Chapter 17: Marinated

"DESTINY'S GOING TO BE HERE IN TWO HOURS, EINNY-POO, SO IT'S TIME TO GET COOKING!"

Ein had had a very, very long day, and all he wanted to do was go in his room (though it wasn't really his room anymore, after Grandma had changed everything) and go to sleep. "Grandma, I'm really--"

"EXCITED ABOUT THIS DATE! I KNOW YOU ARE! BUT NOW YOU NEED TO FUNNEL ALL THAT EXCITEMENT INTO YOUR HANDS AND GET COOKING!" She dragged him into the kitchen. Then she hopped up onto the counter and grabbed an apron and tied it around his neck.

"Grandma…it's too…tight…."

"IT BUILDS CHARACTER!"

Luckily, the thought of having another date with Destiny made his neck puff out, which loosened the grip of the apron quite a bit. "Grandma, I don't want another date."

"EINNY-POO, IT'S NOT PROPER FOR A BOY YOUR AGE TO SKIP RIGHT TO MARRIAGE! THESE THINGS SHOULD BE GIVEN TIME TO MARINATE! NOW HERE'S THE MENU FOR YOUR DATE!" She stuck a piece of paper in his hand.

He looked down at it. A three course meal with appetizers and dessert. "I don't know how to cook, Grandma."

She turned up the volume on her megaphone. "OF COURSE YOU DO! YOU'RE MY GRANDSON, AREN'T YOU? IT'S IN YOUR BLOOD!"

"What do you mean? I've never seen you cook before. You always get deliveries."

"THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT! JUST BECAUSE I DON'T COOK DOESN'T MEAN I CAN'T!"

"Okay, Okay, I believe you. So could you please turn that down?"

Grandma complied. "IF YOU CAN'T TAKE SOME YELLING AT YOU BY A WOMAN, HOW DO YOU EVER EXPECT TO BE MARRIED?"

"I--"

"STOP WASTING TIME WITH THIS CHIT-CHAT! START COOKING!"

"But--"

"I'LL BE IN MY ROOM, AND WHEN I COME BACK, I'LL EXPECT THAT MENU TO BECOME A REALITY!" She hopped off the counter, and headed for the door. But she turned around again. "AND IF IT DOESN'T, I'LL TELL DESTINY YOU'LL TAKE HER OUT TO DINNER TEN MORE TIMES TO MAKE UP FOR IT!"

***

Sunflower's projections for the future were looking good. Really good.

So why was she feeling so horrible?

Maybe it was because there was little she could do anymore. It was up to the town now, to the new chef, to luck.

She felt the storm clearing in her mind, and that meant there was no need to spend so much time calculating anymore. Then what would she do?

The metal balls clanked back and forth on her desk, over and over and over and--

"Greetings, Sunflower."

She jumped in her seat, startled by the noise. "Oh, hello Vincent. What can I do for you?"

"Nothing really. I wanted to tell you that everyone else has gone home."

"Oh."

He scratched the back of his neck. "Are you going to sleep here tonight again?"

"I really should. There's still so much work I have to do."

"I see." He looked at his feet, then up again. "Hey, why don't you come with me and Old Hobo Joe for dinner? He's going to cook…well, whatever we find on the way to the alley."

She smiled. "I'm not really hungry, to tell you the truth."

He nodded. "Well then, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah. Goodnight, Vincent."

"Goodnight." He turned around. But turned back. "Sunflower?"

"Yes?"

"Who's Val?"

Her body numbed and she couldn't speak.

"I only ask because Ein mentioned that you said something about her. I thought she might be a friend of yours. Maybe we could invite her here sometime. Sunflower?"

Sunflower wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him everything. But she couldn't. She couldn't because she wasn't that old Sunflower anymore. She was a new Sunflower who didn't talk about stuff like this. "Ein must have misheard me. I don't know anyone named Val."

Vincent nodded. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then."

***

All Ein could manage was to grab a wooden spoon before dozing off. Well, it was more daydreaming than actually falling asleep. His life after high school had been so hectic and stressful that he depended on his dreams greatly to give him at least a few moments of peace. But this daydream was more than just peaceful. He actually felt happy. It was a strange kind of happiness that seemed almost familiar. Like it was a happiness he had known as a child, but forgot.

The daydream wasn't specific. He saw flashes of images, but they didn't really make any coherent sense. That didn't matter though. He was happy.

His daydream shattered when he heard a voice.

"WAKE UP, EINNY-POO!"

Ein opened his eyes.

His Grandma was up on the counter, stirring a pot of stew. The kitchen was filled with food, and it smelled delicious. More than delicious. These were smells that seemed so familiar too. Maybe his Grandma used to cook for him when he was little. Maybe his Grandma wasn't so bad. After all, she did cook this meal for him, and she never cooked anymore.

The doorbell rang.

"THAT'S DESTINY!" She waved him off. "GO ON! AND GIVE HER A KISS ON THE CHEEK HELLO!"

"I'm not kissing--"

"THIS IS YOUR SECOND DATE! YOU DON'T WANT HER TO THINK YOU'RE A GOODY-GOODY, DO YOU?!?"

"I really don't want to do this, Grandma."

"MAYBE YOU DON'T WANT TO, BUT YOU NEED TO, MY BOY! TRUST YOUR GRANDA FOR ONCE!"

Ein sighed and let Destiny in.

They sat at the table and Grandma served them dinner.

"ENJOY, YOU TWO LOVEBIRDS!" and Grandma hopped away.

Destiny gobbled up the food, and Ein joined her.

Despite the situation--him being on a forced date with a giant--he actually enjoyed himself. The food was not only good, there was something almost…magical about it. Grandma was right, for once. This was what he needed right now.

"You know," Destiny said. "You seem a lot different now than you did on our first date. Is something wrong?"

"No." He shook his head. "Nothing at all."

***

Vincent could tell Old Hobo Joe was upset about something because he wasn't saying anything. No, that wasn't right. It was the way that he wasn't saying anything that brought Vincent to the conclusion.

"Is something wrong, Old Hobo Joe? You've hardly eaten your raccoon."

Old Hobo Joe shrugged. Shadows danced on his face.

Vincent noticed that Old Hobo Joe's eyes were on the fire. "You're upset at me, aren't you?"

Old Hobo Joe didn't move a muscle.

"You've never been upset like this before, therefore…therefore this must be about something I've been doing differently. I don't think I've done anything different. I have been working harder at the restaurant and all. Hmm, that's not is, it is?"

No response.

"The only other thing I can think of is that I've given you some time off lately. I haven't been giving you as many orders, since I have Mean Boy to do what I want. That can't be it, is it?"

Old Hobo Joe shrugged.

"So it is. I should have realized that you're a soldier through and through. You aren't happy without orders."

Old Hobo Joe looked down.

"That isn't it either. You…" It hit him. Vincent finally understood the truth. "Old Hobo Joe, you needn't be jealous of him. I order Mean Boy around because I don't like him. But I order you around because I do like you. I…respect you." Vincent had never said that word before in this context. It felt very strange coming from his lips. A good kind of strange, though he could hardly comprehend what the word meant. He was beginning to understand the feeling. "I suppose I'm trying to say that you inspire me. I mean, look at you. You have no home, no car, no food, no money. All you have is the clothes on your back, and yet you carry yourself with so much dignity." Vincent placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "We will be a great army one day, Old Hobo Joe. And not because I am a great leader. A leader is only as great as his men."

Old Hobo Joe nodded, and wiped a tear off his cheek.

"Now then, get back to your patrol. I'm going to sleep."

Old Hobo Joe saluted and went back to work.

***

Ein sat at his desk and wrote his apology to Samantha. It of course bugged him that it was Chucky who told him to do it, but he really did want to apologize.

He finished the letter, and felt utterly exhausted.

His bed looked wonderful to him now. He didn't even care about the clowns anymore. All he wanted was to lay down and sleep. Then he could feel true peace. The peace of nothingness.

He climbed into his bed and--

RING!

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ein, it's Princess."

"Oh, hey. Are you still at the restaurant? Did you find a chef yet?"

"I'm not calling from the restaurant."

(He knew she meant she was calling from a payphone but he said:) "You installed a phone in the treehouse?" He laughed at his joke out loud. Mostly because he was tired, not because it was funny.

"Actually, Ein, I'm calling from home."

Home? "What do you mean, home?"

"Home, home. You're not going to believe what happened. My mom saved the day."

"She did? How?"

"She's our new chef."

This wasn't good. Not good at all. "That's…surprising. Now you've moved back with her?"

"Just for a while. She wants to teach me some things, and I thought I'd better learn it now before I have to travel around as a world-famous gluttonist."

"What does she want to teach you exactly?"

"I don't know. Sewing and stuff, I guess. It doesn't really matter. I think she's lonely without me."

Ein sighed. He wanted to tell her the truth. He wanted her to know about her mom's schemes and everything, but he couldn't tell her. For one, he didn't want Mrs. Kyoto to torture him. And two, he still wasn't sure if Mrs. Kyoto was wrong about Princess, even if he didn't agree with her methods of convincing.

"Ein, um…Chucky forgot one of his technical instrument thingies at the restaurant. I don't want you to go to any trouble, so I'll call him. Just give me his phone number."

"No trouble. I'll tell him about it."

"No, really. I'll do it. He seems like a…an interesting guy. It'd be nice to talk to him again."

Oh no. "Princess, you really don't want to get involved with him right now. He's having some…problems."

"Well, maybe I can help him with his problems. I think I'm pretty good at giving advice. You don't have to worry about me so much, Ein."

Maybe she was right.

Wait, this could be perfect! Maybe Princess would go over there, and Chucky would like her, then he would leave Waitress Girl to Ein!

"Alright," Ein said. "I don't have his phone number, but I'll give you his address."

"That'll be great. Thanks, Ein."

No, Princess. Thank you.

***

"Hello, my name is Princess, and um…we met at the grand opening. And I was wondering if I could talk to Chucky."

Mr. and Mrs. Flabbing looked at each other and smiled.

"A girl wants to speak to our son!" Mr. Flabbing shouted, bursting in tears.

"Our prayers to the Wind Spirit have been answered!" Mrs. Flabbing grabbed Princess and pulled her inside. "He's right up those stairs! First door on the right!"

"Uh…thanks." Princess headed up the stairs and found the door. She felt the eyes of the Flabbings on her back the whole way.
She knocked on the door.

Chucky opened it. "Can I help you?"

"Um…I'm Princess. We talked the other day at the grand opening."

"Ah, did we? I can't recall. But then again, I speak to so many beautiful women."

He thought she was a beautiful woman? She tried to keep herself from blushing, though she knew it wasn't something she could prevent. "Um…Chucky, I was wondering--"

"Please, call me Dante."

"Oh. Dante. I was wondering if sometime…you'd like to go somewhere…with me."

Chucky/Dante smiled. "I really do hate to tell you this, Princess. You are a very beautiful woman, don't get me wrong, but I feel no love for you, and I know I will never feel such love. Therefore, it would be best if you didn't waste your time on me. I'm very good at speaking to my heart, and my heart says no. I'm very sorry."

Princess didn't move, stunned. She had to pinch herself to snap out of it. "That's alright." That was all she could manage before leaving.

The Flabbings asked her questions as he exited the house, but she couldn't hear the words, and even if she did, she knew she wouldn't have the answers.

She went home, and ate, alone.