Clever Disguises (Erika)

[Jack McCarthy]

As was the case in recent months, Jack McCarthy was in a rather difficult position: Namely, he was hungry, which was a problem because there was on;y really one place where he could afford the hardy breakfast that he needed to function as he went along the merry path that was called life.


The problem being that, due to a slight miscalculation and minor misunderstanding with the establishments proprietor -The nature of which escapes him, it was all a blur- Jack was banned from the dinner from now until the end of time….


...Jack didn’t know why whatever he did it couldn’t have been that bad.


Fortunately, Jack being the master of adjusting to hardship, thought of a most elegant solution for this problem


“EXCUSE ME! I DEMAND ATTENTION!” Said the man in the large brown overcoat , fedora hat and clearly fake beard as she staggered over to a nearby table, not bothering to cover up his rather thick Irish accent “I DEMAND THE FINEST FOOD AVAILABLE TO HUMANITY. I WANT THEM HERE AND I WANT THEM NOW”

[Erika Clarke-Davis]

At that moment, it was as if the entire diner stopped; he walked in and a stiffled laughter seemed to settle over the room and Erika couldn't quite help but to smile. It was amusing and a little charming and she had to congratulate the young man for the effort. Susie peeked her head through from the kitchen, her eyes settling immediately upon the young man. A heavy sigh fell from her lips and it was as if her eyes screamed "nope. Nu'uh. Not touching that", and she disappeared.

"You actually have to order something first," Erika said as she stepped towards the table. She had already decided that she was going to play along with this... Well, whatever it could be called. Jack was and had always been creative. At least for as long as she'd known him.

"What can I get you, sir?"

[Jack McCarthy]

Jack’s fingers trembled against the table as he gripped a pair of sunglasses -With a 0.90 cent price tag still attached to it and put them on trying to block his distinctive bright brown eyes from sight.


The perfect crime.


A wave of relief totally overcame Jack at the apparent success of his masterplan (..and that’s how he saw it; A master plan, so to speak) He felt like that one Indiana Jones movie where they were in Berlin, totally undetected. Jack felt he was blending in perfectly. He was Hitman. He was Assassin Creed, he was Jack S McCarthy: Human chameleon.


But despite his clear pride, there was an element of fear to it and Jack’s natural paranoia began to spring forward, seeds of doubt began to spring into his mind as his eyes travelled up and down the length of the dinner, especially to the kitchen where he could only assume that Grandma Susie lay….Like a bear in his cave...Jack’s mind throw up images of the owner storming into the room with a double barrel shotgun pointed directly between Jack’s eyes and-


“I’M NOT DOING ANYTHING!. WHAT’S WITH THE THIRD DEGREE. DON’T SHOOT ME!” Jack shouted flitching once Erika asked for his order. Eventually, Jack realised that Erika wasn’t attacking him….so he calmed down visually clearing his throat “Oh hey Erika-I MEAN…..It’s Airy ah? In here....This dinner....Someone should open a window

[Erika Clarke-Davis]

Erika's eyebrows raised slightly at Jack's outburst. She looked around briefly and it seemed as if the other customers had caught it as well. "I'd like you to keep your voice down, sir," she said as she turned back to look at him. "You're not the only customer here." And yes, she decided to completely ignore Jack's obvious (and poor) attempts at keeping his identity hidden. After all, if he'd gone through all this trouble to get inside, she didn't have the heart to tell him to leave.

"I'll be sure to do that once I'm done with your order," she said with a nod. She placed the menu in front of him then. "Wave me over once you've decided what you want - unless you already know?" She was actually rather surprised that Susie hadn't interfered yet. After all, everyone who worked here knew how much she disliked Jack.

[Jack McCarthy]

Ah. Maybe Jack might have been a touch overzealous in his greeting. Which was maybe a tad bit instinctive on his part, Jack never did recover well when he was even slightly startled. While he was walking in the middle of the street and a small child jumped out of the shadows and shouted “Boo” In all likelihood Jack would instinctively kick that child square in the face with a primal screech and he had the same kind of guttural primal respond to everything like he was tapped on his knee with a stick, especially now when he felt more than a little tense because Grandma Susie is an avatar of all the rage and malice that the world contained, and she could crush Jack’s head between her head like a ripe melon.


So Jack was far more intense and reactive than usual.


Even now Jack was slightly squirming in his seat still believing that he was pulling this off. Despite his rather stupid slip of the tongue but thanks to some grand quick thinking he recovered nicely.


...And admittedly he was feely slightly over confident now, Maybe even more so than that. I mean why shouldn’t he? He was sticking it, square in the demonic face of Grandma Susie. Sticking it to the man. Or the grandma! Fight the power! He thought happily to himself as he scanned the menu “Yes, my good woman” Jack said trying to put on a slightly deeper grand voice than his normal voice “Yes, my good woman. I want...no I DEMAND. The finest food available to man I want them here and I want them now” Jack demanded slamming his fist against the glass table to empathise his words “and I would like….a full sized birthday cake”


No, it wasn’t Jack’s birthday. He was just in THAT kind of mode

[Erika Clarke-Davis]

Once again, Erika's eyebrows raised, but she thought better of even questioning it at this point. She figured it wouldn't be the last time she had to endure one of Jack's crazy antics. She supposed it was somewhat sweet and the boy reminded her of some kind of pitiful, lost puppy. She couldn't even fathom how Susie didn't take pity on him. It seemed as if people either felt sorry for Jack or hated his guts.

She wouldn't tell Jack that.

"Finest food and a birthday cake coming right up," she said as she scribbled the order down. "And do you want something to drink with that?" she continued, her attention back on the boy. Did he honestly think that fake beard fooled anyone? He needed at least a 70 in IQ to open a door and Erika had a feeling he was growing close to that limit...

Maybe his mom dropped him on his head as a baby or something. Or maybe he was so downright insecure this was a sad attempt to feel some kind of semblance of belonging.