Marilyn Ward

It was a beautiful Indian summer day in upper Manhattan. We don’t get Indian Summer every year, but it is definitely my favorite time of year, so when we do, I really enjoy it.

 

My husband and I run a quaint coffee shop on the East side in a somewhat older neighborhood, but we are well known for our delicious pastries and a small gift shop that we decided to add after our fifth year in order to attract more customers, since Starbucks had opened several shops and competition was tough. We had an assortment of items from various countries and other states that people in Manhattan weren’t used to seeing in regular stores, so once word got out, business really took off.

 

On this particular morning, I was getting another Espresso machine going when out of the corner of my eye I see a bouncing head of the prettiest shade of red hair happily skipping along the sidewalk. Sure enough, the bells on the door jingled and in comes the cutest little girl. If I were to guess, I’d say she was probably 8 or 9 years old. She began looking around the gift shop as though she was very determined to find something very specific.

 

I finished setting up the espresso machine and made my way over to the little girl. I said, “hello there”, is there something I can help you find? Very sternly, she looked right at me and said, “I think so. My mommy says that your store has everything. Is that true?” That was a pretty tall order and this beautiful child obviously meant business. I didn’t dare disappoint her. To be honest, this little thing was quite intimidating despite her size. She had the most beautiful green eyes I’ve ever seen, but they were a little daunting at the same time.

 

I told her i couldn’t possibly stock everything, but we did have a large variety of items to choose from and asked her what she was looking for. Without hesitation, she blurted, “I absolutely must have a red and white striped umbrella. It’s a gift for my mommy.” She lifted her palms upward and said, “so, where are they?”

 

I had to choke back a little chuckle. This kid wasn’t fooling around. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was something very familiar about this child. It was starting to drive me nuts. Who was she? Why was she here by herself? She was so tiny, yet a force of nature.

 

At any rate, I walked her over to our variety of umbrellas to see if we could find something she liked. I found a very pretty floral design red, white and blue one. I showed it to her and asked her if she liked it. She gave me the most humiliating frown. You would have sworn she thought I had the IQ of a squirrel. She finally opened her mouth and responded, “if you remember, I asked for a red and white striped ONLY umbrella.” I apologized, of course, and explained that we had some very pretty blue and white umbrellas, even some multi-colored ones, but not one red and white striped one. Nope! I was about to break this cute little girl’s heart.

 

“I’m so sorry honey, but I just don’t have umbrellas like the one you’re looking for today. I expected tears or a tantrum or just plain anger, I’m not quite sure, but it certainly isn’t what I got. She looked up at me with those beautiful green eyes and replied, “that’s ok, I’ll just come back tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll have one by then. My mommy says you have EVERYTHING! And before I could even come up with a decent reply, she was skipping halfway down the street.

 

Now what? I can’t let this kid down. There was just something about her that intrigued me, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.

 

I started calling every one of my suppliers that I thought might have red and white striped umbrellas. Sure enough, after about my 15th call, I found one. One tiny little problem, they were 120 miles away and they wouldn’t be able to deliver it until Thursday. Tomorrow was Wednesday. I asked them how late they were open and asked if I could come and pick up my order this afternoon. They said that as long as I was able to get there before 5 it would be fine. If I had been a few years younger, I would have jumped up and down for joy, but I didn’t want to get hurt, so I contained myself.

 

I went to the back of the store where my husband was waiting on some customers and told him the whole story asking to please watch the shop for me this afternoon while I went to pick up an order of umbrellas. He looked at me with his kind eyes, gently touching my cheek and said, “oh, sweetheart, did you forget to put the orange juice in your mimosa again this morning? I lightly hit him in the arm and replied,” No! I’m serious. There’s something about this kid. When she comes in tomorrow, you’ll see.” He patted me on top of my head and said with a goofy smile, “of course I’ll watch the shop. All you had to do was ask. You didn’t need to make up some crazy story “ I wanted to knock him for a loop, but then I heard him laughing out loud. That man can be so frustrating!

 

The next day at about 10:00 a.m., here comes that little firecracker skipping down the street. Way behind her I see a woman who looks familiar, but I’m focused entirely on the little girl. I greet her at the door and tell her that I was able to find several red and white striped umbrellas and told her that because she was such a good customer for coming back the next day, she could pick which ever one she wanted, and I would buy it for her. She got so excited she just jumped right up into my arms and gave me a huge hug. My heart literally melted.

 

About that time, my husband came around the corner and shouted “BOO”! The little girl jumped down and ran over to my husband yelling “Uncle Bob”! I was totally confused. Just about that time the bells jingled and in walked my sister Sally who has been living in Paris for the past 7 years. I ran (fine, fast walked) to the door and gave her a hug and, as they do in France, a kiss on each cheek. Both she and my husband were laughing hysterically. Come to think of it, so was the little girl.

 

What’s going on here, I inquired. I looked again at the little girl and asked her what her name was. She responded with the name Shana. I almost fell out of my shoes. Again, she began laughing uncontrollably. In that very second, I knew that after not seeing her since she was a year old, I was looking into the eyes of my niece.

 

Those dirty rats just pranked me but good. They were planning to come for a visit in the Spring, but my sister became ill and they had to postpone. Apparently, they had planned this as some sort of sick April Fool’s joke. They liked the idea of torturing me so much that they decided to do it anyway.

 

Of course, by then we were all laughing, and we’ve been dying to make it to France just as soon as we can.

 

Now, the only problem is…what the heck am I going to do with all these umbrellas?

 

I can’t think about that right now, I have to find a way to prank my sister, but good!