Spring was settling into DC. The birds were chirping and the cherry blossoms bloomed. It was officially busy season for the Melrose Hotel.
"Mr. Rodriguez made a reservation for this Friday." Lucy remarked, holding the telephone to her shoulder. I nodded and I logged it into the computer. Lucy kept talking on the telephone.
Mr. Berilo Rodriguez was a quiet man. He made a reservation every 5th of May. Many years before I was hired, he and his late wife had their wedding at the Melrose. Every anniversary since, even after his wife passed, he came and stayed in the same room from all those years ago. Her name was Liliana, and I think their love is the purest I've ever heard of.
Over the course of the next week, our regulars called in to make reservations for the regular check in days. Tiffany Brown and her son Tommy would always come sometime in early June.
Ms. Brown is an interesting woman. I once had a conversation with her when I was first hired. The father of her son was a man named Lorenzo. And every winter, her and Tommy would go down to Mexico to try and find him. Then in the summer, they would come to visit her parents in Washington DC, then go back up to Canada for fall.
I don't think Lorenzo wants to be found.
Lucy and I's least favourite customer was a man named Larry Walsh. He was a regular year round and every couple weeks, he would bring a new girl into the hotel. He always tipped Teresa extra to make sure she kept her mouth shut. Teresa is very easy to bribe.
My personal favourite customer was a nice old lady named Lana Court. She always insisted that we called her "Mama Lana". Every spring morning, she would come to the hotel just to sit in the lobby and talk to us staff. She would sit on the red couch nearest to the reception desk and knit while she told us stories of her life. She made me a purple scarf and I wear it every winter. Chef Mike always brewed a chamomile tea for her in the mornings. I don't think anyone at the Melrose disliked Mama Lana.
Spring is my favourite season.
YOU ARE READING
Perfect is Perfectly Fine
General FictionDaphne Miles, is a simple downtown girl working at the Melrose Hotel where nothing ever happens, and she likes it that way. Her state of mind is consistently searching for any sort of pattern to follow. If that is counting her steps or checking ever...
