Chapter 6

I explained things to Andre who just showed up, and he said to go to the hospital immediately. I rushed over to the hospital where Snake had said that they had taken Maren to.

When I got there I saw Snake pacing the waiting room and I went over to him. "Any news? Do you know what happened?"

Snake shook his head, "Maren's mom called me. She only said that she and her sister had been shot in the dance studio. She didn't give any details though."

Just then a good looking older woman walked up to us quickly. "Hi Snake, did you hear anything?"

Snake shook his head, "They aren't telling me anything. Maybe you'll have more luck, Miss Landers."

The woman gave a wry smile and then looked at me. "Who is this young man Snake?"

I introduced myself, "Hello, I'm Gabe Kramer."

She looked at me with a bit of surprise and curiosity, "Glad to meet you, Gabe. I've heard so much about you from Maren and Isabel." She shook my hand and smiled at me.

'How much does she know about me and Maren?' I was about to say something when she looked around and said, "Sorry, but I'm going to ask if I can see my daughters." She left us standing and went to the receptionist to ask where her daughters where. We held back a bit and went back to pacing and waiting. I never did like waiting in hospitals.

A little while later Maren and Isabel were wheeled into the waiting room with their mother right behind them.

She quickly got out of the wheelchair and came over to me. She threw her arms around me and started kissing and hugging me. "How did you know I was here?"

I put some distance between us so I could look at her, "Snake called me. What happened, Maren? They said you had been shot, seriously. How badly are you hurt?"

She smiled, "Oh I'm perfectly all right. Someone asked an MBE to heal us. There isn't a mark on me anymore."

I frowned hearing that and I was about to ask why someone would pay the hefty fee for an MBE, and so quickly. But Maren must have guessed what I was going to do and quickly said, "I'll tell you all about it later. Now I have had enough of the hospital, so can we leave here now?"

I looked at Snake, Maren's mom and her sister. They were all rearing to go by the looks of it. I put my arm around Maren, eliciting a snicker from her sister. Maren didn't care though, she just clung to my side as we walked out.

Soon we came to a hastily parked car and Maren's Mom said, "I guess you don't have a car right? I can only seat 4 people, so I guess we're overcrowded."

I interrupted, "That's okay. I have to get back to work anyway. I'll see you Monday then?"

Maren responded to my question, "Sure, Gabe, too bad you have to work again."

I shrugged, "I need the money and experience. Well see you later." I gave Maren a peck on her cheek, but she took my head between her hands and lip locked me with her lips for quite a while.

When her Mom cleared her throat, Maren stopped kissing me, with a blush on her cheeks. She turned to go to the car and I took off on a run to get back to work.

I arrived back at Everybody's Place quite fast. As I came into the kitchen near Andre's office, I heard a heated discussion going on. I recognized the voices as those of Andre and François or Frankie as we called him. I couldn't hear it well enough to understand yet, especially since they were talking in French. Being Belgian Andre spoke that as his second language. As I came closer I saw the others looking in the direction of the office. I gave them an inquisitive look, but they shrugged, indicating that they didn't know. Probably because they don't speak French. As I got closer I could hear it better, enough at least to understand what they were talking about.

Frankie said, "Tu as commencé par le faire chef à ma place, et maintenant, tu ignores mes
idées. Je démissionne, je ne peux pas travailler comme ça."

With that he stormed out of the office and ran past us in a hurry, not looking up or speaking to us. I knew enough French that I understood what he was talking about. He had said that I was being placed over him as chef, and that his ideas were ignored. From what I heard after that, he said that he'd quit and wouldn't want to work here anymore.

I went into Andre's office and asked, "Andre? What is going on with François. Why does he say that he quits?"

Andre looked at me with a weary face. "He had some ideas that I don't think are appropriate for our business. I think that his anger has been smoldering a lot longer, though. I'm sure that he wanted the position of chef. And then you came and were a better cook than him."

I must have shown some kind of guilt on my face as Andre continued, "But he doesn't blame you or my decision. He's just unhappy. I really don't want to lose him, you know. He's a real pro and there is nobody better at cakes and desserts than him."

I glared at Andre and he laughed, "Well, you could give him a run for his money, I know. But he really is a professional in his speciality."

I sighed, "I know. I can still learn a lot from him. He's a wizard with the cakes, and his puddings are quite a hit with our customers. Do you mind if I try to talk to him?"

Andre waved, "Go ahead, be my guest. I doubt you can make him change his mind. But if anyone could, it would be you."

I nodded and quickly left the office, going outside to look for Frankie. I didn't have to look too long. He was sitting in the alley behind the restaurant. He just sat there looking at the ground. I sat down next to him and kept quiet for the moment. Frankie started, "What do you want Gabe? I don't feel like speaking right now."

Softly I said, "Listen François, I can understand enough French to know what the fight was about. I didn't ask to be made chef."

He sighed, "I know that and I don't mind it that much. I know that you're the better overall cook. I specialize in desserts."

"Then what is really on your mind? Tell me what is troubling you. If you keep quiet about it, nobody can help you."

Frankie sighed again, "I don't think you can help me, Gabe. I wanted to expand the business of the restaurant to another avenue, but Andre just doesn't see it my way."

I grimaced, "So what big idea do you have? Do you want to start a business for yourself then?"

"Well, I wanted to start a catering business, you know wedding cakes, birthday cakes, party catering stuff like that. But I wanted to do it with Everybody's Place, because I don't have enough capital to start, and we have such a good reputation on quality."

I thought for a moment, 'It might be a good idea, but I can see why Andre doesn't want it. This is too much off the track for a restaurant or diner or ice-cream parlor. And though we should diversify, we shouldn't want to do too much.' "Frankie? I need to think about it. Please do me a favor and take the afternoon off. Tomorrow both Andre and you will have cooled off. We can discuss things more clearly then. Okay?"

Frankie gave me a wry smile and said in a relieved tone, "Okay, Gabe. You'll make a great chef. I wouldn't have gone after an employee to have a talk like you just did."

I grimaced again, "Go home you frog! Just come in tomorrow for work, and after my lessons I want to talk to both you and Andre."

Frankie smiled and after getting his bag, set off. Andre was curious and asked, "What did you say to him Gabe?"

"I told him to go home for the day. I need some time to think. I want to talk about it tomorrow with both you and him, if you value my opinion on it that is."

Andre looked relieved, "Sure Gabe, sometimes I react too emotionally. I know that. I don't want to lose François as an employee. But we can't afford to spread ourselves too thin. His ideas are good, just not for us right now."

"I know that, but I think that there may be a solution. But I need some time to think it over."

Andre agreed that both he and Frankie should calm down, and we went back to work. The solution of this problem eluded me the whole afternoon and evening. It even kept me awake for a long time. Just as I started to get up and grab something to drink, I suddenly saw a bright flash of light shoot through the night sky. It blinded me for a moment. There was no way this could be natural. I knew of only one person who had the power and ability to do something like that. I guessed that Maren lost control of her powers for a moment. I made a note to ask her about it in the morning.

Thinking about Maren, my mind wandered a bit further and I realized that her Mom's wedding was the next Saturday. That's when I had my epiphany. I suddenly knew what to do with the problem of Frankie and Andre. Satisfied that I had my problem solved I went back to bed and fell asleep moments later.

The next morning I met Maren outside the center. She looked a bit haggard, but smiled when she saw me. She gave me a kiss before I asked, "Hi Maren? How was the rest of your day yesterday? Give any lightshows lately?"

She groaned, "How did you know that, Gabe?"

I smiled, "I couldn't sleep, I kept thinking about a problem at work. And then I saw your lightshow. At least I think it was your lightshow. You are the only one I know that can do that."

She grimaced, "Yeah well I had a nightmare again. I already have an appointment with Gavin about it. Can we just drop the subject? I already feel so bad at what I did."

"Sure, Maren, let's get to class then." I pointed at my Aunt Vanessa walking up to us.

The lesson was quite easy to do and I finished it quickly and read a bit more in my books to pass the time. We were almost done for the day when Aunt Vanessa said, "I'm pleased with the progress and results you both have produced. Gabe, you are finished with all your assignments already. Maren, you still have a few more to complete. One of them is that you have to bake a cake or pie for your Home-Economics assignment. Please think about what you want to bake, and tell me tomorrow."

Maren paled a little and looked worried at hearing my Aunt Vanessa's words. I didn't want her to worry too much, so I said, "Don't worry too much Maren. I'll help you prepare for it."

Aunt Vanessa warned, "She has to do it herself Gabe. You can't help her bake it."

"I know that. I'm just helping her to show what she has to do and how she can do it. I'm the cook around here so I should help her out," I pointed out to my Aunt.

Aunt Vanessa sighed, "Oh very well. I think that is allowed. Well, I'll see you tomorrow Maren. Oh before I forget, what kind of present does your Mom like for her wedding?"

I could see from her looks that she was taken by surprise with the question. "I ... uhm ... well I don't really know."

Aunt Vanessa smiled, "Oh well, I'll find something." Then she looked at the clock. "Is that the time? I've got to go to a meeting. See you tomorrow then, Maren. And I'll see you tonight," she said to me.

I accompanied Maren out the door and asked, "Maren if you want to, I can introduce you to Frankie. He's the best at baking pie's and such. Even I can learn some things from him."

She looked a bit sad and said, "I would like to, but I have the appointment with Gavin in a half hour. He called me last night after I gave my lightshow."

"Oh yeah, I forgot already. Well give him my regards then. We do need to get together to show you how to bake something. How about coming to the restaurant, after you've finished with Gavin."

She smiled, "I would like to. I'll have to see how late I'm going to be. So don't wait for me if I can't make it today, okay?"

She gave me a kiss and I watched her walk off to her appointment. I sighed, 'I really love that girl.' Then I remembered what I had to do today and set a quick pace to Everybody's Place. Frankie was doing his normal work and I found Andre scowling in his office. I called Frankie over and together we entered Andre's office. He looked up at us with a scowl.

Before he could say anything I asked Frankie to sit down. Then I started, "François, you said that you want to bake wedding cakes and birthday cakes, right?" Frankie just nodded in agreement. "Okay, now Andre. You think this is too much, and too far away from our usual business."

Andre began, "Yes that is it. It is not that I don't like it, but we can't handle that much pull in a different direction."

I interrupted, "Please hear me out first, Andre." He closed his mouth and grudgingly let me go on. "Now François I know that you are hesitating between staying to work here, or leaving and starting your own business."

Andre began to interrupt again with an emotional outburst, but with a simple gesture, I managed to halt him.

I continued, "I also know that you like working here and we sure wouldn't want to miss you, as well. Last night I thought about a compromise between both. How about you starting your business part time and work the other hours here? For a minor fee we could also rent you the use of the baking ovens for your business. Of course the restaurant business has priority."

Both Andre and Frankie were about to speak agitatedly, but I motioned them to silence. "Look, this way we don't lose your expertise and your valued workmanship, and you don't have to get into debt already to start up a business. I even might have a first order for you as a catering job, but you should accept our help for big events as well."

I turned to Andre. "This will save us the quarrel about going into a different direction, but we won't miss out on it entirely. You don't have the strain of the new business, as Frankie will handle that. But we get to keep his skilled workmanship and if we ever want to go into that kind of business, we can have a joint venture with Frankie."

Both men were speechless after my long talk and thought hard about what I'd said. I was about to give up and get to my usual work when Andre chuckled. "Well done, Gabe! I would have never thought of something like that. I like the solution."

Frankie started smiling as well, "Mais oui. This is something I can feel comfortable with. But how are we going to manage..."

I interrupted him, "That can be worked out later. You need to make a business plan first, right after you make your desserts for today."

Frankie looked at me with his mouth open, and then he laughed. "Okay, Gabe. You got it. But I did hear that you said that you might have a first order for me. What is it?"

I smiled back at him, "Well, my girlfriend's Mom's wedding is too soon, this Saturday already, but I can talk to my Uncle to see if you can cater his wedding."

"You would do that?" asked Frankie with disbelief in his tone.

"Sure I would. Why wouldn't I? I know how good the food from here is and that you are a master at cakes. So why not?"

Frankie took my hand and shook it, "Merci beaucoup!"

"No problem. Shall we go to work now?" I asked in a mock serious voice.

As we went back to the kitchen I glanced back and saw Andre give me a thumbs up.

Maren didn't show up that afternoon, so I guessed she didn't have time. Then as the evening went on, the lights started to flicker and then all the power went out. Andre looked outside and said, "The whole block has lost power. Well, I guess I'm going to have to send the customers home. I mean, I can light the place with candles, but our equipment won't work anymore."

A thought sprung up in my mind, "Don't do that just yet, Andre. I have an idea. Start putting candles on the tables and light them. Also, I need some food for myself and a cable connected to only the absolutely necessary equipment."

Andre looked at me with a lot of questions burning behind his eyes. He was about to ask, when I already said, "You do know that I'm an Electrical Elemental. I can power several machines. So set it up, please. That way we can stay in business as one of the few in the whole block. Some others may have a generator, but most don't."

Old Mike asked, "Are you sure about that Gabe?"

I nodded, "We can do this. I don't want all those customers to go home. We need to be there for them. Come on, let's get to work."

Soon I was sitting at a table eating some of the ice-cream that we had prepared earlier and would have melted without the fridge available. We had the switches set to disconnect us from the power grid, and a cable hooked up to the service entrance in the circuit breakerbox. Then new customers arrived, a family of four, but I only had eyes for one of them. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, She was wearing a small black dress that made her figure stand out even more. And she was my girlfriend. Or at least I hoped she was. I almost forgot to keep the power going, but I remembered just in time to do just that. The control lights on the makeshift control box were already warning me to put in more power.

While I concentrated on powering and eating, I saw Maren listening to something her sister said before she made her way towards me. I smiled at her, "Hi, Maren, you look beautiful! What's the occasion?"

She smiled back and sat down in front of me, "We're having a dinner with the family before the wedding. What're you doing? Why aren't you in the kitchen?"

"Well there is a power outage, as you might have noticed. I'm powering the most essential equipment so we can stay in business." I responded.

She looked closer at the cable I was holding in my hand. "Oh, now I see. Well, I better get back to my family. We're out together and it wouldn't look good if I stayed with you all the time."

I smiled, "Of course, but do come back here again a little later. You still need to talk to Frankie, and decide on what you are going to bake for your assignment."

She groaned before saying, "Okay, I will stop by after dinner, but only shortly tonight okay?"

I just smiled as she got up to join her family. I stayed put and continued to power the restaurant. Andre came up to me, "How is it going, Gabe? Can you handle it well enough? I don't want you to overtax your self."

"I'm doing fine Andre. It's not so much a strain on me, but it does get tedious. Of course I will be tired doing this, but I can manage."

I kept sitting and supplying power, but started to feel a bit sleepy. maybe I had overestimated my endurance to keep powering it. I asked Paco for a cola. It did give me a little boost, but I still started to feel sleepy and tired. Then I noticed that it was a bit lighter outside. I looked closely and saw that some electrical lights were on again. I called Andre over and we slowly switched the power grid back on, with me taking up the difference during the change over. We had just gone all the way back to normal power and operations when I yawned. Andre noticed, "I want you to go home and sleep. And take a day off tomorrow. You're no good to me sleeping on the job."

I was about to protest but saw the look on his face and conceded. "Okay Andre, I'll go home soon, first I want to borrow Frankie for a talk with Maren."

I could see that Frankie was a bit confused, but also curious, so I explained, "The girl I have classes with needs your expertise. I will be helping her, but she has to do it herself."

With that I went over to where I had seen Maren disappear to. I found the family quickly enough and hesitated a bit about going over to their table. Her mother saw me and motioned me to come closer. As I did, I saw Maren turn towards me and she suddenly blushed a bit.

I halted in front of the table and asked, "Hi, is everything okay here? Did you enjoy the food?"

Isabel snickered, while Maren just looked at me. The man said to me, "It was great, even with most of the resources down, you managed to put on a very tasty meal. My compliments to the chefs."

I smiled, "I'll pass it on Mr ... eh?"

"Gannen, Shane Gannen. This is my fiancée, Naomi, and her two daughters Isabel and Maren. But you know them already, I guess."

I smiled, "Yes I do. If you don't mind, I would like to steal Maren away for a while."

Shane narrowed his eyes, but a smile crept over his face, "Oh? What are your intentions with her, young man?"

I hastily said, "I mean to introduce her to Frankie, our expert on cakes and pies. Maren needs advice on her cooking assignment for school."

Maren quickly got up and said, "Sure, Gabe, let's go."

I took Maren's arm and escorted her to a table near the kitchen where Frankie was enjoying a drink on his breather. I introduced them to each other and we started talking about the various kinds of simple cakes or pies that were suitable for Maren to bake.

They started talking about all the kinds of pies and cakes to choose from and I offered my suggestions. Maren already had an idea in her head, and together with Frankie she decided to try to make an apple-pie. Frankie explained in detail how to make it, and Maren jotted it down in a notepad. As we wrapped it up, Maren kissed me goodbye and I said, "Don't forget to take your swimsuit tomorrow. We can go swimming again."

The next few days I picked Maren up from her class and took her swimming, and then to the restaurant to learn how to cook. She wasn't very good at it, but she could remember our instructions well enough to make something reasonably good. On Thursday, she baked her own pie, with a lot of help from me though. And I watched on Friday as she baked the pie all by herself in class. She almost ruined it by not taking the pie out of the oven in time. I was happy for her that she did get a good enough grade on it.

Then it was Saturday, I had a day off from work, and after a shower, got dressed in the nice suit that Uncle Frank bought for me. We had to wait some time for Aunt Vanessa to get ready, but finally were on our way to the church where the wedding would be held.

I saw Maren standing just inside the entrance talking to a guest as we waited to sign the guestbook. I cleared my throat and Maren turned around to face us. Uncle Frank introduced himself and us, "Hi, I'm Frank Kramer, this is my fiancée Vanessa O'Dale and my nephew Gabe."

Maren smiled, "Welcome, Mr. Kramer. I already know Miss O'Dale and Gabe. I had summer classes with him."

Uncle Frank smiled back, "I should've remembered that. But please, call me Frank."

He wrote all of our names into the guestbook and he went inside the church with Aunt Vanessa. I stayed behind and leaned over to Maren. She evaded my impending kiss and said, "Not now, Gabe, I don't want to ruin the make up. Besides, we're going to start soon."

'She is turning me down? Oh well, whatever she wants.' I gave her a disappointed look for a moment before smiling and followed my uncle and aunt into the church.

I watched as the girls and their mother walked down the isle. I noticed that Maren was looking a lot in my direction. She even missed a step where she had to stand, and almost fell down. Her sister whispered something to her, and she paid more attention to the ceremony.

After the nice ceremony, we followed the other guests out to the party and I sat down with Uncle Frank, Aunt Vanessa and another couple. The man said he was a fireman in the groom's brigade. He told us some stories about him. I didn't listen to most of it, though one story caught my attention. He talked about a mystery girl that ran into a burning building and spectacularly blew out the fire. They had never managed to identify the girl though. I thought, 'That sounds like something only a fire-elementa, l or maybe a converter can do. Maybe it was Maren. I think that something like that would be her style.' I asked the man a few questions, "So what did that girl look like?"

He said, "Well all of us were so busy with the fire that few people saw her, and then, only at a glimpse. There was some footage taken by a camera crew, but they still haven't been able to identify the girl. The only thing we know is that she had quite long black hair, and some kind of belt hanging loosely on her."

Quite casually I pointed at Maren and said, "So, someone like her."

The man looked, "Yeah, well she looks a bit like it, but then again, so do half the girls here."

Then he started another story about the exploits they had encountered, while I was having my own thoughts about the previous one. Then the Bride and Groom were asked to start the dancing as the first couple on the floor. I had a feeling that Maren would come seek me out to dance. It wasn't a happy prospect, as I couldn't dance if my life depended on it. I was still seated between my Uncle and the wife of the fireman, so I tried to wriggle my chair a bit backwards. Sure enough, Maren looked for me at the end of the second dance and was made a beeline towards me. Suddenly I saw a way out. Lance sat just to my right and was looking at Maren coming my way with a longing look. I gave him a slight electric jolt. As he rose from his chair thanks to the zap, he started turning towards me. I managed to push him towards Maren. She was blocked from reaching me and Lance quickly asked her to dance. I was safe again, but only for a short time. Quickly I slid the chair backwards, and as unobtrusive as possible, made my way outside. I walked around the building and sat down on a wall looking at the lake behind the building.

Suddenly I noticed someone behind me, but didn't turn around. Maren sat down next to me, keeping quiet and sipping some fruit punch. I didn't look at her, but just kept staring out over the water. 'How can I start telling her that I can't dance?' Then she said, "Why are you all alone here, Gabe? Did I do something wrong? Is there something the matter?"

I turned to her with a wry smile, "There is nothing wrong and you didn't do anything wrong. It's just that I can't dance. That's why I came out here."

Maren started laughing, making me a bit upset. 'She's laughing at me for not being able to dance? How dare she?' Before I could say or do something, she quickly said, "Gabe, that's nothing to be ashamed about. And I can help you with that. How about I teach you how to dance? It's the least I can do to pay you back for teaching me how to swim."

Putting my arm around her I said, "Sure, Maren, if you can stand having your toes stepped on a lot."

She laughed again. "I'm sure that it won't be that bad. I'm just glad that you're not mad at me for not letting you kiss me earlier."

"Why would I be mad at you, Maren? I can understand that you didn't want to damage your make-up. Or even kiss me in front of all the other people there," I exclaimed a bit indignantly.

She gave me a dirty look before replying, "I don't mind kissing you in public. What gave you that idea?"

As I was about to say why, she kissed me on my mouth smothering my reply. I was taken back with her initiative, but didn't want to turn down the opportunity, so I responded in kind and we kissed for what seemed hours.

Finally she withdrew and said, "I think we better get back into the party. And I need to repair my make-up a bit."

"Okay." I helped her up and we walked back together to the party, where she disappeared to the ladies room.

We enjoyed the party for sometime, even when the newly wed couple left to be alone in a hotel, and the firefighters got rowdy. Snake offered to drive Maren, Isabel and Lance home, but not before she kissed me goodnight. I drove Uncle Frank's car home, as he'd had a little too much to drink.

The next day I slept in late, and went to work as usual. Maren came in and had a talk with Andre about a job as a waitress. She was hired on a trial basis, and would start on Monday afternoon. We did kiss for a moment, but I had to get back to work and she went back home early.

I finished my shift and arrived home in the middle of a debate about their upcoming wedding. I saw as a good opportunity and said, "I told a colleague of mine that I would recommend him for the catering. Francois wants to start up his own business part time from Everybody's Place, and he's really good with cakes and such. So would you consider him for the catering?"

Both Uncle Frank and Aunt Vanessa looked at me. Uncle Frank said, "I would like to see an estimate first. I'll have a talk with him then."

"Fair enough. He's still working in Everybody's Place. You can have a talk with him there." Uncle Frank nodded at my reply and I felt tired, so said goodnight and went to my room to get ready for bed.

Like I usually did now, I met Maren before class on Monday. She hesitantly went into class leaving me outside. I just wanted her to feel not too lonely, so I stayed within sight of her. I passed the time reading some cookbooks from renowned chefs. Afterwards we went to the restaurant together to start working. I was busy in the kitchen, so I didn't see much of Maren. But at some point Andre called me up front and told me that Maren wasn't working out as expected. She forgot too many things and he didn't have the heart to tell her that he was thinking of letting her go.

I watched her myself for about ten minutes, and though she wasn't lazy or just plain stupid, I could see that she just couldn't get into the flow of the job. I'm sure she would have picked it up eventually, but I thought she would be better off in a different line of work.