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Diversion
Sounds Like A Plan
Monday morning.
Rita looks in the full lenth mirror in her room.
She tugs on the jacket, plucks at her hair and then exhales.
"You can do this." Picking up the satchel by the door
she goes downstairs and into the kitchen.
Cookie looks at her consideringly. "You look good."
"Thanks. I'm too nervous to eat."
"Have some toast at least." Cookie pops some into the
toaster. "It'll give your stomach something to chew on
besides you. I don't think passing out from low blood sugar is
the impression you want to make."
"True. All true." Rita pulls up a stool at the
breakfast bar and drops the satchel to the floor. The toast pops
up.
Cookie butters it while it's still hot and passes it to Rita.
"So what's the plan?"
"First stop the courthouse. Hand out a few business cards."
Rita reaches down to her satchel and pulls out a card case. She
hands one to Cookie. "I had them made up after Alexis and
Dara agreed I'd work there. At the time the attorney at law part
was just wishful thinking."
"Very professional."
"Talk to the Judges first. Sometimes they make assignments
to outside counsel. You know get my name on the available list.
I'd make more money hostessing for Johnny but it's a start. Same
thing... go over to the Public Defender's office and let them
know I'm available. Then head over to the office at L&B to
check in with Alexis and Dara see if there is anything I can help
them with. If it looks like I'll be sitting on my thumbs then
I'll head over to the Ward House and see if there is anything I
can do over there. Even if there is no money in it... it will get
me in front of the judges as something other than Daddy's little
girl."
"You're really worried about that."
"Yeah, I want them to take me seriously."
"Then be good at what you do. Honey, I admit it. They will
probably be a little condescending and think you're cute-- little
Rita in her navy blue suit. But you have to remember too... these
are the same guys who have been over to this house million of
times. They know you have a good brain-- they know you know the
law. They've been testing you and arguing with you for years. I
think they will expect more from you than some wet behind the
ears punk right out of school. You already know all the ins and
outs of the building which is half the battle. You know the
clerks like to pull their crap on the newbies. The stories your
father would tell both of us." Cookie shakes her head.
"Where is Daddy?"
"He has a jury." Cookie replies and that says it all.
Whenever JD had a jury empanelled he was at the court house. Jury
duty might be the responsibility of the citizens but JD hated
making it more onerous than it was. "This one is big. And
your dad is in the same spot you are. He's new on the job too. He
knows he's good but it's still a different ball park, you know?"
Rita nods. "What are you going to do?"
"Well I thought I'd take his jury some lunch. If they are
going to be stuck there it might as well be a memorable
experience."
Rita laughs. "Nothing too heavy... if they fall asleep in
the afternoon that defeats the purpose." Rita looks down at
her empty plate. All that are left are crumbs. "You're
sneaky."
"Yes, I am." Cookie comes around the counter and gives
Rita's hand a squeeze. "Knock 'em dead. And be home by six.
I'll have a pitcher of Daquiris made."
"Now that sounds like a plan." Rita grabs her satchel
and heads out the door.
Ricky groans as he looks as his desk. Temptation calls to him to
just dump all those memos right into the round file next to his
desk but he resists. His secretary comes in with a large cup of
coffee and hands it to him. "You couldn't have taken care of
this?" Ricky indicates with a tilt of his head.
"Sure, I could have. And I probably would have tossed the
one piece of paper you wanted. Or said sure to some appointment
you really wanted to duck. This way it's all on you." The
secretary says cheerfully. She stops in the doorway. "Actually
I did get rid of about half of it."
"Too many executives with too much time on their hands."
Ricky mutters. "You think I can have Em institute a policy.
That any memo comes out of their damn bonuses? A hundred bucks
per memo... hell a grand." One by one Ricky drops the memos
in the trash can. "Who the hell cares if someone uses blue
ink or black ink?" There goes one. "Gees self promoting
bullshit." And another one. "CYA, CYA." There goes
two more.
"Ricky, are you busy?" Em asks from the doorway.
Ricky laughs. "This is why I like being out on the road.
Give me charts, give me spread sheets but for heavens sake save
me from the f'ing memos. No, I'm not busy. I can do this with my
eyes closed."
Em brings her own mug of coffee in with her. It's a cutsey thing
that the lab guys had given her. It says Boss
on it but then there is a lipstick print on it in exactly her
signature shade. "Gary Winslow is coming to town. Last time
I talked to him he was in about the same shape as you are now."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, he likes the designing but is getting weighed under
by the paper. I think he was hinting that he wants me to make him
an offer so he can get back to what he really loves doing."
Ricky stops messing with the paper and leans back in his chair.
"Oh. Really. How good is this guy?"
Emily turns around showing off her suit. "He makes me look
good. Alexis uses him exclusively. Maddy wears a lot of his stuff.
He was just starting to break out back when I was modeling. He's
pretty much become a household name in the last ten years."
"Should have grabbed him ten years ago. Now he's too rich
for our blood. He's got nowhere to go but down. Look at that
Martha Stewart... first it was her own show and coffee table
books then she started working for KMart. Now it's Martha who?"
"I think that is what Gary is afraid of. That he's gotten
too big. And yeah, women my age are the ones with the disposable
incomes. But he wants to hook the kids into him not associate him
with their mothers."
Ricky leans in and rests his arms on his desk in the space he's
cleared. "So he wants to tie in with you. You take the
headaches; he gets his space and what-- access to Deception maybe
his name on the next hot fragrance that comes along?"
"We do have some spare bean counters about now-- thanks to
you. It's a meeting. That's all it is."
"You're a soft touch, Em. You want to rescue this guy from
himself." Ricky shakes his head. "I'll take the meeting
but you ought to be finding yourself a designer who is ready to
break out not someone who is already tried and tired. If you want
a designer I'll find you one and it would be a hell of a lot
cheaper than this guy."
"Great. It's dinner on Thursday at the mansion. Johnny is
cooking. So dress up."
Ricky rolls his eyes. "At least the food will be good."
"There is no excuse for serving your family that
preprocessed crap." Cookie instructs the women in front of
her. "It's expensive, it's full of chemicals and it's got no
flavor. I wouldn't have it in my house. Give me one afternoon a
week and a damn good freezer and everyone in the house will have
a balanced meal that meets their nutritional needs for the whole
week."
"But Mrs Porter, none of us are trained chefs the way you
are and right now a freezer is impossible. A stove is impossible."
A young woman complains with just a hint of whine in her voice.
"Honey, if you think it's always going to be that way then
you might as well shoot yourself now. This place is about getting
back on track not laying on them waiting for the train. Get over
here." Cookie calls up a young woman who is just now
beginning to show in her second pregnancy. One of the other women
in the house is babysitting while Cookie is giving this class and
preparing dinner for the house at the same time.
The woman hesitates as she walks into the oversized kitchen.
She's already had her ass kicked more times than she'd like to
think about. And Mrs Porter is just scary. Especially after what
she'd done to the guy who broke into Ward House to collect his property.
"Go over to the fridge and pull out three things. Any three
things." Knowing that the woman will do her bidding, Cookie
turns back to the rest of the class. "Most of you know that
everything in this place is cheap. We've got a lot of mouths to
feed here. It's the same stuff you'll get if you're on low income.
Government cheese, rice, peanut butter. Tastes like crap but you
won't starve."
Rita sneaks into the back of the room. Cookie had started
teaching these classes after She and Daddy had gone to the first
Ward House award program. It was after they were just married.
Cookie hadn't wanted to have anything to do with it. But Daddy
had reminded her how important places like the Ward House were
and that things could have been a lot easier for her and for
Johnny if there had been one around when her she was being used
as a punching bag. Since Cookie had never been one to just right
a check, she started showing up. First cooking dinners now and
then and afterwhile she started teaching when she saw the need
was there. Cookie catches her movement and nods. Rita mouths back.
"Hey."
The woman brings up chicken, broccoli and tomatoes. "Is this
okay?"
"I don't know is it?" Cookie turns to the group who are
all avoiding her gaze. Still all too new and too scared to answer
her. Especially since the girl who had was the one in the hot
seat now. "Rita, tell her if she did alright."
"She did great." Rita smiles at the scared rabbit
reassuringly.
"Everyone, this is my stepdaughter, Rita."
"Hey everybody!" Rita smiles and waves.
"Dinner for twenty, Rita. These three ingredients. Tell them
what they are having for dinner."
Rita looks around the kitchen. "Do I get the cheese and rice
too?"
"Yeah, they are givens." Cookie looks at the women.
"Y'all know they will give you cheese and rice coming out
your ears. Whatever is surplus."
Rita slides out of her suit jacket and rolls up the sleeves of
her white blouse. "Chicken and rice casserole, broccoli with
cheese sauce-- 'cause kids will eat any vegetable as long as it
is smothered in cheese sauce and tomato quarters kinda on the
side. They're fresh and cool and they'll add some color to the
plate. Cookie may bitch about the government cheese but it melts
up great."
"Show them how it's done, Baby." Cookie steps out of
the kitchen and hands her apron to Rita. She takes a seat on the
otherside of the breakfast bar. The rabbit tries to duck out of
the kitchen but is waved back by Cookie. "Un uh. You're on
the hook for this one too. Get back in there." Cookie turns
to the other women. "My boy started helping me in the
kitchen when he was this high. Grating cheese or peeling
vegetables. Rita actually started late."
Rita laughs as she starts skinning and deboning the chicken and
chopping it into bitesized pieces. "First time I met Cookie,
I was ditching school. She grabbed me by the scruff of the neck,
tied an apron around me and put me to work scrubbing pots and
pans in her son's restaurant. Really disgusting pots and pans.
Told me that little girls who ditch had better get used to the
view."
"Now she's a lawyer just graduated with honors from Tulane."
Cookie says proudly. "She works over at Davis and Jensen the
best law firm in Port Charles, hell in New York!"
"And I'm still cleaning pots and pans." Rita laughs.
She starts a conversation with her co-cook coordinating their
efforts. The woman hands her a restaurant sized pan. Rita pours
in some rice and then adds water swishing it around.
"Aren't you going to cook that ahead?" One of the women
asks.
"I could." Rita agrees. "I could cook the chicken
ahead too. Then layer them together and just reheat it to combine
the flavors. But I'm hungry! So I'm just going to throw
everything together and let it all cook in the oven." Rita
catches the other girl as she is about to throw out the broccoli
stems having just the florets from the top. She takes them from
her and peels off the woody outer skin and then juliennes the
stems to the sizes of the matchsticks in a confident manner.
"For flavor and color." She spreads the broccoli over
the slurry of rice and water then the chicken pieces on top of
that. Looking around the kitchen she finds what she'd been
expecting. Cookie wasn't really into gardening but she always had
pots of herbs in whatever kitchen she uses. The others watch her
with interest as she sniffs plants and then starts pinching off
pieces of them.
"You think they cook that pasta and rice in the hamburger
helper first?" Cookie tells the group. "And have you
ever checked how much salt is in that stuff? It's a killer. There
is enough salt in meat anyway. No need to go overboard. What are
you going to use there?" Cookie asks Rita.
"Some rosemary I think. And I'm not as prejudiced against
salt as Cookie is." She seasons the pan with a quick flick
of salt and pepper then adds the rosemary that she'd minced.
Sealing the whole thing up with foil, she slides it into the
preheated oven and sets the timer. "Now I'm ready for a cup
of coffee. Who is with me?" Her assistant sets a pot of
coffee to drip. That's one thing you could say about this place.
Thanks to Corinthos/Morgan Coffee they had the best and most
expensive selection of coffee in the city.
Everyone gathers around the farmstyle long kitchen table coffee
mugs infront of them. Cookie goes up to the dry erase board and
starts doing the math comparing the cost of prepackaged chicken
helper and what Rita had done. One of the women leans over to
Rita and whispers. "Are you really an attorney?" Rita
nods. "Can I talk to you later? Privately?"
"Sure."
JD walks into the house hollaring that he is home. Cookie comes
out of the kitchen wiping her hands. She can tell already that JD
has a headache. "Long winded attorney?"
"Two of them." JD sighs. "What I wouldn't give for
one of those timers the appellate courts use." He hangs up
his jacket and drops his briefcase on the floor by the closet.
"Where is Rita?"
"She is over at Ward House talking to the women over there.
She stopped by this afternoon and made supper. Everyone got to
talking and all of a sudden there was a line of women who want to
consult with her. I finished up what I was doing and headed home."
"Restraining orders, separation papers, divorce papers,
child support, child custody." JD starts running off the
list.
"Yep, all of that. Along with some petty thievery and name
changes. She might not make any money but she sure is going to be
getting her face known down at the courthouse."
"Don't be so sure on that one, Cookie. The women she is
defending might not have two nickels to rub together but the men
they are running from could. She'll collect from them and
probably enjoy doing it."
"Nothing more than they deserve." Cookie says coolly.
"Go get changed." She changes the subject. "I
promised Rita a pitcher of daquiris when she got home and I have
your dinner about ready to throw on the grill. I'll meet you out
back." JD nods and heads upstairs.
About thirty minutes later, Cookie and JD are seated at the patio
table. There is a pitcher of daquiris on it and each have a glass
in front of them. JD is eating his dinner while Cookie fills him
in on what is going on at Ward House. "...So Mary Alice is
about ready to move out. She's been able to bank a couple of
paychecks and found a nice apartment."
JD nods. "You going to get her a starter kit?" Another
thing Cookie did for the women who were moving out of the shelter.
Set them up with the bare bones necessities for their kitchen.
The kits themselves were rather limited and depressing for the
women breaking free, to have not even those basics. More proof of
everything they'd abandoned to save their lives. But to make it
more homey Cookie also included little pots of herbs along with
directions on how to take care of them.
"I'll have it ready by moving day." Cookie agrees.
"You guys kicking me out already?" Rita drops into a
chair across from the two of them. She reaches for the pitcher of
Daquiris and pours herself a glass of the frosty beverage.
"Hell No." JD protests. "Baby, you can stay as
long as you want. I'm happy to have you home."
"I was just talking about one of the women who is ready to
move on from the shelter." Cookie explains. "Getting
her a house warming present."
Rita takes a sip and sighs. "Well I don't have to worry
about what I'm doing tomorrow. There is a lot of work to be done
down there. A lot."