Coffee & Criminals

2. An Unforgettable Arrival

Leaving Clancy to shake her head and sigh, I wandered back out to the counter. A woman entered through the doors and looked around. I was about to go offer to help her (not really) when her eyes landed on The Guy That Slurped His Coffee and brightened. She walked over to him and they began talking excitedly.

The door jingled again. Reaching up on my tiptoes, I removed the chalkboard that displayed yesterday's menu. My mom walked in as I began spraying the board. She waved to the customers and made a bit of small talk with some people. Trying to act as if I had been working all this time, I wiped off the chalk from the board (ha, chalkboard. Get it? No. Okay.) and using my favourite chalk (it was pink) I began writing out the day's specials and prices.

Mom wandered over. I loved my parents, I really did. I'd gladly spend the rest of my life working in this coffee shop if it meant my parents could retire early. They'd worked every single day in their lives. I could only imagine the hardships they went through to get this place up and functioning. We weren't making as much money as we were five years ago. It was a hard fact to face. Lately, we'd been sending out more advertisements to the streets and Ade was helping me work on creating a website for the shop.

The stress on her aged face was clear. I still thought of my mother as the most beautiful woman in the world. With pretty green eyes and brown hair, many people were surprised to learn she was one half of the owner. I didn't blame them. My mother was a tiny thing, barely clearing five feet. However, her stature didn't take anything away from doing her job as a manager. She was a tough lady and I loved her with all my heart.

"Florence." Mom walked over and kissed my cheek as I kept writing. She set her bag down behind the counter and took out a couple of manilla folders. "I thought you were going with Ade on the NYU tour today."

"I am-" Realizing I missed the last 'e' on the word 'coffee,' I wiped it and started over. "But it's tonight. He's picking me up at 8."

"Okay, darling." Mom snatched a pen from behind the espresso machine. "Be sure to get some applications. And be safe. I'm going to be here late tonight. Clancy's taking another shift because Samantha couldn't make it in tonight. Her boyfriend and her had another fight."

Samantha Jennings was one of the servers. She and her boyfriend had been off and on for months now. Their breakup was inevitable, but slow. This was the fifth time she took a day off because of him. Mom was too nice to refuse her excuses, though. "Aww."

"That was the most heartless 'aww' I have ever heard in my life." Mom chuckled softly. She watched me write on the chalkboard for a minute before picking up the sheath of newspapers I had grabbed on my way out of the kitchen. "Anything new on here?"

"The Brooklyn Crowns." I shrugged. I still had no idea who they were. "They're apparently some big name mafia even though we've never heard of them. Clancy's all worried over it. And apparently-" I wiggled my eyebrows at her. "-they're in the area. And apparently, we're out of paper cups. And apparently, Clancy promised to buy me a bag of Twizzlers if I gave Table 9 a refill. So I'm gonna do that now because I want those damn Twizzlers-"

"Okay." Mom held her hands up, gesturing for me to stop babbling. "First of all, I have never heard of a gang called the Brooklyn Crowns. You know how rumours travel. Probably just a group of teenage boys looking for trouble. And second of all, there's a jar of Twizzlers right there." She pointed to the section of the counter dedicated to candy. On top of the glass case, right next to the register, was the jar. "And third of all, do you know where Clancy is? I need to talk to her."

I stared distastefully at the jar. "That's licorice."

"What's the difference?"

"I like Twizzlers."