“Turn right onto East Brooklyn Village Avenue, and your destination will be on your right,” the Map App navigation voice instructs Jim Fields and Edith Cruz toward the Westin Charlotte. Jim is driving his truck and disdains using the Map App. Because of that time, Map App accidentally directed him to a Lake Norman prostitution bust. That was way before he started dating Edith. Now, he only utilizes the navigation app when necessary, like leaving the lake area for an unfamiliar Uptown Charlotte to meet Edith’s Dad for the first time. The Saturday is warm for a March winter night.
Jim and Edith are one of those tall and short couples. Jim is the more significantly taller one, with pale skin, golden hair, and blue eyes. Where Edith is tiny with black hair and brown eyes.
Jim takes a right onto East Brooklyn Village Avenue, and they both immediately start looking for the five-star hotel like hungry hawks perched on a branch looking for dinner. He knows they’re close, so he switches lanes and slows down below the posted 25 miles per hour. But doesn’t see the white sedan in the far right lane that he almost rams into. Thank goodness the white sedan car driver blasted their horn, or it would’ve been a collision. Edith panics at the almost car accident and quickly grips the grab handle above her passenger side window.
“Sorry, sorry,” Jim apologizes to Edith. He immediately rolls down his driver-side window, throws his left hand out, and waves it around frantically in what he believes is the appropriate hand signal to convey his apology for accidentally cutting them off. The driver of the white sedan doesn’t either accept the apology or doesn’t get it because they quickly hit the gas and speed around them instead of backing off. Jim is surprised to see the driver is a white-haired grandpa cursing him as he drives away fast like a drag racer. He thinks, was that his middle finger?
“Wasn’t that the Weston parking deck entrance you just passed,” Edith exclaims.
“Crap, it was. Map App didn’t say it was going to be on our immediate right,” Jim grumbles, “I hate Uptown.”
“In 200 feet, turn left onto South Brevard Street.”
“Oh shut up,” Jim exasperates. He sees Edith staring at him with big eyes and shock written on her face. “Oh gosh, not you. I was talking to the Map App. I was telling it to shut up.”
Jim turns left onto South Brevard Street, left onto East Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard, left onto South Tryon Street, and a final left onto East Brook Village Avenue toward the Westin as the Map App instructs. He’s not going to miss their destination a second time.
Finally parked in space on the third level of the parking deck, Jim is giving thought to meeting Edith’s Dad for the first time and doesn’t like how the night got off to an unwanted start. He wants to clear the air with Edith. He apologizes to her for his dangerous driving and for making them late to dinner before getting out of the truck.
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The Westin Hotel lobby is just a short elevator ride from the parking deck. Shane counts four elevator button lights during the ride-up. The fourth is their stop, the bright lobby button labeled with a star and L. The chrome elevator doors swing open, and the couple enters the lobby. Edith is panning the giant marble-floored room for the bar, and Jim needs to find the Men’s Restroom. The bar is where they were supposed to be meeting Edith’s Dad at 7 PM for dinner. That was forty-five minutes ago. She sees a young couple walking around with bottles of beer in their hands. “I think the bar is over there,” Edith tells Jim.
“Great! I really need to use the bathroom. Sorry,” Jim apologizes another time. Edith tells him to meet them inside the bar. She’s going ahead to find her Dad. She doesn’t want to continue their tardiness.
Edith has already done a lot of peering tonight. First was the hotel, second was for the hotel bar, and now she was trying to locate her Dad. Which she soon does. He’s sitting with his back to the bar entrance at a four-top restaurant table decorated with a white cotton tablecloth, white dinner plates, and white cotton napkins folded into triangles on top of them. She sneaks up quietly to him in the middle of the room and places her hands over his eyes.
“Firefly, I hope that is you?” Tony Cruz exclaims. He turns around and sees his youngest daughter for the first time since Christmas. He jumps up, wraps his arms around Edith, and squeezes her tightly off the ground. “It’s so good to see you.” The Cruzes live in Michigan, and Edith remained in North Carolina after graduating from college three years ago. That’s where she first met Jim, but she started dating him around a half year ago. Tony is in Charlotte for work and wants to meet her boyfriend.
Back on the ground from Tony’s bear hug, Edith walks around the table and sits across from her Dad. Waiting for her is a warm glass flute of champagne, which was cold forty minutes ago when Tony ordered it. He’s having his favorite spirit, bourbon, on the rocks.
“Sorry for being late. We had some wayfinding issues once we got into Charlotte,” Edith explains before sipping her toasty champagne. She’s taken back a bit by the drink’s temperature and has difficulty swallowing it.
“It’s okay. I had some Knob Creek keeping me company. So where’s your darling, Shane, at?”
Edith sees “Not Shane” walk into the bar. His ears must be burning as she waves her boyfriend over to their position. “You mean, Jim. He’s head over here now,” she corrects her Dad. Tony turns around and absorbs what’s about to happen. The debut of her daughter’s current boyfriend. He will be presented like a canine on the National Dog Show. Not really, but something like this has only happened once before with Edith’s one from high school.
When Jim is about ten feet from the table, they get up to greet and meet him. “Dad, this is Jim. And Jim, this is my Dad,” Edith makes the first introduction.
Jim is shocked at how much Edith looks like Rick. He sees where Edith got their height, hair, and eye color. Woah! He extends his right hand with thumbs up and fingers out to him. Who does the opposite with his left one and locks into a decently firm handshake. “How are you doing, sir?”
“I’m adequate. Thanks for asking. And please call me Rick. Now sit. You kids must be hungry.”
Dawn, their medium-sized waitress with blonde hair, appears at the table to take their drink and food orders if ready. Edith wants some cold champagne, Rick asks for another Knob Creek on the rocks, and Shane orders a Corona in a bottle after studying the beer list. Two of them asked for more time to review the menu for their entrees and sides. Rick decides to order an appetizer of chips and salsa for the wait.
“Well, I need to go use the bathroom,” Edith announces. She takes a small sip from her first glass of champagne, even though she doesn’t like its warmth, before sliding her chair away from the table. Gets up from the table and jokes about how Rick better be friendly to Jim while she’s gone. She leaves them alone, and Jim is getting more nervous.
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Tap, tap, tap. Jim begins striking the Corona glass bottle that Dawn just brought him, along with Rick’s whisky and Edith’s champagne. He’s answered a few of Rick’s questions so far and knows there’ll be more. Which is to be expected with these types of dinners. The meals when kids bring the person they’re dating to meet the folks. By now, Rick knows that he’s 26 years old, he met Edith his sophomore year at Appalachian State University, and that he does IT for a logistics company.
Now, he’s spinning the bottle (right round) on the tablecloth. He wishes Edith would hurry back. Rick dominated the conversation, but they now find themselves in a lull. Which Jim didn’t think was possible because her girlfriend’s Dad is a talker and more of a drinker than Edith. Edith has told him some stories about her parents partying. He’s done with his third or fourth drink. To Jim, that is a lot. He’s not a big drinker and probably won’t finish his beer tonight.
“So, how are you liking Charlotte so far?” Jim asks Rick, who dislikes rhetorical questions. Exclusively those so inept, Jim can’t think of anything better to break the quiet.
“Oh, Charlotte is great. I’ve been coming here for a while now for work. Have you seen our waitress? Oh, there she is.” Rick lifts his empty rock glass high and subtle enough for Dawn’s attention. She walks over, and he orders another drink. Dawn also tells them that she needs to check on their appetizer.
Jim wishes the chips and salsa were already at the table. Eating helps him relax. He takes a quick sip of Corona and thinks of Firefly. He heard Rick call Edith that a few times tonight. He asks him for the nickname.
“Why do I call my daughter Firefly? Well, Edith’s boyfriend, that is a long story. So you really want to hear it?”
Shane nods yes that he wants to hear the story behind the nickname.
Rick’s eyes begin to dance, and he beams. “How about an abridged telling? Before Edith gets back. It all started when I was dating a demon. Yes, an actual demon. But I didn’t know she was a demon then. She didn’t have horns or red skin or anything like that. She looked human. Well, things led to another. Bada boom! Bada bing! She tells me she’s pregnant.
“Now I’m the father to a half-human, half-demon baby. We have a gorgeous baby girl named Edith. I’m freaking out, only about the half-demon part. I needed to do something about it. So, I hired a preacher to perform an exorcism from the Yellow Pages. Now, I know what you’re thinking. But I was worried about her spirit. I needed someone to cast out that part of her and to reclaim her soul. It didn’t work. Exorcisms don’t work that way.
“Edith’s mom was a demon in the evil flesh, not the type of demon who possesses bodies. Only those types of demons can get exorcized. The exorcism was horrifying. I’ll spare you the details, but fire and brimstone flew from Edith’s tiny baby body. Fire flew, Firefly. That’s why I call her that.”
Jim’s smile vanishes. His lips begin to curl, and his face becomes hardened. Even though he asked about the nickname. Rick quickly realizes that her daughter’s boyfriend didn’t like his story. Jim takes a big gulp of his pale lager and stands up from the table. What is he about to do?
“Mr. Cruz, it was nice meeting you. Thank you for the exciting evening. Edith is a lovely girl, but I can’t see her anymore. Please tell her goodbye for me,” Shane commands. He leaves and passes Dawn on his way out the door, who’s bringing Rick another glass of Knob Creek and ice cubes.
Rick needs clarification. He doesn’t know what just happened. He tells his waitress she better get him another and some more champagne for Edith.
+++++
Edith returns from the bathroom and discovers Jim isn’t where she left him. He should be sitting diagonally from Rick at the four-top dining table with the white cotton tablecloth. She’s back in her seat of origin in front of her Dad and her almost full glass of champagne. She picks up the fancy flute glass, takes a sparkling sip, and grins. “Now that is refreshing.”
She places the glass back on the table beside Jim’s unfinished Corona. The only sign that he was actually at the dinner. “Where’s Jim?” Edith focuses her awareness back on her missing boyfriend.
“He left, FireFly.”
Edith’s mouth falls open. Her eyes widened. Her cheeks become flush. Those words make her suddenly sad and surprised. She thought he liked her enough to make it through dinner with her Dad. “What happened?”
“Well, that is probably my fault. He asked me why I call you Firefly,” Tony reveals.
Edith grinds her teeth and immediately knows what he did. Because her Dad did the exact thing when she invited her high school boyfriend over for dinner. “You told him the demon joke?” she huffs. That boyfriend made it through dinner and waited until the following day to break it off.
Tony knows he’s in the dog house with his daughter. He empties his rock glass with one big gulp of bourbon. The pieces of ice clack together. He wishes for a reset button. He wants to redo the last few minutes of dinner. “I did. Yes. I am sorry.”
“Oh, Dad, I wish you hadn’t done that. Shane is a quarter angel,” Edith discloses, “I believe he said his Mom’s Mom is one. And everyone knows that angels and demons are absolute enemies.”
Rick’s eyes bug out under his lifted eyebrow. He knows he’s really messed up. Edith reminds him that this isn’t the first time this has happened. She pointed out the pattern. He thought it was funny that night, but it’s obviously not tonight. Rick apologizes immensely. She gets him to promise to never repeat the Firefly demon joke again. They drink more bourbon and champagne. They eat steaks and apple pie a la mode. Rick gets Edith a hotel room in the Westin.
Jim picks up her phone call the next day, “Hello, Firefly, so you’re a demon.”
<END>
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