What Can You Not Buy With Money?

“I’m fine, Ben. Really, don’t worry about me.” I was trying to press myself from the heavy crowd of people. Burgess tightly held my hand but let me lead the way through the carnival, his face taut with unease.

“You’ve only been out of the hospital for one day. Much earlier than the doctors recommended. Why’d you choose here of all places?” Burgess griped as he looked around pompously. “I thought when you said date you meant dinner, or a movie at my theater.”

“I never said date,” I shook my head as I craned my neck over the many people. From afar, I could barely make out the bright words ‘Neo Sushi Club’ on the banner over a stand in the corner of the walkway. I added to Ben, “I told you this was just for fun. I want you to meet my friends.”

“Oh, I’ve already had the pleasure of knowing your friends,” Burgess sneered as we finally reached the small wooden platform, where Walker was already drawing a crowd by balancing the handle of the knife on his nose like a circus performer. Lucy was in the back, behind the tables where Lawrence was sitting. She was with Vern, in an intimate position of biting his neck affectionately. The poor man’s face was pink as his eyes darted around at the heavy crowd in embarrassment.

Lo and behold, Adelmo was also there, standing a few feet from Walker with a girl’s shoulder supporting his draped arm. He was transfixed on Walker’s daring stunts, like a child watching a magic trick.

I waited for Walker to finish his little act, and he tossed his head down and jumped back to retrieve his blade, winning the audience over who started lining up to sample his dishes.

“Walker,” I went behind the counter and asked over the growing volume of the mass. “How’s business?”

“Great. Better than before,” was the cheery reply. “You know, this idea of yours just may save us. Remind me to buy you a drink.” Walker looked up and the relief that was in his voice evaporated. “Shit.”

We all looked up, even Lucy who suddenly shot her head around to glare at the incoming group of young men, all with shaved heads and menacing muscle.

“Well,” One of the guys came up. “Ain’t this cute?” He looked at Walker like a dead fish, his face full of mischief; his mouth agape.

Walker gritted his teeth behind closed lips and he nodded curtly. “Yes?”

One of the hoodlums walked up to browse the food, and ‘accidentally' knocked an entire plate over. “Oh, I’m sorry. Clumsy me.”

Walker lurched to strike the person but Lawrence had intervened by grabbing Walker’s shoulder to hold him back. Despite his frail frame, my friend looked ready to kill.

“Go away. If you don’t, I’ll have to kick all of your asses. Especially after what you did to our inventory.” Walker seethed, his face growing red with rage.

All of the antagonists looked to each other with sneers, daring their victim to try and defend himself.

Burgess’ grip tightened over my hand when he saw a look in my eye that was full of boldness. But I ignored his silent protest as I pulled away from his grasp and stepped in front of the men. “Hey. Chill out. What do you have against these guys, what have they done to you?”

“What have they done?” The leader of the group, bewildered and furious at my intervention, widened his eyes as his mouth curled in disgust. “They stole from us.” He pointed a finger at Lawrence with vindictiveness shot from his gesture.

“Oh?” I turned to Lawrence. “What did you steal, Lawrence?”

Lawrence looked uncomfortable but he was honest. “Their methods of rice preparation.”

At first, I thought I heard him wrong. It sounded stupid to be angry over something as tedious as a recipe. It should be the least of anyone's worries. But I heard right.

Walker turned to his friend with hurt shining in his eyes like gloss. “…What?” He hissed as though he couldn’t believe what he heard, his teeth bared in frustration at the betrayal.

“If they make their rice their own way from now on, will you back off?” I quickly went back to the men, feeling like a mother trying to find a compromise with troubled children. I was trying to wrap my hands over the concept of this 'war] but the recent food poisoning must have made it impossible for me to rationalize. "If they promise to stop, will you leave them alone?"

The leader of the group raised an eyebrow, skepticism exploding in his eyes. “And our soy sauce dip?” But there was hope, and it seemed to me that there was a weathered look in his face. He was older than his friends and seemed weary of the petty fighting as well.

“Yours alone.” I couldn’t help but smirk as I held out my right hand to seal the deal. Sometimes I didn't understand men. “You’ll back off?”

The man glanced at my hand, then looked at my eyes to find any trace of deceit. When he found none, he strongly took it and gripped it tightly while giving it a swift shake. “Fine.” He backed up and his friends started to back away. “But if we hear you cut back from the bargain, we’ll be back.” When his friends were already leaving their own ways with disappointment on their faces, the man quickly added, “Thanks.” He looked no happier for the agreement.

Once the villains had left, everyone started snickering to let out laughter of relief and shock.

“That’s it? Just like that?” Lucy had released Vern and was holding her sides as she tried not to fall down in laughter. “But they were doing all this shit just for a few cooking ideas?”

“Hey,” Walker defended while wiping his eyes from his imaginary tears of joy. “Lawrence was basically plagiarizing. I’d be pissed beyond belief too.” He shot his boss a displeased frown and shook his head like a man in mourning. “Dude, uncalled for.”

Lawrence wringed his hands as he regrettably looked at his feet. “But what are we going to do about the Club? Just come up with some new ideas?”

“I’ll handle it,” Walker comforted his employer, but the way Walker held his shoulders and how his eyes were cringed in a light flavor of disgust showed how unforgiving Walker was. “But I’m expecting a nice raise… and you owe Mary an apology. She was really sick. Those asses had fucked up the fish and could have hurt a lot of people. It's not fair that she's the one who resolved this, after what they did to her.”

“I’m sorry,” the man took my shoulder and hugged me. I awkwardly stood, teetering over like the leaning tower of Pisa. I looked over his shoulder at everyone while uncomfortably patting his back. “Walker couldn’t stop talking about you. When I heard that you had some overripe fish, I…” He paused and pulled away. “I’m a proud man, you understand? So thank you. For that. You are a good friend. I'll give you...” He scratched his head then decided on my reward. "...Free meals for life."

"Thanks," I was about to nod to agree, but then I just shook my head while forcing a smile. “But it was nothing.” All the sentiment was making my head spin, and I felt nausea lightly sweep me from my feet.

"I'll hear none of it or Walker will have my neck." Lawrence patted my shoulder as he kept smiling. Relief was pouring from his eyes, almost like invisible tears. He was a very convincing man.

Quickly I backed out of his reach, already feeling as though he was on fire and I was drenched in gasoline. Like Walker, I wasn't exactly all happy day for this guy.

“What are we going to do now?” Lawrence turned to Walker. “We have all this…” He gestured to the rice cookers, soy sauce, and the rest of their supplies.

“Change it,” The man stated the obvious as he went back to work sharpening his knives. Walker had a cold mist over his face that reflected his disappointment in his boss.

“You need help?” Vern volunteered as he walked behind the Itamaes.

“No, I’m good. Why don’t you all go and have fun. My lunch break’s in a few hours; we can talk then.” Walker waved us off, his gaze fixed on me with a serious note. After a quick pause, he smiled in a way that was different from his usuals. It wasn’t a Charles Walker grin; it was a quiet and stern beam.

This time it was Burgess who took my hand as he pulled me through the streets of people. “Where do you want to go?” He asked as he brought me to a clearing of people near the children rides, empty due to the lack of kids there.

I quickly looked up at the ferris wheel with desire, but decided that it wasn’t fair for Burgess to keep giving me what I wanted. “Why don’t you choose first?” Before he could answer, my Smartphone began to ring, and I was about to answer it. It was from Madame Slater’s cell.

Strong hands took it from me and turned it off. I looked at Ben in disbelief, surprised that he was putting off work and didn’t seem to care. But instead of explaining his actions, Burgess smirked as he returned the device to me and turned away. Half jokingly, he looked on where I had turned my head. “I think the ferris wheel is our best bet.”

I frowned; it was clear that he had chosen it only because I wanted to. We went to the back of the line, trying not to get swallowed up by the crowd.

“Ben!” A girl’s voice dripping with excitement stole our attention, and we turned to see a young woman walking toward us with a camera in her hand. “Ben Burgess?”

“Yes?” Burgess raised his eyebrow as he studied the girl.

“Hi, my name’s Vicky. Big fan. Could I—get a picture of you?” She was out of breath and she looked ready to explode out of glee.

Burgess opened his mouth to say no, but I forced a smile and nodded for him to go for it. “Fine,” he muttered, a hint of grumbling in his tone.

“Thanks! Here,” She thrust a camera in my hands. “Could you take it?” Without me answering, she threw her arms around Ben and gave him a huge squeeze.

Trying not to laugh at Ben’s discomfort and creeped out face, I quickly took a snapshot then returned her camera. “Here you go.”

“Thanks,” The girl quickly nodded then walked off. But at noticing the girl and her loud interjection, people started to stare. The crowd began to realize that Ben Burgess was among them.

“Mr. Burgess,” A man walked up, eager to shake his hands with the young man. “Joe Vale. I worked for your company a few years ago.”

“Really?” Burgess sounded uninterested, but he politely nodded.

Everyone started to crowd around us, and I began to feel suffocated as I felt myself being quickly brushed away so more people could have an opportunity to meet the celebrity.

“Excuse me, I have important matters to attend,” Burgess snapped as a pair of girls grabbed at his sleeve eagerly. He quickly brushed by the crowd, closing in on me. “Let’s go,” Burgess ordered with stress straining his voice.

We quickly glided through the crowd, and thankfully no one followed us. I threw Burgess a fleeting look, noticing that he looked uncomfortable. Being in a heavily crowded place seemed to weight heavily on him, and I realized that he probably didn’t even like being at a carnival.

“Why don’t we go somewhere quiet?” I volunteered to change plans. “I’m sure my friends won’t mind if I cancel for lunch.

Burgess smiled relieved, and opened his mouth to answer. But his phone started to ring. Frustrated, Burgess checked the caller ID then let the call go to voicemail. Almost immediately, it started to ring again. Cursing, Burgess turned his phone off and looked at me with a new plan glinting in his eye. “Valentine's Day is coming up soon and I could use a vacation.”

I nodded, the thrill of hearing of a trip turning my face light red. “Where do you want to go?”

“Ever been to Alaska?”