Chapter 9
Carlita’s mouth fell open. “I knew it! I knew you were up to something.”
“Hold your horses.” Elvira held up a hand. “Like I said, I’ve got it all under control, but I figured I better head over here before you smelled smoke and called the fire department.”
“What’s going on?” Mercedes rushed into the living room.
“Elvira set her apartment on fire. I want to see the damage,” Carlita gritted out. “You were already treading on thin ice.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.” Elvira led the way out of the apartment and Mercedes and her mother followed. A thick cloud of smoke drifted into the hall and the heavy smell of smoke filled the air.
Beep. Beep. “Darn smoke alarms. I thought I unplugged them all,” Elvira said. “I must’ve missed one.” She darted inside the apartment, to the smoke alarm in the kitchen. She climbed onto the counter and teetered on the edge as she unscrewed the alarm and pulled out the battery.
The beeping stopped.
Carlita headed down the hall while Elvira hopped off the counter and ran after her.
“Don’t freak out. It looks worse than it is.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
Carlita stepped into a thick haze of smoke and her eyes started to burn.
Mercedes gasped, and said the first thing that popped into her head. “Elvira isn’t worth going to prison over.”
At first, Carlita had trouble wrapping her head around the mess, which centered on what appeared to be a bust. She stepped closer. Despite the soot-covered nose and ear, the image was unmistakable. “Is this a bust of you?”
“Yeah. I was working on a self-image. I got bored with painting, so I switched over to table art, you know, the kind you display. I was almost done with it, too.”
Elvira ran her fingertips over the charred hairline. “I thought it would be cool to add a bronze spy cap. It didn’t turn out quite right and I read online where other artists used blow torches to smooth the edges.”
“A blow torch? You used a blow torch inside your apartment?” Carlita yelled.
“The bust was too heavy for me to carry out to the courtyard,” Elvira said in a small voice. She hurried on. “It would’ve been all right except the torch got a little too close to the curtains and they caught on fire. I ripped them down and was able to put out the fire, but I tore out a couple of small chunks of the drywall where the curtain rods screwed into the wall. I promise. I’ll have this mess cleaned up in twenty-four hours.”
Carlita closed her eyes and began counting. She opened her eyes. “You will clean this up and I’m starting the eviction process. This is the last straw.” She turned on her heel and stomped out of the apartment.
“You can’t throw me out on the street.” Elvira ran after her. “I pay my rent on time. Well, I mean I pay my rent and right now, I’m current. It was a small mistake. I got so excited, I was careless.”
Elvira followed her out of the apartment and to her front door. “Please. Give me another chance.”
“I have been more than patient with you, Elvira. More than fair and even felt sorry for you, but this fiasco is beyond careless. It was downright dangerous. Fix the damage and start packing because you’re out of here.”
Mercedes slunk past her mother and into the apartment, thankful that she wasn’t on the receiving end of Carlita’s wrath.
She watched as her mother slammed the door in Elvira’s face. “I can’t say she didn’t deserve that.”
“I should’ve done it long ago,” Carlita fumed. “I felt sorry for her. I can’t let her continue her antics here. No wonder her previous landlord kicked her out.”
Knock. Knock. “She doesn’t give up!” Carlita jerked the front door open. “Now what?” she growled.
Paulie and Carlita’s grandkids stood on the other side. “I. Are you okay Ma? You look like you’re gonna punch someone in the face.”
Carlita sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry Paulie. I just had a run-in with Elvira.”
“Ah. I see,” Paulie smiled. “It wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with the smoke in the hall? I was gonna tell you, you need to check it out.”
“I checked it out all right. Elvira tried to burn this place to the ground.”
“You got it under control? Cuz I can run over there,” Paulie said.
“It’s under control.”
“Okay. Uh. You sure it’s a good time to leave the kids? Gina and I can do the dinner boat another time.”
“No. I’m fine. Come on in.” She ushered the children into the house. “Mercedes and I can handle it from here.”
“Who’s on your backpack?” Carlita forced Elvira from her mind and tapped the square yellow character on the front of PJ’s backpack.
“Nonna, it’s SpongeBob SquarePants,” PJ said. “He lives in a pineapple at the bottom of the ocean.”
“I wonder if he has room for Elvira,” Carlita muttered as she turned to Noel. “And who is this on your backpack?”
“Elsa.”
“I have Anna,” Gracie said. “See?” She spun in a half circle, to show her grandmother the back of her backpack. “Can we make cookies? Mommy said we might make cookies.”
“We are,” Carlita nodded. “They’re Great Nonna Garlucci’s Italian Cookies.”
PJ rubbed his tummy. “I’m starving.”
“Let’s have a snack, then we can start the cookies,” Carlita said. “Later, we’re gonna order pizza.” She assembled three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and then added celery sticks and ranch dressing on the side of each of the plates.
While the children ate, they told their grandmother about the places they’d visited. Carlita grinned as she heard all about Savannah through
