Mandy having meant only to pop into the apartment for a few minutes and check feed Saliva woke up a little later, like 4 maybe 5 hours later having had fallen asleep in the big Lazyboy that her grandfather must have spent hours in because she was sure she could smell him still. She had never really known her dad's parents because they were too radical for her dad's sense of conformity but those memories she did have were pleasant and a bit silly.
She was surrounded by her Grandmother's art and had several books of poetry filled with a passion for life and a woman; it was sweet and she felt as if it should make her sick but in reality she was envious. Her grandparents had shared a love they write books about and the proof the over 1,000 pages poetry written by him, not counting their joint love letters that had shocked Mandy when she'd read some of them.
So with a sigh she decided to head out and see if she still had a Coffee Shop.
She popped out and found Walt had sat up taking in any merger funds and helped himself to two slices of pie.
Looking at the pie that was left Mandy sliced each and then glad wrapped each slice onto a paper plate with plastic fork and carried outside to a bench that once held the asses of working people waiting on the now discontinued bus line that served the neighborhood.
There was already three of the local urban dwellers waiting so she split the slices up with them and even gave each a cheap bottle of water to wash it down and sat perhaps 15 more minutes with the remaining slices handing them out to the stragglers. If she had been questioned about her uncharacteristic kindness she would have claimed she did it to keep them from digging in her trash which was strangely true. She had started this early morning ritual after seeing the homeless lurking near her cans waiting.
Sure she was a Slacker but she also had empathy and her tough girl facade only partly true like so many things about her. She claimed to be mysterious but was only weird. Some believed she did drugs all the time and she let them because then they might have wanted her to try them but if she gave off a jaded appearance people didn't bother.
She stepped back inside and saw that Walt had already headed up to his bed in apartment L so she was alone with her Kitchen behind the counter.
She first pulled out her fruits and began their prep before rolling out the crust and filling her three pans and today she had made up her mind to just tope the crusts and lost to her side of whimsy and sculpted the tops as always after flicking on her Pie makers website that she hosted in private.
It being the time of year it was she began with a tribute to
Lovecraft then next was something
Insulting but finished with a more
traditionaltop which she'd claim was because she had no imagination. Today's cookies were a tribute to a picture on her wall of
Daisies which took her longer than simpler cookies but got her pesky Muse to quiet down
Walking outside Mandy Lights one up and looks up and down the drab old street her little prison sits on. Gone were the days when if she heard about something interesting going on in Alaska or South America she could just point her feet in that direction and go. She was a homeowner and business owner.
She looks at the old bench where some old bum named Tommy snored away
"So this is Paradise?"
A little while later
Mandy finished her morning bake as she wondered if the deputy up the street was asleep in his cruiser with the motor running?
She pictured the headlines
Officer sucums to Carbon Monoxide
It wasn't that she didn't like cops but anyone who slept in a running car was asking for it
Sunrise and a van arrives
Ruben a big Black guy who scares white people with a smile walks to the back of his van and opens it up as Mandy looks on.
"I got a deal for you today Mandy. I got top end organic strawberries, brandied pears to die for, Pumpkin, Pecans, top flour, Amish butter and lots more" he says in an excited Toneloc voice that should have been DJ at some top station than a delivery man for an upscale produce company
He soon loaded her a box of things along with flour, eggs, and milk which he wheeled into her kitchen and said he'd drop the fee if she'd make him a monster pie for his church raffle.
When he left Mandy put away the produce an milk then filled her Male Tears cup
Flipping on the sound system Mandy Indulges herself in some odd music videos beginning with
followed by
before she lets the system chose randomly her next songs
