REPRESENTED

by K'Anne Meinel

  Just then the dog, who had been patiently ignored, made his presence known, demanding Karin’s attention with a well-placed nose under her hand. Karin smiled as she gave him the desired pet across his top not.

  “What’s your dog’s name?” Miranda asked watching her.

  “D.O.G.” Karin answered with a perfectly straight face and pronouncing it Deeooogee.

  “Of course it is” Miranda said dryly knowing Karin’s unique sense of humor. “What is it?”

  “He is a Parti-poodle” Karin said affectionately as she leaned down to pet the happy black and white dog. Originally poodles were two colored. They were so used to the blacks, the whites, the reds or tans, people didn’t realize the history of poodles and Karin loved her Parti-poodle. “You guys will see my cat too around here somewhere” she looked around as though she should see it.

  “Let me guess C.A.T?” Molly asked laughing pronouncing it seeaaytee.

  “Of course” Karin answered returning the laugh which they all joined in on.

  They decided to go out to an Italian restaurant Karin had mentioned but only after everyone had showered. 20 hours by car and they were all a little ripe. Karin changed from her business suit into slacks and a nice blouse with a designer jacket. This was her version of dressing down and she still looked a bit upscale at least to their Midwestern eyes. She had let her hair down from its customary bun and the long tresses at least relaxed her look a little. She was comfortable in Italian loafers though as they walked to the elevator. D.O.G. had looked crestfallen when she told him he couldn’t go along and she had promised him a walk later.

  “How do you afford all this?” Miranda asked.

  Karin grinned “I work, very hard.”

  Miranda didn’t doubt it. Kreske Public Relations was a large firm and Karin had gotten in through their Chicago branch and in a relatively short time was promoted to the New York main headquarters. It had happened fast and she had disappeared since. They had rarely seen each other in the last five years but had still kept in contact through Facebook, emails, and a rare phone call. That she was a success was no surprise to any of them, Karin had always been ambitious. When she went back to school when her boys were in high school they had all applauded her efforts. A Master’s degree in five years was nothing to sneeze at. It was obvious from the corner office at the firm to the large apartment when space in New York was at a premium that she was doing well, exceedingly well.

  “How many apartments are on this floor?” Jana asked noticing the other two sets of doors.

  “There are three on this floor, I think there are more on other floors but I don’t go on those too often” Karin told her.

  “Why not?”

  Karin grinned at the teen’s questions “it’s none of my business and to be honest, I’m not here often enough to care.”

  They stepped into the elevator which was now manned. “Good afternoon Ms. Myers” he greeted her and looked curiously at the others.

  “Good Afternoon Carl, this is my good friend Miranda Green and her daughter’s Molly and Jana. They will be staying with me for a few days, could you pass the word?”

  He nodded to acknowledge her question and tipped his hat to the others “the parking garage?” his hand hovered over the button.

  “No” Karin shook her head “we are walking this afternoon.”

  “Of course” and he punched the G button for the ground floor as the doors closed them in.

  Reaching the ground floor they all got off into a beautiful lobby with rich leather chairs and matching ottomans. A fireplace was against one wall. “Nice” Karin heard Molly whisper.

  “Hey, I’ll meet you out front” she waved the others on as she stepped to the desk that Gary was sitting behind. She smiled “done with car duty?” she asked him kiddingly and he grinned back in acknowledgment of his least favorite part of the job. She whispered to him and he nodded and listened as she slipped him a C note.

  They walked down a few blocks and turning the corner entered a typical New York neighborhood with shops on one side and old houses lining the other. Miranda and her girls were surprised when several of the shop owners popped their heads out to greet Karin yelling “Hello Ms. Myers” or “Hello Karin” in their crisp New York twangs. She greeted them all by name and teased a few knowingly. It was a little odd to hear people, men and women, greeting her as she walked with them.

  “You’re popular” Molly said sarcastically in a typical teenage tone.

  “I know my neighbors; you never know who you might need to know. I’ve lived here for a while and I shop here. It isn’t difficult to know them” she answered smiling.

  Miranda looked at her in amazement. She had lived near her in Wisconsin and not known any of her neighbors. This Karin was a totally different one from any they had known. She watched as strangers, both men and women admired her friend. She was dressed casually but nicely. Her classic good looks were looked on favorably time and time again.

  “Ms. Myers” the decidedly Italian accent of the proprietor greeted her kissing her on both of her cheeks “I’m so happy to see you!” he enthused.

  “Mr. Martonelli, I can’t be in New York and not eat at my favorite Italian Restaurant can I?” she asked as she smiled broadly.

  “Ah, I see you have brought friends” he looked happily at the three with her.

  “Yes Mr. Martonelli, these are friends of mine from Wisconsin, they are visiting her brother who lives here in the city. This is Miranda Green, her oldest daughter Molly, and her youngest daughter Jana.” Karin said it as though announcing a grand entrance.

  Miranda was surprised when he grabbed her and kissed her on both cheeks. She smiled and he was momentarily stunned at her million watt smile. “Welcome, welcome, ah, your daughters become you. I have grandson’s I could introduce them to....” he smiled. Miranda was startled.

  Karin laughed and said “not tonight Mr. Martonelli. We are here for some of your delicious food, not dates.” She could see the surprise on Miranda’s face and was amused.

  “Speaking of dates, for once my daughter Francesca is here! Actually here!” he said looking at her expectantly.

  “Actually here? I thought we had determined she was an imaginary daughter?” Karin teased.

  He laughed delightedly “no, no, no, she is actually here tonight and you will finally meet her!” he showed them to a table in the middle of the restaurant and asked as he held out a chair for her “would you like the usual or would you like menus?” it sounded like he didn’t like the word menus.

  Karin grinned as she sat and he held out a chair quickly for Miranda as her daughter’s sat themselves. “I think, as my guests don’t know your excellent cuisine, that we will require menus. However, I could use a cool glass of some red wine.”

  “Ah, not just any red wine, one of my best!” he assured her as he gestured to a waitress to bring menus. “And for you madam?” he turned to Miranda.

  Miranda was startled, she wasn’t used to this kind of attention and Karin watched her amused “I’ll have what Karin has” she got out weakly.

  “And for the young ladies?” he addressed Miranda again and the girls gaped.

  “Girls, would you like some soda?” Miranda asked them to divert the attention from herself.

  Mr. Martonelli went away to get their drinks humming happily to himself.

  “They have the most delicious Tortellini” Karin mentioned as a waitress handed them menus. “Thank you Carmen” she smiled at the waitress who immediately smiled back.

  “Welcome back Ms. Myers” she said shyly before leaving them to examine the menus.

  “They seem to know you here” Jana said laughing.

  Karin smiled “yes, this is like a home away from home, they take good care of me and I’ve brought clients who spend a lot of money here. Last Christmas they got to cater the dinner for my work which brought them a lot of business. It’s all about you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours. I’m good at networking. The Christmas
dinner alone brought them a lot of business. They are planning on expanding into the next shop when it becomes available I hear, although not because of what I’ve done.”

  Carmen brought two red wines and some sodas for the girls. “Do you know what you want or would you and your guests like a few more minutes?” she asked politely.

  “A few more minutes please Carmen” Karin said without even glancing up.

  “I think I’m going to have the Ravioli” Jana said as she looked over the menu.

  “That sounds good but I was thinking it might not be enough” Molly said as she unknowingly agreed with her sister, not a common occurrence.

  “What are you having?” Miranda asked Karin as she looked over her menu at her.

  “I’m going to start with a salad and then have a small portion of fettuccini and then another small portion of lasagna” she informed her.

  “Is that on the menu like that?” Miranda asked as she looked at the menu again.

  Karin shrugged “I have no idea, I rarely see their menu.”

  Dinner went well. Several people came by the table to greet Karin casually, one tried to engage her in small talk but she put him off by telling him she was out with out of town guests and he smilingly told her he would call her.

  “You flirt a lot?” Molly asked.

  Karin looked at her in surprise. “I have to know a lot of people for my job. Flirting or chatting them up is part of the job. I’m good at it and it makes them feel good, so why not.”

  At the end of their dinner a beautiful Italian woman came out of the kitchen and made a beeline for them. Karin stood up as she arrived and said “Francesca?” The woman smiled and said “Karin?” with a wonderful inflection of an Italian accent. They shook hands cordially but Miranda noted that Francesca held on a fraction too long as she looked at Karin with hungry eyes. It was apparent she liked what she saw as she assessed her.

  “It’s so good to finally meet you, I thought your father was making you up” Karin teased.

  Francesca laughed delightedly as though Karin had said something truly funny. “Now that we have met I can see what my father has been raving about” she smiled.

  Karin looked at her with appreciative eyes. “For a figment of his imagination you are truly stunning” she smiled in return.

  Francesca was instantly charmed. “I believe he has been trying to set us up for a very long time, I think now that I should listen to my father more often.”

  Karin smiled more if that was possible as she looked into the velvety warm brown eyes. “Here I thought he was trying to foist some poor relation off on this unsuspecting woman. When he described his beautiful, charming, and Harvard educated daughter who happened to be a lawyer, I was sure he was pulling my leg, especially when there was no evidence of your existence for so long.”

  Francesca laughed “I will call you so we can get together okay?”

  Karin nodded as she held out her hand again and it was shook and squeezed enthusiastically. “It was a pleasure to finally meet you Francesca.” She watched as Francesca returned to the kitchen with a look over her shoulder as she disappeared through the swinging door. She sat down once she was out of sight.

  “You’re popular” Molly said sarcastically.

  Karin smiled at her “it’s all part and parcel of my job.”

  “That was work related?” Jana said incredulously

  Karin looked at her knowingly and replied “you never know” but she fooled no one at this table.

  “Are you gay?” Jana asked confused.

  Karin looked at her in surprise, first at the boldness of the question, secondly at her audacity in asking it. She didn’t even glance at Miranda as she answered “I would say sexuality in these days is fluid, I wouldn’t claim to be gay; I wouldn’t claim to be straight. I enjoy a lot of people” she finished in a way which she knew would confuse the teen but then she deserved to be confused, her question had been out of line she felt.

  Mr. Martinelli returned with their bill and asked “you have met my Francesca?”

  Karin grinned at the proprietor “your imaginary daughter is delightful” she teased.

  He was thrilled “and now she works at that big firm near Wall Street, my daughter the lawyer” he bragged.

  “You have every right to be proud of her Mr. Martinelli; she is everything you said she would be.”

  He looked thrilled at her compliment. “Tonight I give you the special rate” he handed her the bill.

  Karin smiled and without even looking at the bill she put down a C note and rose with the others to leave. She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek “thank you Mr. Martinelli, as always it was delicious.”

  He almost had a tear in his eye as he watched her and her guests leave his establishment.

  “That dinner cost one hundred dollars?” Jana asked as they walked down the sidewalk.

  Karin shook her head “no, it probably cost about sixty, but he put me in contact with his daughter the lawyer which means I will have an important contact near Wall Street that I may use. The waitress who I happen to know is a single mother will get the majority of that tip and can use it.”

  Miranda stared at her in amazement. She had thought Francesca was a date but looking at Karin she wondered if perhaps she had deliberately confused Jana further for her impertinent question of earlier.

  They talked about the city as they made their way back to her apartment. “I have to walk D.O.G. would any of you care to go along?” Karin asked when they arrived back. At the word “walk” D.O.G. ran around in circles and then took off for a cabinet in the kitchen which he opened with his nose and grabbed a lead which he brought and held in his mouth for her. They all laughed at his antics.

  Miranda was the only one that took Karin up on her offer “how do you afford that apartment?” she repeated her question of earlier.

  Karin smiled as she watched D.O.G. sniff at things as they walked along. She had given him the command to ‘range’ when they started out so his incessant smelling wouldn’t drive her nuts. It was a casual walk opposite the way they had gone to the restaurant and she had explained to Miranda that there was a dog park this way so they were heading down there. “When I got the promotion from Chicago I had some extra money but the dump I was living in was a little much, I didn’t really care but I had adopted this monster” she indicated D.O.G. who had seen another dog and was straining the leash a little but not too much to have her admonish him. “I went with a couple of the people from the office to an estate sale and no one was bidding on these apartments that had come up. I knew the address from having walked him around here so I was confused. I put in a ridiculously low bid and it was accepted. I got my pick of the apartments and chose the highest one available at the time in the building. People were snickering at me and I wondered if I had made a mistake. When I went the next day to see what I had purchased I was astounded at the condition of the apartment. The maintenance bill alone to live there was kind of ridiculous but you see I have a doorman, an elevator man, a car man, etc. The security is awesome. The apartment though hadn’t been used in like 30 years. It was disgustingly filthy and had been used for storage since back in like the 60’s. I went through the boxes and nothing of note was in them. I filled the garbage bins down the shoot many times over, they complained to me about all the debris I shot down those so I tried not to do it but twice a week right before or right after I knew the garbage trucks had collected. It took a while to get everything out of that apartment and then I started ripping down the paneling. Remember that paneling that went up during the sixties and seventies that was so cool?” she asked Miranda who was listening to this amazing story and nodded. All she had known is that Karin had an apartment in New York, nothing about the background behind it. “Well that lined the living room and hallway, no one even knew about the den, it had been hidden behind this awful paneling.”

  “A hidden room?” Miranda said excitedly loving the sound of it.

  Karin l
aughed “yeah but nothing like that” she said knowing her friends penchant for mysteries and although there was more she told her just enough. “Just a room that wasn’t listed on the inventory. It actually is a room that could have been claimed by the other apartment but since the doorway obviously went into my apartment it is now mine, legally and in use.”

  Miranda shook her head in amazement at her friend’s tale.

  “Once I got the place gutted I had someone in to help me wipe down the walls and the floors, we painted, and the floors themselves were still in great condition so I didn’t have to sand them. I refinanced the place and the appraiser went wild. I could have gotten this huge loan but I took out a modest one to furnish it and get all my kitchen appliances and cabinets. You see the results and that loan was paid off that first year.” She finished her story with a smile.

  “Wow, you really fell into that didn’t you?” Miranda said admiredly.

  “Yes, I went back and bought several of the other apartments when I refinanced again!” she laughed.

  “How much did you sell those for?” Miranda asked.

  “A couple I sold but a couple I sub-leased” Karin said wisely. “It was a lot of work to clean them out as well; the owner’s had no idea what they still owned.” She shook her head at someone’s oversight. “It took forever and I’ve never felt so dirty in my life, but in the end it was all worth it. My first year here was hellish between work, remodeling, just adjusting” she reminisced.

  They arrived at the dog park and D.O.G. was ecstatic. He waited patiently as Karin removed his leash and then she made a sweeping motion with her arm and said “go play” and he ran off to make friends. Several people greeted him by name and then waved at Karin as well as they walked the perimeter of the park and chatted. He returned to check on Karin several times before running off to play with the pack of dogs in the park. He knew the routine very well.

  “You seem to have adjusted to big city life very well” Miranda was commenting as they watched the dogs.