Maricel was on the phone with her aunt...

She was not happy. I stayed out of it and served myself some dinner. It was flank steak stuffed with cheese in a really tasty tomato sauce. Afterwards, she sat down with me. I said nothing until she spoke to me.
"He left, by the way." I said.
"Darn, I was hoping he'd stay for dinner." She said.
"I asked." I said. "He had another engagment."
"I was hoping you'd shoot him." She said.
"No you weren't." I said.
"Pistol whip him?" She suggested.
"He's completely confused." I said.
"I don't know quite how she got him to come here." Maricel said.
"Maybe he feels guilty." I said.
"After she got done with him, he probably does. But it won't last." She said. "So dear, tell me all about your day."
And I did.

See you in the funny papers...

Simon

To top off a magical day of fun...

I was just ready to close up the shop after a day so busy it made my head spin. I could smell dinner wafting down the stairs and was beginning to salivate. Maricel can cook. She's going through my cookbooks and coming up with something different every night. But she's walking me so much, I'm not getting any fatter. I had an exciting evening of dinner, TV and comparative comic book reading followed by discusison ahead. And I'd done nearly two thousand dollars worth of business in a day. The front door beeped and one tired looking guy came in.
"May I help you?" I asked cheerfully. I can always fake cheerful when I want their money.
"I'm here to see Maricel." He said.
I could pretty much figure he'd some all the way from Manila.
"And you are?" I asked.
"Why do you need to know?" He said in an unneccessarily confrontational tone.
"So I can tell her who's here." I said. "Honey, some unidentified male is here, doesn't seem to cut it."
I knew who it was. I was just screwing with him. I didn't have to call her, she came skipping downstairs to help me close up the shop like she always did. If I hadn't grabbed her by the belt, I think she would have killed him. I actually snatched her out of mid-ail and pulled her back towards me before she could get him. No need to repeat the string of obscenities. You get the gist. She was not too happy to see her cheating, lying ex-boyfriend.
"What are you doing here?" She screeched. That's exactly my reaction when SWSNBN shows her face. So I understood.
"I came to bring you home." He said.
"Your wife might not like that." She said.
"To your aunt." He said. "Your family is worried."
"And they sent you?" She said. "That's a brilliant idea. I hate you."
"She talked me into it." He said. "I don't know why I'm here."
"Neither do I." Maricel said. "I am home. This is where I live. This is where I was born."
"Don't delude yourself." He said. "Everything isn't going to be perfect because you moved to America."
"Everything will be perfect because you're not around." She said. "Go away. I'm fine. I don't need your help now. When I needed your help, you were busy with some other girl. Remember her, your wife? Shouldn't you be home with her now?"
"I should." He said angrily. "But I came halfway actoss the world to help you."
"You should have tried dropping by when I needed you to come halfway across town, you selfish, stupid bastard." She said. "I'm done with you." And she turned her back and ceased to acknowledge anything he said or did. She just went upstairs.
"I don't think she wants to talk to you." I said.
"Nothing better happen to her." He said to me.
"Bite me." I replied wittily.
"She's having your background checked." He warned me.
"Don't blame her." I said. "There's nothing to find, but I don't blame her. Don't you think you'd better leave before she hurts you?"
"I spent two straight days on a plane." He said.
I shrugged. "Maybe you should have called first."

Juanita called me...

She talked with her daughter and is now worried about Danny. The Florida stuff has her nervous. Danny had an online friend who lived in Florida. Juanita was worried he was spending way too much time chatting with her. He met her through a comic fan message board that Danny moderated. I didn't really know much about this because I was pretty busy with my own online friend.
"He's got a lot of money and he's in a vulnerable position." Juanita said. "I don't want some girl taking advantage of him. I was so afraid something would happen if I left him."
"You didn't leave him." I said.
"Can you check up on him?" She asked. "Without seeming like you're checking up on him?"
"I could do that." I said. "And I want to ask his expert opinion about something anyway."
"I can tell you everything about that group." She informed me. "I know all the passwords and everything. I had to help him with it sometimes."
"Can you e-mail it to me?" I asked.
"I understand all about e-mail." She said. "Learned that helping out Danny. He's like a son to me, you know?"
"I know." I said.
]
See you in the funny papers...

Simon