Some time later, Acai finished up the last bits of labor and gave the faucet a triumphant turn. Within short order it sprung to life, producing fresh, clear water which honestly I hadn’t truly anticipated ever happening.
“And that, my friend, is fit to print.” He said, satisfied, and shook his hands over the sink after turning off the faucet once more. “Thoughts?”
“Oh, it looks marvelous Acai; well I mean, in so far as sinks go, and all, I think it’s really swell.”
“Swell sinks at your service, madam.” Acai made a sweeping bow and I laughed, rubbing my temples gently with my forefinger.
“Let’s just skip the formalities... although you know if you’re not planning on being anywhere any time soon, I can put a pot of tea on and we could go sit out in the sun for awhile. It’s shaping up to be a lovely morning.”
“Sounds good, sounds good. Beauty before age, m’lady.”
I blew a dismissive puff of air and left him tinkering to sit in the shadow offered by the trailer. A flock of geese flew by, brash and insufferable, just as Acai was skipping his way down the steps.
“Wouldn’t be Walnut without a few noisy birds. Luckily these are of the fowl variety, versus the normal Berry sort.”
“Aw that can’t be a fair assessment,” I countered, my natural pep drawing a tiny rueful smile from my erstwhile companion. “I’ve met at least one of my neighbors and she was a pretty good egg all things considered.”
“How’d you guess?” My look of shock must have tickled him, because he laughed and responded,
“She probably got a tip from one of the Muffin triplets; they’re frenemies, well I mean, like everybody else. No one really likes the Muffin family, they’re just sort of... omnipresent. They’re largely responsible for the sugar embargo, too, or at least the matriarch was. Honey Muffin is a woman I would not want to cross in a dark alley, let me just start by saying that.”
“Muffins... sugar embargo? Surely that can’t mean what I think it means.”
Acai rolled his eyes and then steepled his fingers and stared at me with renewed seriousness.
“The Muffin family are real health nuts; total fitness fanciers, from earliest incarnations. I heard the truth of it is they think they can become like their ‘raw’ ancestors if they just purge hard enough... but they wont say as much to the plebs, just that sugar is bad for your health etc.”
I felt a little chagrin at this point, as I am pretty obviously raw. i chose to look away while Acai continued,
“Long before I landed in town, the cottage industry of bakeries and ice cream parlors were driven underground and eventually made illegal through a series of increasingly strict ordinances. It was pretty brutal, pastry shops being lit on fire, whole families of berry bakers going to prison and then going on hunger strike...”
“Wow...” I looked around me, incredulously, at the flora and fauna that populated my little world. “You’d never know it to look at it... it sounds so distant.”
“Didn’t you notice anything when you went grocery shopping?”
I squinted and tried to recall, finally saying, “Well I noticed that my favorite sodas weren’t on sale, but I figured that was a regional thing. How bizarre.”
“Awful, is the word; berries should be able to make their own choices, free food and so on down the line. It’s really enough to make you angry, but at the end of the day, what can you do?”
For awhile we sat in silence, mulling within our own little worlds the foibles of the city which stretched out below, only a mile away but so much further in our own estimation there of. Finally something settled into place, and I turned to Acai to propose something.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you don’t have plans for tonight right?”
“Are you implying that I, master of seduction, don’t have plans for a Saturday night?” He wiggled his eyebrows at me and I stammered to respond,
“Oh, not at all I-I mean I just-”
“Well,” he cut me off laughing, “You’d have been right if you were. Why do you ask?”
“Well Cheyenne said she and her husband were getting together for food at his restaurant later tonight, and she invited me- I’m sure if I could get in touch with her early enough that she’s let you come along with me. I just mean, I’d feel a little less out of place if I had a friend?”
Acai seemed to think and then nodded in the affirmative.
“I’m going to say yes for two reasons a) I like that you consider us to be friends, I’m not exactly loaded down with those so I’ll gladly accept. B) I know from all the gossip around town that I am privy to when I work on peoples homes that Cheyenne is pretty impossible to get into on short notice, and it’s also incredibly expensive. If you can get me in for free, I would be delighted to accompany you.”
I cheered and clapped my hands, then fished for my phone, saying,
“Don’t worry, you can swing by the restaurant later tonight if you have other things to do today. I’ll spend some time putting together an outfit and getting in touch with Cheyenne and meet you there at what say 6?”
“Sounds like a, dare I say, date?” Acai winked and was on his feet, tipping an invisible hat in my direction before walking back to his motorcycle.
“See ya at 6!” He called jauntily before putting on his helmet, kicking the motorcycle into gear and setting off back down the hill to the town below. After watching him leave, I called Cheyenne.
“Cheyenne? Great, it’s um, it’s Daphne and I have a question if it’s not too much trouble...”
