Mr. Tan

Chapter 11: Star Struck

So far working at Earl's has been okay at best. He hosted live entertainment every Friday and Saturday, so that meant this place would be jumpin' and bumpin' from 9:00 till he closed at 2:30 in the morning. I only cleaned the ladies room and ran errands for him till 7:00, so I didn't really ever get to see any live entertainment. Today, I was a few minutes late to work because I had to go to a prenatal appointment which was at 2:00. When I got there 15 minutes late, my first thought was "oh shit, he's gonna fire me for being late". As soon as I walked into the door and put my black apron on over my clothes, he came out of the direction of the men's room and quickly noticed me. He didn't look upset, in fact he looked ecstatic. He motioned for me to follow him into his office. Once inside, he took a seat at his usual cluttered desk. In the middle of his desk was a neat stack of fliers.

 "I'm gonna need you here Friday", he said.

 "Friday?", I asked.

 "You def, I said Friday, girl", he replied.

 "Why?", I asked.

"We got a local celebrity comin' here to perform", he replied.

 "Really, who?", I asked.

 "You know who dat is?", he asked, jabbing at the fliers with his pointer finger.

 I took a closer look at the bright yellow fliers on his desk and my eyes nearly popped out of my head. I instantly knew who that was on the flier, it was one of my favorite local blues musicians. It was Felicia Davenport, I just recently bought her album at the record store, the one with the two bonus tracks. I knew so much about her and if I could meet her in real person, that would make my existence here on earth so much better. When she sang, I could feel it in the pit of my soul. She's was born to poor Haitian parents and came from Belle Glade, Florida. She's a beautiful dark skinned woman with shining eyes and gorgeous dreadlocks. After I told Earl I knew all about her, he tossed his head back and laughed.

 "Gal, whatchu know 'bout the blues?", he laughed.

 "Enough", I replied.

 After he was satisfied with my answer, he gave me precise instructions on what needed to be done.

 "Take them fliers and put one on each table", he said, while getting a cold beer out of his mini fridge behind his desk. I wants everybody to know she comin' here this Friday. Post some of 'em behind the bar and then take 'em outside and post as many as you can up and down dis street. Stick 'em in car windshields if ya can.