Mimi's Demons

Chapter 51: Like a Boss

"What's my Papa's schedule like, Monty?"

An old man who looked like he should be taking naps on a porch in a rocking chair smiled at Mimi. He had fashionable, but thick glasses that had that extra weird square of glass within the lens that were basically magnified whatever he was peering at. You know, old people glasses, the kind they tilted back their heads and looked down their noses to use. He didn't have cool jewelry chains on them, though, and his wrinkles weren't as nice as Mrs. Bloomfield's, but they'd do.

"Your camping trip this weekend is a go, Young Miss. You shall be leaving after your badminton practice on Friday, so around two thirty in the afternoon."

"That won't give us enough time to build up coals for our dinner." Mimi knew the importance of making a good campfire for cooking, if not via her grandpa, then via a year on the streets without electricity.

"I believe Marriot already has plans for that. You are taking a trailer with a ready camping stove, so preheating shouldn't be an issue."

Mimi 'tched' through her teeth. "Pussy."

Monty just smiled, humoring Mimi's blatant insulting of her father's way of camping with folded hands on his desk. He may not see her all that often, but Mimi suspected he knew more than even Serena and Omen when it came to the workings of the mansion.

"I'm sure you will have plenty of opportunities to display your campfire cooking prowess to your father, Young Miss," he said. "If you would make a list of the necessary ingredients, I shall pass it along to Merriot."

This satisfied Mimi and she sat down at the chair opposite Monty's humble desk to fill out a legal pad of food scrawls. She added some marshmallows, just to be safe. She was dealing with a noob at camping, after all.

And just because it made her feel oh so fancy and bossy, she asked, "Could I have a copy of my schedule, Monty?"

Rather than tell her that she had it on the highly limited smart phone she'd been given recently, he pulled open a drawer, opened a folder, and handed over a crisp, beautiful page with her monthly schedule in fine print, as though fully anticipating her asking.

She accepted it with her nose held high as she skimmed over it. It basically was exactly what was listed in her phone, though her phone came with little chimes for each event. "Thank you, Monty."

"Your welcome, Young Miss."

"Well, according to this, I better get to my mathematics class. If you see my Papa before I do please remind him to pack a sleeping bag or I will tease him mercilessly."

"Of course, Young Miss." A dash of humor twinkled in his eye.

With that, she pranced out of the secretary's office feeling oh, oh so fancy.

Serena wasn't waiting for her when she stepped out. Instead there was a beautiful dark-eyed lady with mocha skin and a colorful, glittering silk sari she'd worn just for Mimi. It was perhaps the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen, and combined with her long black hair and almond shaped eyes, Mrs. Omen looked like an Indian Princess. Real ones that were so elegant and gorgeous Sultan's had to hide them behind screens in order to prevent men going insane, not like the whiney, half-naked scamp Princess Jasmine from Aladdin. Honestly, if you have a dad that's willing to give you a freaking tiger and a jade palace and you complain about not being able to run around the slums like you want to, you're just being spoiled, in Mimi's humble opinion. She'd lived in the slums after all. Princess Jasmine wasn't missing out on anything.

"Ready for your Maths, Little Miss?" Mrs. Omen asked in her pretty, exotic accent that Mimi just couldn't get enough of.

"Yep! Is there anything you need to do before we go?"