Mimi's Demons

Chapter 78: Demons in Big Wigs

Mimi tried not to blush as she stared back at the ten men seated around a glassy topped table. It was a room just like she had seen in the movies with walls made of glass for the bad guy to stand and cackle as he looked down on the city. She wondered if her dad had ever done that while in here. Probably not. More likely it was one of these old pasty guys scrunching their eyebrows at her in an obvious question as to why she was here.

Why were they all old? And pasty? And if they're so rich why do two of them obviously have fake hair? Well, I guess that one dude over there wasn't so old, but he probably paid money to get his wrinkles surgically removed so her Papa would outshine him in youngness.

They also all had various demons perched on their shoulders or peeking over the table from their laps, though they quickly ducked away before Mimi could meet their eyes. None of the demons looked comfortable and they kept glancing towards Mimi, or her Papa, she couldn't tell because they'd hide their faces. At least none of them were the black kind the other doctor had that made Mimi throw up.

Huh. Mimi wondered where that doctor went. It had been a long time since she'd seen him. Not that she was sad about that.

"Joshua, if you'd get us started," said Duke, completely ignoring their expectations that he'd tell them why a little girl with a big blue bow on her head was sitting on his lap.

Mimi smiled. Now there's power. You don't have to answer questions unless you felt like it, asked or unasked. Would certainly make avoiding lies easier.

One of the old guys with the fake blond hair nodded and pulled out a flat little remote from seemingly nowhere. A screen rolled down from the ceiling, the little motor entirely silent. Money appreciated quiet.

From then on Mimi didn't understand anything that was said. It was all big words and diagrams and numbers. Duke hadn't been wrong when he said the meetings were boring, though all the men in the room smiled and chuckled at dry jokes no one would think was funny. When Monty came in to hand Duke and Mimi a cup of tea and hot cocoa respectively, seeing a familiar face gave Mimi the courage to ask him for some paper and pencils, to which he returned with forth with, despite his age. The old guys should take a page from his book, Mimi thought. Her Papa's face didn't show it, but she could tell her father wasn't impressed by what he was being shown, but Monty always impressed him. Or, he should. Mimi loved Monty. He made her feel like a boss.

With paper and pencils in hand, Mimi took to doodling the demons clinging to the old men's shoulders to show her papa. It wasn't until she'd sketched her third demon, a stealy demon with particularly long arms that draped down alongside its host's tie, that she realized he wouldn't know which demon went to which person.

After a moment of debate, she figured she could owe her dad a teensy bitsy amount of entertainment and raised her hand.

She had to admit it was hilarious how all the men, in their crisp, expensive suits, acting big and powerful and chuckly, froze like deer in the headlights.

They looked at Duke. Then Mimi. Then Duke.

"Go ahead, kitten," said Duke, his expression carefully blank but a smile in his eyes.

She pointed at the guy with the long-armed stealy demon. "What's your name?"

He gave Mimi a smile even she could tell was practiced. "Joshua Johanson. I run the Johanson and Johanson company."

"Weird to name your company by just saying your name twice," she said, mostly to herself. "Can you spell that for me?"

She could feel her Papa shake ever so slightly with held back chuckles as the business man spelled it out for her.