Maria DeLuca brought back an order from a couple in booth three and placed it on the order carousel for Jose to prepare down as soon as he got room on the grill. It was a busy Saturday night, and she and Liz had been working hard all evening. And that was a good thing, she decided. It kept their mind off of Kyle.
In a town like Roswell, where a stolen bicycle would often make front page news, the kidnapping of a teenager was big news. Even working hard all day, people had been talking to them about it, since Kyle was one of their classmates in their year at West Roswell. And they were worried too, even though they knew they could do nothing about it. Working seemed to help keep their mind off of it.
Maria was surprised to see her mother in the back area…until she saw the pies. She’d almost forgotten that Saturday evening was pie night, to prepare for dessert for Sunday dinners.
“Hi Mom.”
“Oh, …Hi dear,” said Amy “Uh…I noticed that not much is gone from the Men in Blackberry pie. I left a fresh one anyway.”
‘Oh…,’ thought Maria, ‘THAT’S what this is all about.’
“No…our regular customer for that hasn’t been in for two days now….I think he has other things on his mind.”
Maria’s eyes went to Liz’s face and noticed she too had the same sort of a sad smile. No doubt she too was remembering their conversation at their last sleepover three weeks ago.
- three weeks previously, above the Crashdown
”I tell you Liz,” said Maria…sticking a spoon of Martian Blast Sundae in her mouth to drag out her statement for dramatic effect, "...it’s positively embarrassing. Every time she sees him she talks about the time she was arrested by him at the sit-in…..how terrible it was that he picked her of all those people.”
“Well if she was acting according to her conscience, she shouldn’t be upset that she got arrested. That’s what civil disobedience is all about..”
“Are you kidding, Liz? Didn’t you read your Shakespeare? ‘Methinks the lady doth protest too much,’ and in this case, WAY TOO much. She practically salivates over the man. I can practically tell that she’s undressing him with her eyes…almost as bad as you and your lab partner.”
“MARIA…, I DO NOT undress Max with my eyes, we are friends, that’s all. Besides, he doesn’t think about me that way at all.”
“Right…well that’s a subject for another sleepover maybe. But whatever the case, my mom is gaga about the Sheriff, or at least she would be if she ever got past him being ‘a willing tool of the neo-fascist establishment.’ Even at that, I think she likes the uniform….or maybe it’s just the handcuffs….I have nightmares of coming home some night and finding one of them handcuffed to a couple of bedposts….”
“RIAAA…stop! I so don’t want to see that picture in my mind.”
“Well you’re lucky, Liz. You have both your parents…and while you might not want to think about what’s going on downstairs…heck, even now it might be happening.”
Liz shuddered…then both girls giggled. “Well, if they are doing it, at least they’re discrete.”
“Yeah, well my mother hasn’t done it in at least twelve years. I really wish she would…you know, find someone. And the Sheriff is really a pretty good guy. Kyle isn’t even all that bad…for a jock.”
“You know,” said Amy DeLuca, “..the Sheriff needs to keep up his strength if he’s going to find Kyle. Could I get a couple of Will Smith burgers to go…and an order of Saturn ring fries as well.”
Liz looked sidewise at Maria before saying, “Sure Mrs. DeLuca. It’s on the house. You want some dessert with that too?”
“That’s OK. I have a spare blackberry pie in the car…”
