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Mar 25, 2017

Apartments on a List(Part 3)

Everyone’s stands were in place, it was early. The pedestrian walkway was starting to look even more marvelous than it already was.

“Try to smile.” Stephanie urged Robbie while he was finishing one of his cakes. “But make it a honest smile.”

“At this point, if I do something nice like that it’s not gonna be honest, pink girl.” Really, the sight of Robbie baking a cake was something hypnotizing, he did it like one of those guys from TV, but he still did it in his own way.

The smell, the sounds, the colors. This event was simply marvelous in it’s entirety.

You could walk the whole pedestrian walkway and find all sorts of cakes and all sorts of bakers, some of them didn’t stand a chance from the start but they still participated. Most of them were in it for the fun, some for the fame, others because a group of children insisted.

Robbie had made the most awesome looking stand in the competence, there was no doubt. He already had an advantage there, but his social skills were the rusty ones.

It was early in the morning, a strange hour for Robbie, but before the event started the supervisors had to see that everything was in order and that everyone met the requirements. The kids kept trying to give Robbie advices and Robbie was getting irritated and the whole thing was trying his patience. He liked things easy, he liked things fast, not this kind of thing.

The shop owners opened their stores later than usual, but they couldn’t lose clients. Behind Robbie’s stand was a flower shop. Of course, Robbie didn’t know about it because he never went for a stroll. If he got out of his apartment it was because he had a reason to do so, and he didn’t waste time looking around, and he certainly wouldn’t go to a flower shop since he was allergic to flowers and he wouldn’t enter to one to buy flowers for someone else; no one was worth his allergies.

The kids did notice the flower shop a few days earlier, it was bigger than the flower shop that was in front of their building, they even met the owner of that flower shop! The little shop wasn’t open for clients that day, but the kids thought the guy felt a little overwhelmed by something for some reason and they went up to talk to him. He was really nice with them, he explained that he was far from home for the first time and that everything he was doing was a new experience for him and that he felt, indeed, a little overwhelmed.

When the kids saw him walking to the big shop they ran to say hi.

Robbie looked back at them for a second, he didn’t want them running around. Milford was around, with Bessie, and he often stopped by to check on the kids but that didn’t mean Robbie could let them go with too much freedom.

The kids dragged Bobby to Robbie’s stand.

“Robbie! You need to learn to be more like Bobby here!” Trixie smiled.

“You should meet little Ella!” Bobby smiled, letting the kids lead the way. “She definitely needs some friends like you, this is a new place for her too, ya know.”

“Leave the poor man be, kids!” It was another way of saying ‘I don’t want to meet anyone, little brats!’. Robbie sighed, because he knew he couldn’t stop them. He tried to fake a smile when the poor man stood in front of him, at least he’d work as practice.

You could tell Robbie’s smile was fake, and Bobby was usually good at reading people.

“Sorry for the kids.” Robbie said, not minding to look at Bobby.

“Don’t worry, pal!” Bobby let out a little chuckle. “Kids are great!”

'Great? At what? To who? Great at getting on my nerves?’ Robbie didn’t say anything. A little twitch came to his nose.

“Watcha got there?” Bobby wondered, looking at the cake Robbie was finishing.

“A cake.” Robbie spat.

“Robbie…” The kids scolded him in unison.

“It’s basically a nutella and coffee cake. I’m adding some chocolate curls to it. It’s good to wake you up.” Robbie said, politely, looking at the kids.

“Ya should give it a name… Add a sign with the name and the ingredients, that’ll bring some attention and you won’t have to explain it to people.” Bobby recommended with a wide smile.

Robbie looked at him, it wasn’t a bad idea at all. He stared for a second, that voice was familiar, the way Bobby talked, he heard him before.

“Do I know you?” Robbie scratched his chin with his free hand.

“I don’t think so, I’m new around here. I own a little flower shop around that street.” He answered, pointing to the street where they lived.

'Achoo!’ Robbie sneezed at the mention of the word 'flower’. Thank God he wasn’t looking at the cakes, but he sneezed all over Bobby.

“Sorry.” He left what he was doing and covered his nose.

Poor Bobby got scared for a second because the sneeze was so abrupt and sudden. “It’s okay!” He tried to find a tissue or something.

“Kids, take care of the stand for a second. I’ll go buy something from the drugstore.” Another sneeze came over Robbie as he left the stand. He took a few steps and looked back with a killing glare. “Ziggy, don’t eat anything!”

“Sir, yes sir!” Ziggy trembled. He was gonna do his best.

Robbie passed Bobby and went to the drugstore.

“Do ya need me to stay?” Bobby asked.

“It’s okay mister. We can handle it!” Stephanie smiled widely.

“I don’t doubt it! I’ll be around if you need anything, then.” Bobby waved at them, walking back to the flower shop behind them.

“You should stop by and try some of Robbie’s cakes!” Ziggy told him.

“I will!” Bobby smiled, putting his hands in his pockets.

“He’s a good guy” Pixel spoke, once Bobby was gone. “We should help Robbie with the signs until he gets back and rejects our help.”

“Stephanie has the prettiest handwriting.” Trixie said.

“How about my handwriting!?” Stingy said, a bit offended that he hadn’t been mentioned.

“You would save yourself from writing the whole words trying to keep them all to yourself, Stingy!” Trixie stared at him just in case he tried to make a comeback.

“Trixie don’t be mean to Stingy.” Stephanie looked at both.

“Has anyone seen Ziggy?” Pixel asked, taking his look off his watch.

A sudden worry came to everyone.

“N-No.” Each of them said.

“He’s gone! He can’t- He’s loose!” Stingy looked around. “What are we gonna do!?” he freaked out.

“Stingy calm down!” Stephanie grabbed him by his shoulders.

“But he’s gonna eat everything! And what if he gets lost!?”

“Calm down!” Trixie slapped him.

“Trixie! That wasn’t necessary!” Stephanie looked at her.

“What do you mean? That’s always necessary!” Trixie laughed a bit.

Stingy was frozen, he got a bit mad when he was able to react.

“Hey, Pixel’s gone too!” Stephanie turned around.

“How? When?” Trixie saw that Pixel was in fact gone.

“He can find his way back.” Stingy breathed.

“I found him!” Pixel spoke, while dragging Ziggy back into the stand.

“I just wanted to buy something sweet!” Ziggy defended himself.

“Let us know first, you have no idea how much we worried!” Stephanie stepped closer to Ziggy, frowning.

“Sorry…” Ziggy apologized.

The supervisors arrived and they started checking the stands and the participants instantly.

Robbie saw them from the drugstore and came back, at first he thought of running back but there was no need. His allergies were still present, but he tried to look as good as he possibly could.

“Hey Robbie, we took the liberty of picking up the names for your cakes, and we wrote them on those little papers.” Pixel said, pointing at the colorful papers.

“Good, now you can leave.” Robbie shooed them out of the stand.

“Robbie you need to say things like thank you if you want to win this contest!” Stephanie said, as she left the stand with the other kids.

“Kid, I didn’t say this before because I didn’t want to break your little heart, but I can lie.” Robbie pat her on the head as he took charge of his stand.

Stephanie rolled her eyes at him.

“Don’t sneeze on them old man!” Trixie smirked, talking about the cakes.

Robbie was as always sharply dressed, polished shoes, nice shirt, carefully kept sweater, expensive belt, stylish pants. He always dressed smart and to impress. What he lacked on social skills he compensated in everything else. As soon as the people in charge came near, he stopped looking like the grumpy guy from the first floor. Manners came to shine, he knew how to sell his story. He knew what these guys liked, he already had the element of surprise in his dedication.

“Well, Mr. Rotten, right?” One of the supervisors said, minding more about the stand than about Robbie. “Number 18. One of the last. Why did you join this contest? And why so late? Were you having doubts?”

This was kind of like a job interview, at least the ones they sell on TV. Robbie was confident enough and he had all the reasons to be so. He made sure to read the names on their suits.

“Well, Mr. Farabella…” He started confidently. “I am not late. Late would mean that I didn’t enter and I’m pretty sure I did. So if we put it as if I joined right to the limit, well yes, it was because I didn’t care about this contest. I didn’t care because what you’re offering I already have it.”

“Do you mean the money, or have you worked baking cakes for our company before?” John Farabella smirked, he had experience. The other two supervisors seemed pretty convinced about Robbie. Even if they really didn’t care about the bakers, they were still testing them. They couldn’t kick them out of the contest just because they didn’t have a good reason to enter, but their boss was a tricky person and the kind of guy who would bother you for insignificant details.

“Oh, I don’t mean that prize. The real prize should be being recognized. And I am already recognized.” Robbie looked down at them.

“I wonder by who.” Mr. Farabella spat. “But l really should start checking on the requirements. This was just a formality, you are not being evaluated based on this questions. You’ll be evaluated based on the quality and taste of your cakes, that’s why we’re here for. Jerry.” He stepped back, letting Jerry take the lead, he seemed like a rookie, but a capable one.

“Hello Mr. Rotten. I’m here to check if you have everything ready for later, you should know that it is expected for this to become a situation where many people will attend, and we need to be able to test all of your skills through those people.” Jerry Thompson smiled. “So we need variety, Mr. Rotten, as you may know! So let’s check the list and see.” He said looking through some papers.

“Sure.” Robbie smiled, trying to be polite.

“Okay, let’s see.” Jerry said as soon as he found the right paper. “You must have a chocolate based cake, which you do as I can see from that name! Nice touch.” He complimented, the sign said 'Chocolate Boom’.

“Ah, yes. I let the kids choose the names.” Robbie admitted.

“Oh, you have kids? That’s nice. They must be glad to have a dad who can bake cakes.” Jerry said absent minded, marking the little box beside the first requirement sentence.

Robbie didn’t feel the need to correct Jerry about the kids, if anything that would generate some kind of sympathy, apparently.

“You must have some kind of sponge cake. How about this one, 'Fluffy Candy’?” Jerry read. “Your kids have a great imagination.”

“Yes, that’s one. I made a few.” Robbie looked at the cake he pointed out.

“Good, but one’s enough. Quality not quantity.” Jerry marked it. “A puff pastry cake… Nailed it.”

Robbie let the man do his job. The kids were on a bench, waiting patiently, at first, but they got bored so they went to inform Milford that they would be playing around.

At the end of the list Jerry said. “Okay, we’re almost done… Cheesecake… Done. You got our e-mail, right? About the last additions?” Jerry looked for another page.

“O-Of course!” Robbie lied. He didn’t read any e-mail. He didn’t even check Flobby’s messages.

“Good!” The man said. “Which ones are the gluten-free cakes?”

“Y-Yes.” He said, relieved. “Right there.” He pointed out 'White Lemonade’.

“Awesome! Vegan cake.” He read.

“Strawberries in the Water…” Robbie read the little sign.

“And last but not least, a low/reduced fat cake.” Jerry read.

“That one.” Robbie saw that the sign had a crossed word. He read the ones above it: 'Apple crunch’.“

"Wonderful. We’re done here, Mr. Rotten! Good job so far. For being so patient I would like to give you a little advice. As you may know you need to sell your cakes.” He leaned over the stand. “I don’t mean it that way, they’re free. I mean that you should offer some kind of beverage to go with, or a little souvenir… People love that.”

“Yes, thank you.” Robbie said.

“Good luck, Mr. Rotten.” John said as they left.

Robbie breathed at last. He dropped as soon as they were out of sight and the kids ran back to the stand.

“What happened!?” They all asked.

“That took forever!” Trixie sighed, annoyed.

“Business takes it’s time, Trixie.” Stingy rolled his eyes at her. “You bribed them, right?”

“No! He did not!” Stephanie looked up at Robbie.

“Well?” Pixel said, they were waiting for some kind of answer.

“Well, if it weren’t for your friend Sportaflop we would be out of the contest…” Robbie said wiping the sweat off his forehead.

“Really? How so?” Ziggy asked.

“He insisted that I make those healthy cakes, specially for you. I didn’t want to at first.” Robbie sighed. “But I ultimately did them. I didn’t read the requirements, it was all luck.”

“What!? What do you mean you didn’t read the requirements!?” Stephanie screamed at him.

“It was a long list! That’s why it took so long!” Robbie looked away, annoyed.

“You really are lazy!” Pixel frowned.

“Oh, don’t tell me that you read the ’I Have Read And Accept The Terms And Conditions’ thing, Pikachu.” Robbie looked at Pixel.

Pixel looked so offended at being called 'Pikachu’. “Of course! Terms and Conditions are important. An 'adult’ like you should know that, Roberto.”

Robbie was by far more offended at being called Roberto by a little kid.

“Did you like the names?” Ziggy asked.

“No, but the guy seemed to like them. And who wrote the apple crunch one? I could barely read the first thing! No, I actually couldn’t read the first part!” Robbie said, pointing at the sign.

“Oh, yes. Sorry about that.” Stephanie stepped forward. “I wanted to call it the Sportacus cake but they didn’t let me and I had to cross it.”

“The Sportacus cake?” Robbie looked sincerely confused.

“Because it has apples… He loves apples. And it’s also healthy, just like him! The Sportacus cake!”

Robbie covered his face and tried not to laugh. “Okay.” He said. “I need to get ready now. And you need to get those bracelets to vote.”

“If there’s a failure on the system I’ll make sure you don’t loose points, Robbie.” Pixel looked at him, waiting to see how Robbie would call him.

“Thanks, kid.” Robbie smirked.

Pixel frowned, but let it pass.

'Achoo!’ Robbie sneezed. “That flower shop!” He said angrily. “I’m not even that near of it!”

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