her guests to go with their conscience and decide a few things that they felt would help them become better people. For the most part, Tina was already a good person. She'd gotten lost in her rage when she found out her husband was cheating.
She'd committed suicide out of guilt when she realized that her kids had seen her commit murder. But she was a good, honest person overall. She hoped that helping Demons better themselves would help. She didn't push the idea of redemption. But she didn't keep it a secret that she was seeking redemption and telling them about the Hotel's deal so to speak. Already, several of her customers were interested in the idea and were settling their affairs and said they would be coming to the hotel within a month or two.
"That's a steep price. How about 350?" Tina asked. He thought for a moment.
"400." He said, a confident smirk on his face.
"375." She responded. She had gained some extra confidence in Hell. She knew that most people haggled in Hell. Not everyone. But it was important sometimes to not just accept the price suggested. He thought for a moment.
"Ooh, you're breaking me here." He said.
"Okay… For you, sweetheart… 385." He said.
"Deal." She said, taking out 385 Pecunias, putting them on the table. She took the fireworks and went back to the hotel, taking them up to her room and wrapping them, sighing and sitting on her bed, taking a nap for a while.
-0-
Cherri was working on her own gift for Niffty. She didn't need to buy anything except index cards with cute borders on them. She was writing down dozens of her own favorite recipes. She'd been a traveling woman in the 80s and had seen a lot of the world, learned recipes from multiple different countries and had memorized most of them. She had Tina helping her. She wrote one down, and then put the title at the top. Then she moved onto the next one. She worked for a few hours on this and then put them into a box, tying them with a red yarn. She then went out for the rest of the day to hang out on her own.
She saw Angel Dust heading in a strange direction though. She followed him, staying out of his sight, worried about him. She knew that he sometimes became pretty melancholy. Although he was healing from Valentino's abuse, he still had times when he woke up with Post Traumatic nightmares and needed help calming down. She saw the direction he was going. She knew what part of town this was. This was all an area owned by Valentino. She saw him head into Valentino's club. Had he gone back to his old ways? Had he been drawn back in by the Moth Demon? As she walked in, she was accosted.
"Are you here for a dancing gig, sweetie?" The man smirked, looking Cherri Bomb up and down with a lewd smirk.
"Trust me, honey… Your boss couldn't afford me." Cherri smirked, poking the Demon in the chest, heading back, following Angel into Valentino's office. He had been drawn back in. She needed to get him out. She needed to save him so that he didn't fall back into his old cycle of abuse.
"Hey! Val! I thought Angel dumped yer ass!" She snapped. Valentino smirked.
"And who do I have the pleasure of looking at?" He asked.
"Never mind who I am. Who do you think you are? Trying to drag Angel back like this!" She demanded.
"Oh… He came to me on his own. He needed opera ticket for a sweetheart of his. I'm more than happy to oblige, naturally. But nobody gets something for nothing. So he's working to pay off his debt to me. For a month, he's my personal assistant. I assure you, there's no sex involved.
"He serves drinks, brings food, tends the bar and when I need him personally, he brings me things, takes notes, assists me on deals that I make. I assure you, he completely agreed to do this." Valentino said. Cherri Bomb could see that Angel didn't like it. But on the other hand, it seemed like he wasn't willing to leave. He needed to do this work to get Charlie the perfect gift. He wanted Charlie to be able to go to this opera. She'd been saying she wanted to go to it. It was the new hit opera in Hell and she really wanted to see it. But most of the money she got from her parents went into maintaining the hotel.
"You listen here, Val… You may have what Angel wants, but if you abuse him even once, I'll fucking destroy you. If you really think that I can't hurt you, you're badly mistaken." She said, her natural Australian accent coming in stronger in her anger. Valentino grinned wider.
"How about this. If you help me, I'll commute his debt. He'll only owe me half as much if you work for me. As a result, you can finish this up in a week." Valentino teased, dangling the carrot in front of her, knowing that she'd probably quickly take it.
"I-o-okay… What-what do I have to do?" She asked, unable to look him in the eye.
"Have you ever danced for people?" He asked.
"I ain't no whore!" She snapped. His grin became slightly strained, but he maintained his smile.
"Well… That's what I want from you. One of my dancers broke her ankle and I could use a replacement for her. Just for two hours until my next dancer comes in. After today, you probably won't need to dance. But I'd like you to go out there and entertain my guests. After that, I just need you to be a bartender."
Valentino's voice was calm and smooth, but there was an almost unheard predatory growl in it. She turned a faint red color, growling in disgust, but taking her clothes off and heading out to the stage. She was hardly ashamed of her body. She had pretty nice assets if she did say so herself. She smirked sultrily as she walked on stage, telling the current dancer she could take her leave. The woman nodded, kissing Cherri lightly on the lips. The arsonist looked at the audience. Though she wasn't really a professional stripper, she was pretty good at turning her viewers on. She moved slowly and teasingly.
She made sure that the audience only got quick glances of her breasts. This went on for about two hours as she modified her dance based on the song she was dancing to. When she was done, she got dressed in a skimpy bartender outfit and went down to the bar, giving the current barkeep a break. They went back to the breakroom. They would be the dancer next.
"What can I getcha, honey?" Cherri asked a young man who had tapped on the bar.
"Oh, Hellcat Demon Lacrima." He said. Cherri nodded, going to the Lacrima shelf and finding it.
She poured him a shot and brought it to him.
"Ya want to keep a tab till ya leave?" She asked. He nodded, asking for fish and chips as well. He was a beat down looking man. He looked like he'd been doing drugs for most of his time in Hell. He had lines under his eyes. He sipped on the Lacrima, sighing as he felt the buzz settle over him. Lacrima didn't take much to get a person drunk. But it was usually a calm drunk.
"So what has yer day looked like?" Cherri asked. The man sighed.
"What's your name?" He asked tiredly.
"Cherri. Just call me Cherri." She said. "What's yer name, sweetie?" She asked.
"Stand." He said. He had horns coming out of his head and rough grey skin.
"Stand… Good ta meetcha." She said.
He sighed.
"I don't know what brought me this low, hanging out in stripper joints, getting drunk just to escape this Hell… No offense." He said.
"Ah, none taken, honey. What was life like before ya ended up here?" Cherri asked.
"You mean in Hell or in this bar?"
"In Hell… If ya don't mind talkin' bout it." Cherri said. He shrugged. He figured that whatever he said, she had no place to judge as she was there in Hell too.
"I tortured and murdered the man that I found out was raping my daughter. He got her pregnant. She was only 13 when she got pregnant because some creep who I trusted with my baby girl violated my trust and violated my girl. I made him suffer for every time he put hands on her. I'm not sorry I did it. But I only found out about it after she committed suicide." He said bitterly.
"Ooh… That's horrible. I don't think ya did anything wrong either. I only hope you were able to find him in Hell and double kill him." Cherri said. He chuckled, glad that he'd found someone he could trust to talk to. She seemed like she'd make a better therapist than a bartender.
"I did. I tracked him down to the Lust Circle. It cost me nearly a year's wages to by passage to the Lust Circle. But I found the son of a bitch and I tortured him again. And again. And again.
"I'm probably never getting out of Hell, and I'm still looking for my daughter. I hear news about her sometimes. A homeless girl named Pen with a beautiful hair restraint. That's my girl." He said. Cherri gasped. Pen had recently come to the hotel.
"I know her. She's living at the Happy Hotel right now. She's trying to find a way to redeem herself, though now hearing about what actually happened, I'm not sure how any reasonable God could blame her for her actions." Cherri said. He sighed. He knew she was right. But it was hard.
She had been his whole life. He and his wife got divorced. All he had was his daughter. When she died, having committed suicide, he took revenge on the man he blamed for her death. It turned out that she was hardly the first person he'd ever violated. But with her gone, he had nothing left to live for. So he killed himself as well. Now he was here. He didn't know whether it was the murder that sent him here or the suicide. He guessed it didn't matter. He wasn't sorry about killing that man. He deserved to die and he wasn't going to pretend he didn't.
"Scuse me a moment, hon." She said, bringing another customer his drink and food and chatting with him. She left a card for the man with the address of the Happy Hotel on it, saying that Pen was there. She hoped that if nothing else, she could reunite a family separated by tragedy and unfair circumstances. She finished out her day and then took the unfortunate father back to the Hotel, going in and calling out for Charlie. "Hey, Char! I got a guy who knows Pen from the human world!" Cherri said loudly. Charlie rushed downstairs, bringing Pen with her, who'd been practically joined at the hip with her that day.
"Hey! Welcome to the Happy Hotel. Can I get you something to eat? Something to drink? We don't have alcohol here. But we have tea, coffee, milk, juice or just water if you prefer. Even soda." Charlie said.
"Oh, that's okay. I'm just hoping to see my daughter again." He said. He sounded exhausted. Charlie brought Pen out to the foyer.
"Sweetie? Is that really you?" The father asked softly. Pen just stared at him, shocked to see her father again after almost 6 years. She nodded numbly, surging forward, hugging the Rhinoceros Demon tightly.
Charlie brought them over to the couch and had Alastor help her make cookies and tea. Though Alastor didn't like sweet things or tea, he knew how to make them and they made them together for the newly reunited family. Charlie was setting up more decorations for Christmas with Angel Dust, Husk, Vaggie and Tina. They were busy in the Hotel, excited about the upcoming holiday party.