Braving it in the New World

The elevator dinged and the doors swooshed open. Raphael didn’t look up from the cappuccino machine; the cafe was getting more popular with each passing week. Mike was downstairs, reading to a group of kids, but Raphael didn’t mind working alone for a while. Sure, it kept him on his toes, but it wasn’t like it was a tough job... put the coffee in the cup and give it to the customer. Repeat. A monkey could do it.

“What can I getcha?” he asked, without turning around. His new ninja training was actually coming in really handy, especially when he worked alone. He could almost feel the air moving behind him as a customer sat down in a high counter stool.

“Um... nothing, thank you,” a woman’s voice said in a gentle accent. “I just wanted to talk to you if you had a minute.” She sounded nervous. Raphael knew why as soon as he turned around.

“You!” he blinked at the Hispanic mother. “I didn’t think I’d see ya again in here.”

The woman blushed and dipped her head in shame, squeezing her eyes shut tight for a second.

“Yeah,” she said. “That’s... that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Just a sec,” Raph said. He took the fancy coffees over to a couple of old ladies who’d settled into one of the couches. He didn’t make seniors stand at the counter - he remembered all too well how achy Master Splinter had been in his rat’s body. He walked back and stood behind the counter with his arms folded across his big chest. What the heck did this crazy bitch want?

The woman twisted her hands around in her lap. She looked different today. She was wearing heels again and a loud, flowery dress that was a little too short and hugged her hips and breasts. She was showing a bit too much cleavage and her curly hair was down with the sides tied back behind her head. Her earrings were huge hoops and she had a lot of eye-liner and lipstick on. Raphael cocked his head to one side as he looked at her... she looked good.

“I just wanted to thank you for looking after my son last week,” she said quietly. “And I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry I was so rude to you. I was very, very tired.”

“Ya work nights?” Raphael guessed. He leaned on the counter and kept looking at her. She looked better than the other day, but she still looked tired.

“Yeah,” she nodded, still not meeting his eyes.

“Where?” Raph asked. It was none of his business, but he never shied away from anything.

“I’m... I’m a dancer,” the woman said, suddenly looking hard into his eyes, almost daring him to criticize her.

Raphael shrugged. “Dat’s good money,” he said. It was. He’d sat in the back of clubs and seen drunken losers stuff wads of cash into girls’ bras and g-strings.

“Yeah, on a good night it is,” she said, surprised that he wasn’t making a big deal out of it. “I do it for my son... I’m trying to put myself through school.”

“Yeah?” Raphael asked. “Whatcha takin’?”

“Paramedicine,” she said proudly. “I’ve only got another year to go. It’s a two-year program.”

“Cool,” Raphael smiled. He reached into the little fridge under the counter and pulled out the fruit punch and poured her a glass He added a shot of club soda to make it fizzy. She shook her head as he slid it over to her. He sighed and stuck a bendy straw in it. “Look,” he said, “It took a lot of guts ta come in here and make nice with me. Accept my peace offering and we’ll call it square.”

The woman blushed right down to her cleavage. “Thank you,” she said, almost shyly. “Um... I’m Estrella.”

“Raphael,” the red turtle said, reaching out to shake her small hand.