Elisabeth Marie

Chapter Four

"I'm going to stop by the salon for a little while too. I'll probably be gone for about forty-five minutes, and when I get back here I expect to see dinner sitting on the table. Got that, dear? Alright, bye now!" said Mother as she walked into the elevator, not giving me a half second to respond. I took the hint and turned the key to close the doors, watching my gold-tinted reflection appear in the doors as they closed.

As soon as they were firmly shut, I rushed to the kitchen window. One minute, two... there she was, walking out of the building, hailing a cab, hopping in, driving away, and... gone. I walked quickly to the phone, holding Timothy's number in front of me as I dialed. The phone rang and I leaned anxiously against the wall. Once, twice... after five rings, someone finally picked up.

"Hello?" asked an adult female voice, shocking me a little before I realized that Timothy had probably given me his home phone number. I must have waited a little too long to respond, because the woman asked again, "Hello?"

"Oh, hi, sorry," I said. "Is Timothy there?"

I could almost see her perk up in interest. "May I ask who's calling?"

"Oh, um, Elisabeth," I said slowly.

"Oh, I... I see," the woman said, clearly not seeing. "Well, he's not here right now. He just left for work a few minutes ago. He's probably going to be starting deliveries in a sec, so it will be hard to catch him. I can tell him you called, though," she said. "Want to leave a message?"

"Oh, no, that's alright," I said hurriedly. "Thank you though." I hung up before turning the phone back on to make another call- this time to order a pizza.

"Pike's pizza, how can I help you," said an exhausted- sounding voice.

"Hi, I would like to place an order, what is your cheapest thing?"

"Um... let me check. It looks like it's the... um... extra small cinnamon sticks, for a dollar fifty."

"Great," I said, glad that I wouldn't have to spend much of my food allowance. "I would like one extra small cinnamon sticks, delivered to..."

I finished with requesting Timothy for delivery before hanging up. Hopefully Mother was being completely honest when she said she would be gone for at least forty-five minutes. If she got back sooner... I shivered at the thought before going to grab some money to pay Timothy. He would only be able to stay for a few minutes, since this wasn't going to be his last delivery like last time.

As soon as the intercom buzzed, I hurried over to the elevator doors, and before he could get out a 'hello', I had opened the elevator doors and pulled him into the apartment.

"Whoa, slow down, I'm going to drop your... uh... cinnamon sticks!"

I shoved the money and the tip into his hand before saying anything. "So, Timothy," I said, sitting down on a chair, "I have a problem, and I think you can help me with it."

He opened his mouth to say something and gestured to the door. "Don't worry," I said, not giving him time to say anything, "this will take five minutes, I promise. Okay?"

He nodded and sat down in a chair across from me. "So what's up?" he asked.

"You know Mocha? My dog?"

"Yeah, what about her?"

"Mother's getting rid of her. Tomorrow morning. And I need to be sure she goes someplace nice."

"Why not just protest? Don't let her take Mocha."

"I tried. It didn't work. So..." I took a deep breath. "I need you to take her."