The Other Sister

Festivals and Gamenights

Weeks later, I was sweeping the floor of the bar in the morning light.

The lights began to flicker… "What the…" I gasp.

"I'll go take a look…" Henry stands up.

"No, I'll take a look." I sigh, "Roni will kill me if she found out a costumer went to fix the lights." I walked towards the back… I spent about two seconds before realizing that it was Dr. Facilier.

I knew it was him, when I saw the shadow. Henry turned to me and handed me a calling card. "He said he would help you with the lights."

"Uh. Yeah. Thanks."

I ran towards the food truck. "Sabine, do you need any help?"

"Um… no." Sabine shakes her head. Grabbing her notepad, Sabine's facial expression hardened, "I still need to get five sacs of confection sugar."

I fixed the strap of my backpack. "Got it. Anything else?"

"Wait! You actually want to help?"

"Of course, I do."

"Ok make sure they're five huge sacs!"

"Got it, boss!" I drove to the market, where I saw my sister, Ivy.

"What are you doing here, Rose?" Ivy asks.

"Right now," I pulled on the sac of sugar, "breaking every bone in my arms."

"Do you need help?"

A teenage boy came up to me and smiled, "Does the gorgeous lady need help with her items?"

I turned to see my sister raised an eyebrow at me. "Um… thanks, but I can't pay you." I admit.

"Your smile is enough payment." he grabs the sac and put it in my car.

Ivy and I walked towards my car, "You have to tell me how you do that." she smirks.

"How do I do what?"

"How you get guys to help you without even talking to them?"

"Aunt Rose! Aunt Ivy!" Ivy and I both turned around to see Lucy and Jacinda running towards us.

"Hey J." I smile, "What brings you here?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"Shopping for Sabine's food truck."

"Really? Sabine, had you do her shopping?"

"Yeah." I nod, "So what's up?"

"Will you two please come over later?" Lucy asks. "Family Gamenight."

"Count me in, Luc." I smile.

"How bout you Aunt Ivy?" Lucy looks at Ivy. "Please!"

"I don't think that's such a bright idea." Ivy shakes her head. "I'm a bit competitive."

"That's fine!" Lucy nods. "I'll just hide the chinas."

"You really want me to come?" Ivy looks at Lucy shock.

"Yeah, I mean this is a family thing and you are a part of the family…" Lucy explains.

"If its alright with Jacinda…"

"Come on Ivy, please!" Jacinda begs.

"Sure, Lucy, I'll come." Ivy smiles.

"Yay!" Lucy hugs Ivy.

Ivy stiffened.

Lucy let go and smiled at her mother, as they both walked away.

I slap my sister's back, "You okay?"

"Huh?" Ivy looks at me stunned. "What just happened?"

"A child just hugged you." I tease. "Let's go before, Sabine gets mad…"

We drove back to the food truck and was greeted by Sabine's truck being closed by the police.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" I yelled, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"I am closing up this food truck because papers were not in order."

"What?!" Ivy demands.

"Look, Ms. Belfrey. You know as well as I do that Ms. Debijoux, here needs the proper papers to operate a business."

"What is she missing?" I ask.

"A kitchen safety permit at least one person who is certified needs to be in the truck and she doesn't have one."

"Well, can't we just talk about this?" Ivy sighs. "And leave Sabine alone…"

"Sorry, Ms. Belfrey, Ms. Belfrey, Ms. Debijoux, I need to do my job and closed this not upto code food truck."

"But— but— but—" I stutter.

"Young Ms. Belfrey, I would suspect that your mother, Victoria, would have thought you not to stutter before she died."

This made my blood boil; I was ready to smack the shit out of that man but Ivy held my arms in a tight grip. "Don't even think about it!" she whispers in my ear.

"Ok, I'm fine." I tell my sister, "You're only doing your job, officer, and we should just follow your orders because they are there to protect us."

"Right you are, Young Ms. Belfrey." "You know what, this has only been her first offense. I'll let you off with a warning for now…"

Sabine's face lit up, "Thank you so much officer!"

The cop walked away. I turned my attention to Sabine, "Well… there you go. Got what you want?"

"Hmmph, thanks to you, both."

"No prob, so need help?"

Sabine smiled, "Help me set up?"

Ivy kicked off her stiletto, grabbed a sac of sugar, and dropped it in the truck. I, on the other hand, kept my stiletto boots on as I ran towards the truck with two sacs of sugar over my shoulder.

A few hours passed, Sabine whistled, "You, two, better get going Lucy's waiting…"

"Oh shit… taki mushrooms!" I yell. "Let's go its seven."

Ivy and I arrived at Jacinda's apartment.

"Rose!" Jacinda greets embracing me with one arm. Then turning to Ivy and embracing her too. "So glad you two could make it! Lucy is in her room with Ana."

"Ana?" I question.

"Yeah, Ana." Ivy nods. "My daughter, Ana."

Jacinda let us in. "I still can't believe you had a daughter and I didn't know about it. I mean we lived in the same household for ten years. How did you manage to hide her and did Victoria know about her?"

"Well, after you left home, I had Ana and yes mother knew about her… the reason I never told you is because Ana was in a coma and you had Lucy. That's why when you had Lucy mother wasn't so hard on you…"

"Debatable …" Jacinda rolls her eyes.

"It's true." Ivy insists. "The reason why she kicked you out is because she blamed herself for  what happened to Ana… when I was pregnant she was so mad at me that after I gave birth we got into a huge argument and it ended with Ana falling down the stairs because she heard me crying and she ran up the stairs and slipped and fell off three flights of stairs and bumped her head the impact caused her coma… Please don't make me relive that day…"