46. Rainy Days (2/2)

Getting ready was a slow affair. Rainy days always made Isaac feel both sluggish, yet antsy at the same time. It was a thoroughly irritating combination that left him running 15 minutes late out the door. The only reason he bothered to stop and grab an umbrella at all was to keep his cake order, carefully packaged inside a cream colored box, as dry as possible.

Thankfully, the customer lived close enough to walk to, and Isaac always wrote down his order times 30 minutes before they were actually due precisely in case of times like this. It didn’t make him feel any less nervous as he ran down the street, rainwater splashing his shoes and pants and hands awkwardly attempting to balance holding both the cake box and the umbrella.

The customer lived in a medium-sized apartment complex. The brick buildings looked about as old as the 108th Street apartment, but had clearly been renovated. The inside was clean and well kept, and he got the impression that the person working at the front desk and the security guards actually gave a shit about the residents. The apartment couldn’t compare to the wealthiest places in Chrowall, but it was certainly a much nicer place than Isaac’s own.

It took longer than he would’ve liked to get permission to go inside, mainly because trying to grab his ID and the customer’s note was not very easy when you were also holding a giant cake box.

That, and Isaac didn’t miss the way the man at the desk kept staring at the frayed ends of his shirt and his disheveled appearance with poorly concealed distaste.

When he finally got approval, Isaac hurried to the room number, which was thankfully on the first floor, no elevators or stairs required. After the time wasted at the front desk, he was now exactly on time when he knocked on the wooden door with his elbow. It swung open almost immediately, and a slightly frazzled looking young woman around his own age smiled at him.

“You must be Isaac!” she exclaimed. “Come in, come in!”

Isaac glanced down at his wet shoes, but the woman just waved the concern away and practically dragged him indoors.

The inside of the apartment was small, but homely. It was the sort of place that looked like it had as many old trinkets and items crammed into it as possible. Stray balloons and banners littered the furniture, and he could see where some hanging lights had fallen down. A pair of scissors and tape lay on the floor next to a pile of colorful streamers. The decorations looked a bit excessive, in Isaac’s opinion, but whoever was doing them was clearly putting a lot of effort in.

Isaac carefully set the box down. It was still mostly dry, which he considered a success. Slowly, he removed the top of the box, and he heard the woman gasp with glee as its contents were revealed.

It was the ugly cake, as Isaac had started calling it in his head. Decorating it had been just as aesthetically painful as he’d expected, though he’d also tried his damnedest to make the design work as well as he could. He wasn’t sure he actually succeeded in the end, but he could at least say with confidence that the finished cake looked slightly less hideous than the order reference picture had been.

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“It looks amazing!” the woman exclaimed. “Gosh, you know, I ordered the design as a joke, but it actually looks good!”

Isaac raised an eyebrow at her, and the woman laughed.

“It’s for my little sister,” she explained. “She’s turning 18 today, so I found one of her drawings as a kid and got a cake made out of it as a joke. Like, baby sister’s always a baby, that sort of thing.”

Well, that explained things at least. He stared at the cake sitting innocuously on the table. Surrounded by the hanging decorations and numerous furnishings of the apartment, it didn’t look as out of place as he would’ve expected. A sister, was it?

“Just checking, but you’re not the one I was talking to on the phone, right?” The woman who’d placed the order had definitely sounded older.

“Oh no no no, that was my mom! My parents are out distracting my sister right now while I get the place set up for the party.” She winked conspiratorially. Isaac just gave her a deadpan look, and she coughed.

“Sorry, you’ve probably got more orders and stuff.” She turned and grabbed an envelope that had been resting on the counter. “Here, this should be the other half of the payment! Oh, and—“ she cut herself off, rummaging around her pocket and pulling out a pink wallet. She pulled out a few extra dollar bills and stuffed them into the envelope. “Here, since we made you walk here in the rain!”

Isaac took the envelope with a nod and a polite, “Thank you.” After quickly counting the bills and ensuring all the money was there, he tucked the envelope into one of his inner coat pockets. He gestured at the cake. “Did you need anything else?”

The woman shook her head. “No, we’re good. I just have to hurry and finish these decorations for the party. Thanks again!” she said. Up close, Isaac realized that the woman had a few stray streamers stuck in her hair, and there was a piece of tape on her forehead.

“No problem.” Isaac hesitated, then added, “I’m sure your sister will love the party.”

The woman beamed.

—

The rain had slowed down to a light drizzle by the time Isaac made it back to his apartment. Despite the woman’s belief that he would be busy, that was actually untrue. That had been the only order delivery on his schedule for the day.

Isaac sighed and sat down, staring outside at the cloudy grey sky and tapping his finger along the worn wooden surface of the table. One side effect of decorating cakes so fast earlier that week was that it had left his remaining schedule painfully empty.

Outside, Isaac could see a few bobbing umbrellas passing by on the concrete. Normally he liked to observe the passersby in the rare moments when he had nothing else to do, but the umbrellas made it difficult to do so. His eye followed one particularly bright gold metallic umbrella as it passed the building and quickly faded from view.

He tapped the table a little harder and released another sigh. Maybe he should take a nap? He didn’t think he’d be able to fall asleep, though. Isaac turned away from the window to stare absentmindedly at his apartment.

It really was plain, he thought, especially compared to the home he’d just been in, with the colorful decorations strewn about the living space and the numerous pictures and trinkets containing what must be years and years of memories. He wondered if the younger sister had made it home by now, how she would react. The older sister probably didn’t live with them, given her age. Maybe she was visiting as a surprise. Maybe the little sister had even been disappointed, thinking she wouldn’t be back, while her parents tried to keep the secret. She’d be all the more excited when she finally opened the door and saw.

Isaac stood abruptly, and the chair screeched as it slid back along the floor. He didn’t give the still apartment a second glance as he grabbed his jacket, keys, and the tablet. He shut the door behind him, hurried down the stairs, and headed for the subway station.