Morningstar Manor

On weekends, the Mocha was always packed with people having a late breakfast all through the morning. The crowd today included:

• Andras, who was talking via Skype with his brother in London, for whom it was already between lunch- and teatime.
• Sibyl and Urquhart, who were sharing a table and a plate of cookies, and discussing a shared problem: - what you could possibly give Ruth for Christmas that she'd really enjoy.
• Chandika and Rahul, with Hanu the hound in tow, who were spoiling themselves with a sweet breakfast made by somebody else, as Bethan was working an early shift at the clinic.
• Cindy, who sat a few tables further on, reading a magazine in Greek and keeping an eye on Axminster and Hanu. At the moment, they were just laying in a heap under her table, but she knew those guys, and they could get boisterous.
• Ricky, usually quite as boisterous, was at the moment curled up in the corner of a sofa being morose into his phone. "No, mom, you really can't do that to me," he complained. "We are having this big concert on the -- what you mean, they can play without me just as well? Do you know what the industry is like? Mom??"

It was an absolutely beautiful day, and the two little groups - one comprising Bethan, Chandika, Rahul and Hanu, and the other just Sasha and little Morgan had found themselves in the garden. Chandika had prepared a snack tea for her little make-shift family, and Sasha had a book and a flask of iced tea for herself and sippy cup of juice for Morgan.

When the women had seen each other, Sasha had offered a bright wave to the little group, beckoning them over to the blanket she had set out in a patch of sun.

"Bura na mano Holi hai!" That was Rahul, first thing in the morning, greeting Bethan with a mischievous smile and a pinch of bright pink powder right on the top of her head. He knew he wasn't to make a mess in the apartment, but no-one else was going to colour Bethan before he did! She blinked at him for a moment, and then remembered why she'd taken the day off - it was Holi, and she'd promised Rahul (and Chandika) that she would spend it with them.

"Happy Holi to you too, brat," she told him affectionately, planning to get her own back later. Let's see how he liked being bright yellow. . .

The Mocha was, as usual for a Saturday early morning, full of people either grabbing something caffeine-laden to-go on their way through, or lounging watching the harried folk.

Bethan was sitting at a table near the windows, half-reading her latest copy of Contemporary Pediatrics, and drinking a cup of karma chai. There was a muffin sitting on a plate next to her cup, white chocolate and cranberry, and she was trying to ignore it's siren call.

Cam had bagged himself a chair in a corner from which he could watch people come and go over the top of his black coffee, which he held before his nose, enjoying the armoa almost more than the taste. Not that is wasn't good - for all her attitude, Joy certainly made a good cup of coffee.

Jos and Toby were sharing a cafetiere and bickering good-naturedly over whose DS had flat batteries and whose was fully charged - they could never seem to convince anyone not to get them matching things - and here was the reason! How were they to know which belonged to which of them? The idea of stickers was obviously foreign to them.

Sasha was sitting on a coach, Morgan's car seat next to her. The baby was napping after a tiring shopping trip, and Sasha was taking the time to kick back and relax with hot chocolate before heading back up to the apartment.

Into the manor came five figures, three human and two canine. Te humans were all wrapped up warmly against the cold and damp, and the two large dogs were prancing enthusiastically. It had been a wonderful walk, but now it was time for hot drinks at the Mocha for all! Perhaps even for the dogs, if Rahul got his way, as he usually did where the two hounds were involved.

Weekend!!

Chandika had not got a Saturday or Sunday shift this weekend, and she had got off work, with one thing or another, at half past five this Friday, bought a really, really nice tea on staff discount, and then hurried home, to her kid and the dogs and her dear friend, and a real weekend!

At the daycare place, Rahul pleaded with her to be allowed to stay until his little buddy's mom came to get him as she was working late on something terribly important to do with 'foreclosures', which the tiny little redheaded guy pronounced so naturally, it gave Chandika a shudder. She agreed, asked the woman in charge to call her when Rahul's friend was picked up, and took the elevator home.

Ahhh, home!

As Rahul wasn't there, she could perhaps try the special treat she had -- not just the tea. Flora, one of the massage therapists, had given her an almost-empty bottle of her best oil, sandalwood and neroli, to try on Bethan -- really invigourating, Flora had said, and grinned. Chandika was always telling how important and fulfilling but stressful Bethan's job was, so of course: - take a nice hot shower, use the oil to massage kinks out, and then start into a weekend that would be as fun as it was relaxing...

Chandika was sitting in the Mocha, with a tall latte and a cute little pink netbook, idly checking job advertisements. You were supposed too keep looking, weren't you, even if you had fallen in love with the first job you applied for?

So she was doing that while she was waiting for somebody to turn up -- either Bethan, or her friend Anjali, who'd taken Rahul to see the touring animatronics dinosaurs, along with her own kids.

Hanu was sleeping by her chair, draped over her foot.

It was fast becoming a tradition that Bethan and Chandika would meet in Memorial Park on Sunday afternoons, by the bandstand, and walk their dogs in relative peace and quiet. Bethan walked to the park from the church, and Chandika brought the two dogs to meet her. It was a nice chance to hash over the events of the week and have an 'adult talk' that wouldn't be interrupted by a small boy. Not that Bethan didn't love having Rahul living with her - she sometimes had to remind herself that he wasn't her son too! But it was nice to have Chandika to herself occasionally.

She'd picked up two iced berry smoothies on her way to the park, and was sitting on the bottom of the bandstand steps sipping one, and hoping that Chandika would arrive before the other was completely melted.

She had to answer the phone. Had to!! Chandika didn't  know who else to call, at this time of night, in this dire predicament.

And it was so cold here -- so nastily cold and windy!

Sunday, and the Malhotras were going off for their holiday later in the afternoon, so Bethan was going to collect Rahul before they went - try and get him moved without too much fuss going on to unsettle him. She knocked on the door of their apartment once they (and she) had time for lunch, and waited with a grin.

Chandika had a box of sweets as she was standing by the Mocha door, waiting for her friend.

Not because she thought Bethan needed sweetening, but because she wanted to have something to show her appreciation even for the chance to ask.

Because Chandika had a rather big favour to ask. It was one thing for Bethan to offer; another entirely to really take her up on it.-

Bethan could never quite decide which sort of Monday morning she hates the most - the ones where she has to get up early, or the ones when she's been on-call all night, and is coming back to bed at nine am. This particular morning was one of the latter, and she had stopped in the Mocha for a cup of caffeine-free tea before heading up to bed.

***

Cambion doesn't hate Mondays any more or less than any other day, as Mondays are no different to someone who doesn't work for a living. Indolent bastard that he is. Still, he does get up reasonably early, and usually finds himself people-watching in the Mocha around the sort of time that most people are heading for work. He was there today, drinking hot chocolate and eating a piece of fudge cake. Who said breakfast had to be healthy?

***

Sasha had decided that it was time that little Morgan was introduced to some of the tenants, so she and the baby were tucked away on a sofa at the back of the Mocha. Morgan was snuggled up in a white crocheted blanket, only the top of her fluffy dark head showing, and occasionally one waving fist.

Chandika had babbled something along the lines of friends and kids and dogs and pyjama parties.

Arjun hadn't really listened, only gotten that it meant no dinner, and no family waiting for him when he got home tonight.

He didn't feel like being alone tonight, so he went to the Mocha for a sandwich, and to see if there were any nice ladies that would listen to the woes of a temporarily abandoned man.

Even though their chai was utter dishwater.

Malika had her walk, and was asleep on Bethan's couch, which meant that Bethan could indulge herself in a sinfully large cup of hot choclate, with whipped cream on top and a chocolate flake melting into it. She was just debating whether or not she actually wanted that slice of chocolate fudge cake which was tempting her across the room. Did she really need two lots of chocolate?

It's a real dilemma for a girl. Someone should help her out.

There was a wedding in the family soon, and Chandika really needed to polish up her dancing skills.

So when Rahul was gone for playschool, she put on gym sweats, took a portable CD player down to the ballroom, checked it was empty, put some Bollywood music on, and started to let rip.

Once or twice, she thought she felt some cold draft near her, or something like a whisper on the wind, but she didn't mind. Place like this was probably drafty anyway.

Chandika danced.-

It had been one of those weekends, it really had. It was all very well being on call when nothing happened - but as Bethan was starting to suspect, she paid for those lovely lazy weekends with incredibly busy ones, where she got barely two hours of sleep a night. Both of the children were doing well, though, which was a relief - she would have felt so much worse if they had died.

Still, she hadn't caught up on her sleep yet, so she was sitting in the window of one of the little cafes, trying not to fall asleep into her tea. Company would be more than welcome, if only in a bid to stay awake.