Pandora took another sip from her soup as she finished the tale.
"That is a very interesting story. Do you think the name fits you?" Mimi asked.
With a smirk Betty replied, "I think I’m growing into it."
"What does Mimi mean?" Asked Betty.
Sheepishly Mimi replied. "Ear."
Her face became red. Betty tried to stave off her host’s embarrassment. "Actually, I think it suits you?"
Mimi looking confused and insulted shot back a skeptical, "Why?"
Betty responded. "Because you listen. You hear things your father won’t hear. You can hear Japanese and turn it to English. You can hear English and change it to Japanese. You are the one who heard me and convinced your father to help me. You have a magic ear."
Mimi never thought of her name in such a poetic manner. She always thought earwax.
Betty continued. "You have a beautiful name it sounds like a song."
She made her voice deep and belted out a set of scales like a tenor.
"Me me me me me me meeeee."
Mimi laughed. "You sound like a big fat man!"
"It's a gift from Zeus.” Betty retorted.
Excited Mimi asked. "We friends now, right?"
Between soup sips Betty cautiously said, "Yes. We are friends."
Mimi took Betty's hand in hers. "Then I can ask you, how do you make so much money? Maybe you could show me, how?"
Betty stopped sipping her soup and put it down. Mimi had a hard life but somehow she retained her innocence. She would find out about the cold hard realities in the world at some point. But there was no way Betty was going to participate in the first line of corruption. She wasn’t sure how to get out of answering. She couldn't say she stole the money. If she said she earned it, it would only lead to more questions. If she said she borrowed it, they might want her to take it back. Of all the choices, she knew she could not tell her the truth. No one asked her that question so directly before. She didn’t have a lie prepared. She didn’t know where to go with the answer
Mimi could see her friends face had changed. Betty was uncomfortable. She apologized for putting her on the spot, "I’m sorry. That was very rude of me."
"No, it's fine. I had a little money put away. My nursing job doesn’t pay well, but I’ve been there for a long time. And I live cheap and don’t eat much." Said Betty.
Mimi seemed to accept the answer. "Oh, oh I see. You are a very strong person. Father knows it too. You work so hard, you are always on time. You listen and learn. Father acts like he's angry when he teaches, but he is very proud of you."
"How do you know that?" Asked Betty.
"I hear him with my magic ear. He said you are like extra daughter to him."
The phrase clutched at Betty's heart. Normally she could have kept her feelings under-wraps. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but the conversation had triggered too many emotions. Her eyes began to water. Betty excused herself and headed off to her job.
It was a cold crisp night. Betty meandered along the streets trying to control her tears. Spending so much time with the Katana's stirred up memories of her own family that she hadn't expected. It was a reminder of what she had lost. It took her awhile to sort out her feelings.
Betty could tell that Mimi was becoming attached to her. Mimi enjoyed her company and was trying to bond as a sister. Her entire family was practically making room to adopt her into their clan. In a way, Betty wanted that, but to her, accepting the Katana’s affection would be like replacing or abandoning her real family.
The closer she wanted to be to the Katana's, the worse she felt. If she allowed herself to accept the Katanas as family, she felt it would be a betrayal to her dead father, and her mother who was locked in an asylum. The guilt was overwhelming, so she chose distance over closeness. As long as Betty was suffering and was alone, she remained loyal to their memory. Betty didn’t want any personal attachments and focused on the mission.
It started snowing
Winter brought heavy snows to the Citadel. It shut down the city for days at a time. Betty took a small apartment, near the hospital. She never missed a day of work, nursing school, or her training. She trudged a path through winter, kept busy and stayed on schedule. Time passed quickly
Eventually, graduation from nursing school was upon her. It had always seemed like something way off in the future, but it finally arrived. Nursing school had taken second place to her other training. She wasn't at the top of her class or at the bottom. She did just enough to get by. At the graduation ceremony, Betty sat and blended in with the rest class. They all wore pointed nurse’s caps and blue capes. One-by-one they were called to receive their diplomas. Their families applauded from the audience. Betty expected silence when her turn came, but to her surprise Sister Hazel jumped to her feet and cheered. She was soon joined by the rest of the nuns from the shelter where Betty had lived with her family.
The black and white block of women applauded and carried on. They were proud enough for the entire crowd. Betty smiled and waved at them. She had no idea how rowdy a pack of nuns could be when they were loose in the wild. She tried to motion them to settle down, but they kept on. They knew this was a real accomplishment for a girl who had lost so much, so young. She never gave up. Betty did it all by herself and no could ever take that away from her.
Betty returned to her seat and unrolled the paper gift. The language was cryptic, but one line stuck out to her. "…The recipient can now become a productive member of society."
She laughed.
Betty easily got a job at the hospital where she'd been interning for so long. As much as she enjoyed the work, her first paycheck was a huge disappointment. It was so small. It was much less then she expected. Her tuition, her apartment, and the washing machines, all took a big bite out of her savings. It was a disheartening set back in her plan to buy back the family farm. She was used to a Razzles size salary and she missed it. Without the income from Razzles it was doubtful she could get the farm back any time soon, if ever. She needed a new plan to replenish her account. She had come to far to give up.
She wondered about getting a mortgage, but didn’t think it would work. The guy who held the deed would never sell it to Betty, not after what happened the last time they met. If anything, he would go out of his way to keep it from her if he knew she was in on the deal. She seethed and thought, "I needed to push Carson out of the way.”
She fantasized about blackmailing the bastard for a moment. But feared he would still have more power in the situation than her. Since he would know where she would be living, he could have her killed if he wanted. She was trapped by the circumstance and there weren't many ways of escaping. She knew the only people who had money in these tough times were the rich. The only way she knew how to get it from them was to steal it, or go back the place where they threw it at her, Razzles.
She had to get back in somehow. She couldn't go back there the way she left. She needed to be anonymous. She wondered if she could disguise herself so that no one would recognize her; not her old friends, her old boss, her customers or that fiendish banker.
For days Betty tried to follow up on a lead. She was looking for a man named Alfonzo Beznik, the Gypsy. He was an illusive figure who owned a costume shop that never seemed to be open. It's hours where erratic. She'd made several attempts at a visit, but each time the store was closed. Usually there would be a hand written note on the door, guessing the next hour they expected to be in business. But the written predictions never came true. One note would say, come back at five, then at five it would say, sorry we missed you, try back tomorrow at noon. She followed the erratic trail of instructions to no end. If it weren’t for the changing signs, Betty would have assumed the business was shut down. It was frustrating. If she had another choice, she would have given up.