Mami was right when she told him the place he’d selected to launch his business was cursed. He hadn’t believed it before, but this fourth attack was clearly a sign that she’d been onto something.
According to her, he didn’t have a head for business anyway and should have been a garbage man. It was safe to say Mami didn’t think her son-in-law was marriage material. Mixed marriages were apparently not her bag and when her daughter Leticia had first deposited Rafi on the mat, she’d stared at him as if he was something that had crawled out from under a flat stone.
Her behavior throughout that first meeting had been to induce him to return to the rock which she figured had been his home. The relationship had continued strained until Leticia announced she’d selected him as her husband-to-be. When finally the greatest day of his life had arrived—the day he walked down the aisle to link his lot to Leticia’s—he’d stiffened when the priest had asked the congregation if anyone wished to object to the union. Both he and Leticia had turned to Mami, but the latter had merely smiled sweetly from under the black veil she’d selected to wear. She was, after all, in mourning for losing a daughter.
When he’d started Rafi’s Deli it was mainly to show his beloved that he was capable of so much more than Mami gave him credit for. He wanted to keep Leticia in the style she’d grown accustomed to and already saw himself as the next Sam Walton, Rafi’s Delis popping up all over the place like warts on a hog.
Now, two years after opening what was still the one and only Rafi’s Deli, he was making good coin and things were going swimmingly. And now this crazed maniac had come charging in, waving his gun around and shouting something about handing over all his cash. Before the man got to the ‘life’ part of ‘Your money or your life’, Rafi had pressed the big red alarm button concealed beneath the counter, which locked the till, and had ducked for cover inside his safe room.
The unsavory-looking crook had cursed a great deal and then decided to venture into the store to hold up any and all customers he could find!
Wide-eyed, Rafi watched the altercation between the gangster and one of his most cherished clients, Felicity Bell. To his chagrin, just when he was about to break into song and praise the Lord that Miss Bell had managed against all odds to subdue her assailant, he discovered that there was a second gunman! This foul accomplice, dressed in a trench coat, was holed up in aisle two, and using a stack of canned beans to take potshots at Felicity.
He balled his fists and raised his eyes heavenward, wondering what would happen next. He just hoped that the authorities would arrive on the scene promptly and put an end to the suspense. It was quite frankly killing him.
CHAPTER 5
Felicity was staring down at the man and starting to think she was a little out of her depth. Not only had he apparently brought along an accomplice but the guy was pummeling her with cans of beans!
A quick calculation told her the man was probably unarmed. Why else would he use baked beans as a weapon?
Her patience was wearing thin. Not only because she was being attacked from all sides, but she hadn’t eaten since she left Bell’s. Nothing soured her mood more effectively than an appetite she couldn’t satiate.
Fortunately, she could already hear the police sirens coming closer. The cavalry was on its way and she heaved a sigh of relief, knowing the ordeal was almost over.
The only thing that caused her concern was that the crook hiding in aisle two would manage to negotiate a quick getaway. She stared from the man at her feet to where she knew his associate was lurking and thought long and hard about a strategy to apprehend the second shooter before he made a run for it.
She wanted them both to pay for their crimes.
She thought perhaps it was her grumbling stomach talking, but she wanted to see the man suffer. That can of
According to her, he didn’t have a head for business anyway and should have been a garbage man. It was safe to say Mami didn’t think her son-in-law was marriage material. Mixed marriages were apparently not her bag and when her daughter Leticia had first deposited Rafi on the mat, she’d stared at him as if he was something that had crawled out from under a flat stone.
Her behavior throughout that first meeting had been to induce him to return to the rock which she figured had been his home. The relationship had continued strained until Leticia announced she’d selected him as her husband-to-be. When finally the greatest day of his life had arrived—the day he walked down the aisle to link his lot to Leticia’s—he’d stiffened when the priest had asked the congregation if anyone wished to object to the union. Both he and Leticia had turned to Mami, but the latter had merely smiled sweetly from under the black veil she’d selected to wear. She was, after all, in mourning for losing a daughter.
When he’d started Rafi’s Deli it was mainly to show his beloved that he was capable of so much more than Mami gave him credit for. He wanted to keep Leticia in the style she’d grown accustomed to and already saw himself as the next Sam Walton, Rafi’s Delis popping up all over the place like warts on a hog.
Now, two years after opening what was still the one and only Rafi’s Deli, he was making good coin and things were going swimmingly. And now this crazed maniac had come charging in, waving his gun around and shouting something about handing over all his cash. Before the man got to the ‘life’ part of ‘Your money or your life’, Rafi had pressed the big red alarm button concealed beneath the counter, which locked the till, and had ducked for cover inside his safe room.
The unsavory-looking crook had cursed a great deal and then decided to venture into the store to hold up any and all customers he could find!
Wide-eyed, Rafi watched the altercation between the gangster and one of his most cherished clients, Felicity Bell. To his chagrin, just when he was about to break into song and praise the Lord that Miss Bell had managed against all odds to subdue her assailant, he discovered that there was a second gunman! This foul accomplice, dressed in a trench coat, was holed up in aisle two, and using a stack of canned beans to take potshots at Felicity.
He balled his fists and raised his eyes heavenward, wondering what would happen next. He just hoped that the authorities would arrive on the scene promptly and put an end to the suspense. It was quite frankly killing him.
CHAPTER 5
Felicity was staring down at the man and starting to think she was a little out of her depth. Not only had he apparently brought along an accomplice but the guy was pummeling her with cans of beans!
A quick calculation told her the man was probably unarmed. Why else would he use baked beans as a weapon?
Her patience was wearing thin. Not only because she was being attacked from all sides, but she hadn’t eaten since she left Bell’s. Nothing soured her mood more effectively than an appetite she couldn’t satiate.
Fortunately, she could already hear the police sirens coming closer. The cavalry was on its way and she heaved a sigh of relief, knowing the ordeal was almost over.
The only thing that caused her concern was that the crook hiding in aisle two would manage to negotiate a quick getaway. She stared from the man at her feet to where she knew his associate was lurking and thought long and hard about a strategy to apprehend the second shooter before he made a run for it.
She wanted them both to pay for their crimes.
She thought perhaps it was her grumbling stomach talking, but she wanted to see the man suffer. That can of
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