Oki doke: Chapter 3
I lay in my bed, thinking. I decided to write a pretend letter to the school.
Dear School,
I wanted to say that the lunch lady should be fired that you may want to conssider consider letting poor kids eat for free. Lunch at school may be the only real meal thay they have to eat ALL DAY. I have experienced that and I can say that it is terible teerrible terrible. I know that this school could be better (And thatts that’s saying a lot because this school is awsome awesome). Please consider this.
Thanks,
Natalie
It was so good that I decided to take it to school the next day. Oh, wait. Tomorrow was Saturday! ‘Yes!’ I thought to myself. ‘I only have to work part-time at the restaurant. And I can invite Melissa over!’ Then it hit me. Melissa wasn’t my friend anymore. Ugh. That was the meanest note EVER.
The next morning, I got up and pulled on some jeans and a T-shirt. A car pulled into the parking lot. A familiar car. Melissa’s car! No way. Did she just invite herself over? I climbed down the stairs that led to Thai the Knot. I didn’t care that we lived over our restaurant like my parents but now I didn’t want Melissa to know. When I stalked out of the door, Melissa saw me and smirked. “Didn’t know I could invite myself over, did ya’?”
“What are you doing here Melissa,” I asked warily.
“So my father is on the FDA or the-”
“Yeah, I know what that means. I’m not stupid.” I interrupted.
“Well then you know that they can shut down restaurants.”
“What! You can’t do that!”
She smirked again. “ Oh yes we can, Natalie. Thanks for being my ‘friend’.”
What was she talking about?
“Oh, yes, Natalie. The minute this restaurant opened, we knew it had to close. That’s why I became your so-called friend. I needed my parents to know yours so that we could eventually gain your trust. Then…” I woke up with a start. Breathing fast, I recalled my nightmare and sighed with relief.
I got dressed and went downstairs to eat breakfast. I popped a piece of gum in my mouth and went outside. What I saw scared me. I actually saw Melissa’s car pull up. But someone different got out. They went up to Thai the Knot’s windows and peeked inside. I ran to the back door and slipped inside. “Mom, Dad!” I called. “Yes, Nat?” Phew, they answered. “Um, there’s someone here!”
“But we’re closed right now, honey.”
“Yeah, I know, but they are looking in the windows.” My parents ran down the stairs. “Where?”
“At the front door.” I replied. We went to the front door and sure enough, the man was standing there. When he saw us, he stepped back and pretended nothing had happened. We opened the door. “Hello,” he said. “Hello,” my parents said in their Thailand accent. “Hi, little missy,” he said to me.
“Hello?” I said warily, remembering my dream.
“You’re probably wondering why I’m here. This will explain it.” The man handed us a piece of paper. My parents unfolded it and read it. Their faces paled. “What is it,” I asked anxiously.
“Nothing, nothing.” My Dad said it and forced a smile. “Nothing to worry about.”
“Well, I’m glad you think that,” said the man. “I must get going. Toodaloo!”
“Ok…” I said to my parents. “Who was he?”
“Oh, no one,” said my mother.
Later that day, when everybody was busy at the restaurant, I snuck upstairs and into my Mom and Dad’s room. “Yes!” I whispered. I found the letter and opened it.
To the Owners of Thai the Knot,
It has come to my attention that your restaurant does not meet the FDA’s regulations. I shall state them clearly:
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People have noticed that you give FREE food away. I’m sorry but we can't have that. You need to get money to pay taxes so that our town can grow.
I looked at that in disgust. People still thought that their organization was more important than actual people. That was so WRONG! I read more.
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No one can tell that your food is good. The FDA will need to check on your restaurant from time to time (that is if your restaurant keeps going). This is because no one knows where the food comes from. That is disgusting.
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No one eats at this restaurant. Can you tell us why that is true? Maybe because no one likes it.
This is not your first warning, if you remember.
I gasped. My parents had received another one of these? And they didn’t tell me? They didn’t even do anything? Not that they should but… This was serious. I looked back.
This is not even a warning at all. Please send back another letter confirming a time to meet. We will discuss this properly.
Conveniently,
The FDA
Something in that letter made me snicker. Conveniently? What kind of closing was that?! Oh, yeah. A ‘FDA Closing’ . Ha. No person in their right mind would close a letter that harshly. Then it hit me. This was OUR restaurant we were talking about. Thai the Knot. Why? We didn’t do anything wrong. Did we? Wait. What? I looked back at the paper. There was another small note.
Postscript:
This restaurant is also not a proper restaurant because you are from Thailand. You are not a US citizen and not completely white.
What? They were judging us because of our skin color? That was wrong, just plain wrong. Or was it just what Americans did? Suddenly, I wanted to go back to Thailand. Even though it wasn’t a free country. Even though we lived in Sisaket - the poorest place in Thailand. Even though we didn’t own a restaurant in Thailand. And even though I didn’t have any friends there. Not that I had any friends here, anyway.
Chapter 4
Monday was always the worst. The worst day in English (we had a spelling bee). The worst day in math (we had a decimal test and I got a C-). The worst day at lunch - that’s where I was now. I walked through the lunch line and went to a different table than usual. Then I saw the poor boy from last week. I raised my hand and went to get more food. Then I walked over to the boy and gave it to him. “I noticed you didn’t have anything to eat,” I said.
“Thanks,” He turned red, embarrassed that he was poor.
“Being poor is nothing to worry about. I am,” I admitted. “I came from Thailand and…” I trailed off. He probably didn’t want to hear my sob story. But to my surprise, he nodded in encouragement. “Well, we came here and didn’t have any money. We came here to open a restaurant and ran into some people that stole money. The-efs, I think they were called.” My Thai accent took over. “Anyway, we borrowed some from the bank and opened Thai the Knot. We paid back the money we borrowed and were kind of broke. Finally we started getting some money and here we are now, I guess.” I gave a weak smile.
“I-I’m from Thailand too,” he said shyly. I looked at him, incredulous. “You?” In my surprise, I had forgotten my manners. “Sorry. You are, though?”
“Yep.”
“Wow.” Finally, my Thai accent had formed into English. “I didn’t know that,” I said. “So, what’s your name? In Thailand, I mean.”
“Oh, เจมส์.” He said. Somewhere inside me responded weirdly to that.
James. That’s what it meant in English. “Cool, I said. Mine’s นาตาลี.”
“Yeah,” James smiled. “Natalie’s a cool name. I like it.” And for the first time, all of the shyness has disappeared from his voice. Then I noticed his smile faded. “What’s up?”
“Oh, uh, that’s the name of my cousin. She, uh, is not here. She stayed in Thailand. We called her ณัฐ.”
“That’s what they call me too! Nat.” But my excitement didn’t last for long because I knew just how he felt. “My cousin, his name was also James, he also stayed in Thailand. I’m from Sisaket and, well, you know where that is.”
“Yeah, me too, actually.” Then it hit me.
“Wait! What school did you go to?”
“Uh, สถานที่เรียน, I think it was called.”
“Me too!” I almost yelled. Just then, Melissa came over, but I didn’t care.“รอคุณอยู่หรือเปล่า เจมส์ จอห์นสัน?” I asked excitedly in Thai.
“Yes!” He exclaimed. This was so exciting. He was James Johnson and I had known him in school! I knew he looked familiar.
“Hey, Nat? What are you doing?” Melissa asked.
“First off,” I said coldly. “Only my friends call me Nat. Second, you are not my friend anymore.”
“Ok… So?”
“So get away from here!” I cried. But she didn’t move.
“Who is he?” She questioned with disgust in her voice.
James leaned towards me. “บอกเธอว่าฉันเป็นญาติที่หายไปนานของเธอที่กลับมาจากความตาย.” I laughed.
“He is your long lost cousin back from the dead,” I repeated with a grin.
“Ugh. You two are so weird,” Melissa stalked off.
“Ok…” We both laughed again. “So, are you… I don’t know how to put this. Are you my cousin?”
“I never thought of that,” he gasped. “Wow!”
“Yeah! I know. I thought you were, uh, dead?” I said it, relieved. “You HAVE to come over to Thai the Knot. You can have a free meal! My parents will be so excited!”
“Ok, I will! But let’s make it a “เซอร์ไพรส์”.”
“Alright! A surprise it is.” Then I glanced over at Melissa who was whispering to her friends and pointing at us.
Later, I was getting my books out of my locker when I found a note taped to my door.
Forget about being friends, Natalie. I don’t want a freak for a friend. Sorry. #WeirdFreaks. #MelissaNOTaFreak. #Nat=Freak
Why, just why? Even if Melissa didn’t want me as her friend, why did she have to be so mean about it? I showed it to James and he laughed. He laughed! What did that mean? Was he taking Melissa’s side?
“Ha,” he laughed again. “That means you have to do it back! I have the best prank idea ever!”
So that weekend I typed a note saying she got a free meal at a really fancy restaurant. But I put the directions to an old, run-down restaurant.
Greetings Melissa Carr,
You have been invited to a free meal at Chandelier +. Come at 8:30 and follow these directions:
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Turn right on Krabb Road
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Go straight and then turn left onto Perfect Dr.
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Follow the road until you get to the stop light.
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Go straight onto Jess rd.
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Finally, turn left onto Light Blvd.
And you're here! Have a nice evening.
-Chandelier +
Postscript: If you don’t come and have dinner at rendezvous, you will have bad luck the rest of the week. Thanks!
Yes! It was perfect. Plus, that night was TONIGHT! And James was coming over! My cousin was the best! We were going to ride over to rendezvous and spy on Melissa. Her face would be so funny…
