Waking Up in the Land of Glitter (27 page)
“Can we hurry up here? This kid’s gonna lose her afternoon snack!” Scary Lady shrilled to the cashier.
Ofie grabbed Anjelica’s hand. “Honey, come on, let’s get out of here!” Ofie reached up on the tips of her toes to seek the
easiest route, but before she spotted it, a chill shot up the back of her neck. She turned in slow motion, just in time to
see Anjelica, who had two fingers over her lips and was shaking her head as if to say
Can’t. Hold. It…
Ofie covered her eyes right as Chunky Turkey Pie rained down in a waterfall of cubed meat, gravy, and canned vegetables. But
it didn’t hit the floor because Scary Lady’s booty intercepted.
That was it. The sign Ofie needed. This was
not
meant to be, she thought, before hustling Anjelica out of line.
A salesclerk held back a gag and picked up the phone receiver at her station. “Cleanup at customer service, please! Urgent!”
The store manager dressed in jeans and a bright lime golf shirt busted out of his office with paper towels to assist Ofie
with Anjelica, and then escorted them to the bathroom to clean up. He invited Scary Lady too, but she refused to leave her
space in line.
“Wow. I feel 100 percent better, Mom!” Anjelica beamed.
“Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity,” Ofie said to the manager, hugging her daughter.
“Don’t worry about it. We see you here all the time,” the manager replied. “Did you have an application to submit for the
CO? I’ll be glad to process that for you.”
Twenty minutes later, Ofie and Anjelica practically skipped out of the store. Ofie concluded she would pack a lunch for Anjelica
on Chunky Turkey Pie day from now on. The two of them reached the Craftmobile, but were startled by a figure that stepped
out in front of them.
“Hey, loca luchadora, think I’m not on to you?” It was Scary Lady. She had been waiting for them by the Craftmobile, which
she must have remembered from the lawn chair incident.
“If you don’t leave I’m calling the police,” Ofie warned while she fished for her juiceless cell phone in her bag.
“Don’t mess with us, lady. My mom will double stitch circles around you!” Anjelica snapped like an angry, territorial Chihuahua.
“Hey, little chicle, ask yer mamacita if she wants to throw down,” Scary Lady taunted.
Ofie laughed. That crazy woman just called Anjelica a piece of gum.
The last of Maker’s Marketplace’s customers filtered out to the parking lot and gathered around the commotion. “Do you need
help?” one of them offered to Ofie. “I’ll get the manager!” another hollered before running inside.
Scary Lady whipped out a gold crochet hook from her bag. She gripped it in one hand, and her current project in the other,
as if she had just whipped them out of hip holsters. “You and me. Let’s have a race, right here, right now. It’s for your
own good, to see what you are up against. If you can crochet faster than me then you’re worthy enough to be up on that stage
at the competition.”
Ofie unlocked the car door. “I don’t have time for this. I don’t care that much about the contest. You can have your silly
trophy. I just wanted the room makeover.”
Anjelica blocked her from getting in the Craftmobile. “Mommy! Come on! You can take her!” she encouraged, before turning to
Scary Lady and sassily snapping her fingers in the shape of a Z. With the Chunky Turkey Pie now out of her system, Anjelica
appeared to have made a full recovery. “We’re on! Mom, get your hook and yarn! Show her what you’re made of.”
Ofie’s hands trembled as she opened her bag and pulled out her one-and-only crochet hook and the purple variegated yarn attached
to the blanket she had been working on. Was she being a good role model for her daughter right now? Or a bad one?
Then again, if this lady really had won other speed crochet races, and Ofie beat her, that would mean…
Ofie cleared her throat. She couldn’t believe what she was about to say. “Double stitches only. Three rows. Last one to finish
buys the other a full tank of gas across the street.”
“You got it. Lady, I’m gonna smash you like a piñata.”
They each let the ball of yarn drop to the asphalt and gripped their hooks and work-in-progress blankets in front of them.
“Uh… everything okay out here, ladies?” asked the store manager as he hustled up to the action. “Oh gosh, what do we have
here?”
“It’s a rumble, only with yarn,” an onlooker blurted.
“Anyone have a phone with video? Record it!” said another bystander.
Before he could stop them, two other spectators blocked him. “Let them at it. This will be good,” one of them proclaimed.
Little Anjelica took a giant step between the women and raised her skinny arms over her head, just like Cha Cha DiGregorio
from
Grease
when the car race was about to start! She, like her mom, loved that movie.
“Ready!”
“Set!”
“Crochet!” Anjelica screamed as her arms slapped to her sides.
A gathering cheered and whistled, all for Ofie. It ended too fast, with the loser hissing and stomping.
Ofie and Anjelica made it home by six thirty. Larry sat at the kitchen table and had just cut into his Salisbury steak TV
dinner. “It’s about time, ladies, what’s up?”
Anjelica ran across the room and threw her arms around her dad’s neck. “Guess what, Dad? I threw up at the craft store, Mommy
was in a crochet race, and we won a free tank of gas!”
From:
[email protected]
Date: November 15, 2010
Subject: Please help!
hey, ofie!
miss u!! i hope u r feelin better. have u talked to NE1? i haven’t. bummer our group split up
hey, can u bring the centerpiece junk over 2 my house? no one else is gonna make them, so my mom said she would help me finish
them cause they r due next monday and there are still 75 left 2 make. That’s how I’m getting a free booth at the show. may
b u can stay & hang out! i can finish showing u how to crochet! i still wear my necklace!
i heart you,
b
From:
[email protected]
Date: November 15, 2010
Subject: Re: Please help!
Howdy, Benecio!!!!!
I REALLY miss you too!! When I saw your name on my e-mail, it made me super happy. Anjelica, Nana Chata, and I will come by
this Saturday at 6 to help you and your mom finish the centerpieces. I can’t believe all the other chicas bailed on this project.
I didn’t think they were like that. If I were still talking to Star, I would scold her! Anyhoo, see you Saturday. I have exciting
news to tell you about my crochet!
Love you!
Ofie
P.S. I’m so excited to see you again and also to meet your parents (finally!). I’m glad you told them about the group and
your design project! Good for you for being strong!
P.P.S. Nana Chata is here and she says she will bring menudo for us!
From:
[email protected]
Date: November 15, 2010
Subject: Please help!
hey star!
miss u!! i hope u r feelin better. have u talked to NE1? i haven’t. bummer our group split uphey, can u help me finish the centerpieces? ofie came and dropped everything off. no one else is gonna make them, so my mom
said she would help me finish them ’cause they r due next monday and there are still 75 left 2 make. that’s how I’m getting
a free booth at the show. may b u can stay & hang out! Can u come saturday at 6?
i heart u,
b
From:
[email protected]
Date: November 15, 2010
Subject: Please help!
OH MY GOD!!! Benecio—I am so sorry I dropped the ball on this!! I swear I did not forget!! My mom was supposed to call Ofie
and pick everything up so we could finish them this weekend at La Pachanga!! I didn’t know you had everything over there!!
I’ll come and bring my mom, and we will crank them out in no time at all, even if I have to bring my sleeping bag!!! Kudos
for coming clean with the parental units! See you Saturday at 6!!
Heart you back!! Peace out, my little man!
Star
P.S. Thank you again for all your help at my show. I loved the star fruit idea, so clever! Pick a place you want to go for
lunch. My treat.
From:
[email protected]
Date: November 15, 2010
Subject: Please help!
hey chloe!
miss u!! i hope u r feelin better. have u talked to NE1? i haven’t. bummer our group split uphey, can u help me finish the centerpieces? Ofie came and dropped everything off. no one else is gonna make them, so my mom
said she would help me finish them ’cause they r due next monday and there are still 75 left 2 make. that’s how I’m getting
a free booth at the show. may b u can stay & hang out! saturday at 6:00?
i heart u,
b
From:
[email protected]
Date: November 16, 2010
Subject: Please help!
I’ll do anything to help you become the success you deserve to be. I’ll even give you tips of what NOT to do. See you at 6
on Saturday. Send me directions to your house (I’m dying to see it!).
xoxo,
Chloe
B
enecio Javier Valencia II’s parents were “officially” separated, “technically” married, and “conveniently” living together
under the same roof.
It surely wasn’t for their son’s sake.
The power couple had met in junior high, dated in high school, and married right after college. Somewhere between the birth
of their son and their first million, the couple made an unconscious decision to sacrifice love for financial success. Fourteen
years later they had each invested equal amounts of sweat, equity, and cash in their entertainment agency. Neither would give
it up for something as silly and costly as a divorce. Their most important employee had to be their live-in house manager,
Alice. She tended to all domestic duties, which included caring for Benecio. He could do without his parents’ attention; he
fended for himself in every way. The junior designer’s checklist included two things: Acquire the necessary high school diploma;
move to New York City and attend Parsons School of Design. But first, he had to survive this excruciating requirement called
adolescence.