Chapter Three- Knock Knock

 The sun rose over New York City as an old black car drove over to the front door of the Lisiewicz’s apartment building. A man dressed in a black suit as well as a bowler hat and a woman in a big derby hat with curly brown hair stepped out dressed in lavish attire. The man held open the door for the lady as she slowly stepped out.

        Just as Alan was walking out of the door to get to the streets with a shoe shining kit, Walt and his girlfriend strutted in the apartment with dapper suitcases and feather-covered purses. “We’re here!” shouted Walt, smiling with his pearly white teeth.

        “Son!” shouted Mr. Lisiewicz hopping out of his leather chair, “It’s simply been too long!”        

        “Not really!” shouted Walt, “The last time I came here, it was a total dump, and I see you’ve kept it that way!”

        “You see, Walt,” said Mrs. Lisiewicz offering Walt a coffee or tea, “We don’t have nearly enough money to keep this place as nice as it could be. Maybe it would be nice if you shared some!”

        Walt looked at Mrs. Lisiewicz like she had 2 heads. He sat down on a chair smoked a cigar and said, “Is that why you brought me here? Are you here just to steal my money? You’re my parents, why should I ever give you my money?”

        “Maybe because we need it more than you!” said Alan angrily, “All the things we’ve done for you and we get nothing at all!”

        “Little brother!” shouted Walt, “It’s simply been forever since I last saw you! You still look like trash, and you’re single!”

        Alan got angrier and angrier by the second, “Well, I do have a girlfriend! Her name is Adelia and she is a million times better than yours!”

        “Impossible!” remarked Elizabeth Stockley, “Does your girlfriend own the latest of every Model T Ford?” 

        “Does she need to in order to be a good girlfriend?” asked Alan, “Adelia is the perfect lady! Ask Mom and Dad!”

        Mr. and Mrs. Lisiewicz obviously seemed to be confused as what was going on, so Mrs. Lisiewicz said, “Sure! She’s such a nice lady, she’s so kind and helpful. She’d make the perfect daughter-in-law,”

        “Great,” said Walt smiling, “Then, we shall find the nicest place in town and go on a double date together. A steakhouse would be nice. Don’t worry, I’ll pay. At 7 would be nice, agree?”

        Alan thought for a second and said, “Fine, I’ll do it. A nice meal for once might be nice, no offense to your cooking, ma,” Without anyone else saying another word, Alan walked out the door into the streets.

        Alan set his shoe shining up kit exactly where he did yesterday, in hopes that he’d run into Adelia during the day. During the duration of the day, few people came up to get their shoes shined. Elijah Lupin did though, and he kept on talking about how his business was still tanking and why he regretted releasing the Golden Pristine Watch for so much money. Elijah never shut up while Alan was shining his shoes. Elijah left eventually, but Adelia was nowhere to be found.

        Alan checked the grand clock outside the station and saw that it was almost time for his dinner with Walt and Elizabeth. He packed up his stuff realizing that he won’t have a date to take to the steakhouse. That was true until Alan looked up and saw a black and white parasol bobbing up and down in the faraway crowd.

        “Wait!” he shouted, sprinting as fast as he could towards the parasol, “Adelia! Wait!” Alan pushed his way through the angry crowd until he saw Adelia heading his way. In a hurry, Alan set up his shoe shine stand as nothing had even happened. As Adelia got closer, she noticed Alan and rolled her eyes.

        “You again?” she asked, “Good thing my shoes aren’t ruffed up, otherwise I’d be forced to have to interact with you again,”

        Alan tried to think a way out of this and all he could think of was, “I don’t know, those shoes like kinda mucky,”

        Adelia rolled her eyes again and sat at the stool, “This better be a quick shine,”

        “Whatever,” said Alan shining her shoes as quickly as he could, “Got anything going on tonight?” 

        “I suppose not,” said Adelia staring at her watch, “I was just going to stay home and do some stitching that I could honestly bow off for tomorrow,”

        Alan knew this was his opportunity to ask her out, but he found it hard to muster the courage, still, he had to do it, as quickly as Alan could, he said, “So, I have a brother coming from Boston. He’s very successful, has a girlfriend. He said he’d take me on a double date to this high-end steakhouse. But, I don’t have a date,”

        Adelia’s face turned white, “Are you crazy?” she asked raising her voice, “We’ve only met once, and you want to go on a date with me? No way, there is no chance that I would ever do that!”

        “Well,” said Alan trying to speak as calmly as possible, “You can pretend to be dating me, and then never see me again, does that work? I’ll even pay you,”

        Adelia seemed interested, but she definitely didn’t want to admit it. She gave Alan an intense stare and said, “Fine, but you better pay me and never see me again!”

        “That works fine and dandy for me, we’ll have to go now, though, so I’d say that we better, now,” Alan explained putting his polish away.

        Adelia got up and stayed quiet on the walk, she was blushing the whole time, and not in a good way. It was an angry blush, an embarrassed blush. Still, money could talk anyone into almost anything.