Chapter Two: Deli Dreams and Dr. Pepper Fantasies

"Hoping that he's meant for more than arguments and failed attempts to fly�"
Switchfoot "Meant To Live"



"Hold on�I'll get it there�"

I felt like my head was still spinning from the dream I had over the night. Now look where I was. Yeah, I was risking my life, but so what? The lounge had to look nice. I was literally kneeling 6 feet above the ground on a wobbly armoire, taping crepe paper streamers to the wall. Yeah I was scared I was going to fall and break my head�but so what? At least the banners would look nice.

Hopefully someone will notice my efforts someday.

Later that week, like my whole life was flying by me, I was cutting up sandwiches and my eyes looked up at the customer that was anxiously waiting for their pepperoni and Swiss on wheat, wrapped it up and smiled as they walked on their way. My first day as a trainee�and I was pretty much by myself, except for the first three hours. I admired the dirty apron I was wearing and smiled, now that I was doing the job that I really wanted instead of cashiering.

Oh crap�I need to make the peppered turkey�

So I went and grabbed a couple loaves from the shelf, a loaf of mushroom bread, a loaf of pepperoni bread and a loaf of jalapeno bread (which all sounded totally delectable, except for the jalapeno), and started slicing the still hot breads when I felt the sharp serrated bread knife slice through my thumb.

"Ow�shit," I looked down at my finger and realized the knife had gone through my gloves and my finger was bleeding. Not having time to tend to it, I grabbed another glove, sucked on my thumb to stop the bleeding temporarily and shoved the glove on my hand. I looked down at the mushroom bread, still steaming hot, and lightly smirked at it�

Damn you mushrooms. You make people high�and bloody. Then I just laughed to myself.

"Sarah?" I heard my manager saying before my mind even had time to concentrate on the task at hand.

"Yes, Eric?" I replied softly as I straightened out my hat with my left hand and I looked at my manager, who was rounding the corner like a mad dog. The slightly tall balding manager that liked to boss people around stared at me sternly with his determined dark brown eyes.

"You're doing pretty good for your first day�sold lots of sandwiches," he looked gently into the case at about half of the sold sandwiches that I had made fresh over the last couple hours of my shift. It had been the first time that I had seen him smile towards me for about a whole month.

Wow�it seems like I'm not capable of so many mistakes after all.

"Thanks Eric," I smiled softly, continuing making my peppered turkey and started layering lettuce onto the mushroom bread.

"I know this is short notice�" Eric looked around cautiously. He knew it was very crowded on Sundays and that it would be a risk to try to evacuate the store if anything were to come up, "But we're getting guests here today, we won't be closing down the store, but I want you to make everything looks nice for when they show up�"

"Alright, Eric, did you want me to make any more of the gourmet sandwiches?" I looked at him curiously. I knew how these cleaning sessions before guests went down. Everybody in the deli, the cashiers, everybody went stir crazy cleaning. And I mean stir crazy, we have to clean every single little thing�and we're already known to be very clean and professional.

He looked in the case and saw we had at least one of everything but commented lightly, "Make one more Italiano and you should be fine�" he looked at the door, "Your shift's over in 2 hours, right?"

"Um yeah�" I said lightly as I strained to look over at the clock. It was easy to see from the register that it would be right after noon, but now it was at a weird angle so I had to strain my vision.

"Good job�just grab some of the red and green bell peppers at Prepared Foods and you should be fine�just straighten out everything, make it look good," he fed his famous last line to me before he rushed off to deli duty.

Guests�oy vay.

___________________________________________

Why does Tay have such refined taste?

Lounging back on the bus seat, we were almost to our destination: Delallo's Italian Marketplace. Apparently, Mom had ordered him some Italian food last Christmas and he fell in love with their gourmet all-beef bologna and their 50-50 blend of provolone and mozzarella and just had to have some before Christmas.

Actually I tried that bologna before Zac ate it all�it was really good. Better than that crud we usually get.

I heard about their pepperoni rolls from the owner's mother, who apparently at the age of 82 is spunky enough to still work there. We spoke on the phone for a brief few minutes, she sounds nice from what I've heard. She must be pretty perceptive of my mood, even through the phone, cause I heard her say after a minute:

"Honey�how old are you?"

"23, Mrs. Delallo," I strangely answered her quickly as I looked at the receiver, almost like she could see through it.

"Are you married, doll?" I felt her smiling through the phone and I slightly sighed throughout the whole conversation. I couldn't just keep it to myself; it was just in my being, huh?

"No I'm not," I tried to perk up a little bit.

"Well� why doesn't Madeleine help you out a little bit? We have some young girls who work here that are very sweet�would you like me to invite one of them to lunch with you and your brothers?"

I smiled lightly as Madeleine was speaking. Maybe meeting someone here would be a good idea�but I couldn't get attached. Hell, I couldn't even get attached to my guitar for more than an hour at a time or I would start having an affair with it.

"It'll probably be Zac that'll be ogling for a girl, not me, Mrs. D."

"Isaac, you're a funny, sweet man�I don't know why you don't have a ring on your finger," I looked into the mirror, looking at my dingy green shirt and decided to change it. It was a simple button up�I figured this was a day to wear blue. It would match my mood.

"Yeah�I don't either�"

"Let me try Leah, or Sheri�our new sandwich shop girl might be a little too busy to join us, otherwise I would let her join us�she's a musician too, you know?"

"Really? What's she do?" my interest peaked as I let my blue shirt unbuttoned, exposing the white undershirt I was wearing.

"She�she sings, dear. But I think she might be too busy today, it is Sunday, we do tend to get a little bit of traffic."

"Ah okay�"

"Well I have to go dear, but I'll see you boys shortly," she chirped lightly into the phone and hung up with a short but sweet, "See you soon, hunny."

Wow�if only she were my age.

As our bus was approaching this nasty looking 1-lane traffic and a massive construction spot to our right, I looked over at Tay, who was slightly combing his hair. His son, Ezra, was off with Natalie back in New York for a couple of days and I could already tell he was suffering what Mom calls "Ezzy Withdrawal". You could just tell that he was aching to be with his son and I honestly don't blame him.

I'm aching to be Uncle Ike too.

I just can't wait to have kids. I want to be a dad�I just have to be patient I guess. It sucks waiting though; you'd think a guy like me would want to play the field a lot, wouldn't you? Yeah I would have thought that too. I've only been on a few dates since my last girlfriend and I don't know if I'd consider it a real "date", except for once when I leaned in to kiss her, I was really into her�and she announced that she was still dating her ex-boyfriend.

Ouch.

Droning on in the bus, we suddenly veered sharply to the left to pull into the busy parking lot, knocked out of my memory of Denisia (I've never heard that name before) and knocked out of my seat as well. We've had a new driver for 2 months and I'm still not used to him. He drives too fast on turns.

As I steadied myself as we parked in the back parking lot of the small parking lot, I suddenly started getting hungry.

Man�I could really use a sandwich.

________________________________________

Madeleine came out, beaming like the powerful owner she was. Yeah, I wished I could be like her. Heck yeah, she still drives a beautiful Mercedes! That's like, my dream car.

"Everything looks good dear�" she looked in the sandwich case, nodding in approval, "Grab those peppers and you'll be finished for the day," she gave me a sly little smile.

I grabbed the bag full of peppers that was behind the cheese counter and quickly yet carefully placed them in the open areas, making the sandwich case look professional. Eric walked past, giving everyone a stern look, and told me: "You can punch out."

I almost blurted it out too: "What?"

"You're free to go, you had an excellent first day, and it's 5 past 2, you're free to go," he gave me this light smile and I heard Madeleine rushing about, "The guests are here!" as I was dismissed from my post. I sighed, slightly in relief since I had been up since 6 AM and I punched out softly, removing my hat and letting my hair loose of its ponytail. I saw Madeleine scurry through and look at me curiously, stop in her tracks and Eric accompanied her as well. They gave each other this curious glance and Eric softly said in a sort of skeptical tone (I couldn't really tell if it was good or bad), "Sarah come with me�"

Oh great�they're firing me�

As I was lead into the back room, he gave me this disapproving look�a look of slight disgust and disappointment.

"What did I do?"

__________________________________________

Oh great�they're looking at me�

As I was lead into the back of the building, he gave me this disapproving look�a look of sullenness and disapproval.

"What did I do?"

"Nothing," Tay sighed softly, following me into the back as well by the real owner, Madeleine's son, Fran, Zac taking the rear of the group, "Just miss Ez, that's all."

See, didn't I tell you? Withdrawal...poor guy.

"You'll get back to him soon enough," Zac replied, looking at Tay as Fran led us to a conference room upstairs, accompanied with cold drinks and no food yet.

"The sandwiches and desserts should be up shortly," I heard Fran tell us as he offered us seats, "There should be a young woman joining you shortly�"

Gorgeous. I hope she's gorgeous. I know it's fickle�but I really hope she's gorgeous.

"She will be," Tay looked at me, almost like he could read my mind as he reached for a diet Sprite. I grabbed for one of the Dr. Pepper's and quickly drank a swig of it. It's not alcohol, but it's just as satisfying.

My thoughts drifted back to the girl in my dream as the effervescence went straight to my head�and I began to dream again.

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