Chapter 12
Mad Boss
With the new year's arrival now behind them, it was business as usual at the coffee shop. Every day, Peggy clocked in at the morning, served customers coffee or tea all day, and then clocked out just before sundown. There was really not much to say outside that. Despite being a world full of magic and magical al creatures, it was just boring, normal everyday days. Simply peaceful. That was probably why this particular day, to Peggy, ended being so memorable.
There was no violence, and no one got hurt (not physically, anyway), but it remained one of the most terrifying moments in Peggy's life since coming to this world. Why is that, you might ask? Well, it's because it was the first time ever that Peggy saw her Boss lose his cool.
Rush hour had just ended and the shop was scarce of patrons when the door flew open and two men burst in. Both of them were long-eared elves.
The older elf was a wrinkly-faced with long blond hair and a big hooked nose. He wore a white dress shirt frilled at cuffs beneath a thick, green jacket. The leggings of his trousers were tucked into knee-high white socks. His clothes reminded Peggy of a pirate movie she watched as a kid. It would definitely fit the time period.
The other elf had shorter hair that was dyed vivid sky blue. He wore a more modern dress shirt tucked in grey trousers. He didn't wear a jacket and had his arm sleeves rolled back, making him look more relaxed than the senior elf.
"Away with you, blasphemous whippersnapper!" the older elf snapped at the younger one. "I have business here, REAL grownup business."
"You don't tell me what to do, old man," the younger elf clapped back. "I'm the one who got real business here."
It didn't take a genius to figure out that things would soon get out of hand.
"You there, lass!" shouted the older elf. He pointed at Peggy and quickly marched up to her. "I wish to speak to the owner of this eatery. Bring him out here, posthaste!"
"Seriously, old man?" The blue-haired elf shook his head in disgust. "Who says 'lass' these days? Yo, miss. Mind bringing out the boss? I wanna talk about a business opportunity."
"Get in line! I was here first," said the older elf.
"Nu-uh," went the younger. "I was!"
As far as Peggy could tell, they both came in at the same time, but she held her tongue so no more fuel would be added to the fire.
"Gentlemen, GENTLEMEN!" Peggy raised her voice to get the men's attention. "Please wait a bit while I get my boss."
"I can go get him!" George volunteered. The young lion cub had been sitting at the back corner, doing his homework.
"That would be great, thanks," Peggy said. Honestly, she was reluctant to leave the shop floor without anyone to keep an eye on the two elves. Thanks to George, she didn't have to.
It only took a few seconds, but those seconds felt like hours to Peggy who had to endure a tense and smoldering air between the elf and the human who just kept glaring daggers at each other. She was relieved when the Boss finally showed up.
But as soon as he saw who was waiting for him, the vampire's face instantly soured.
The two elves had a brief shoving match, which the older one won. He brushed past Peggy, almost pushing her off-balance as he marched right up to the Boss.
"Greetings, good sir," he said. "I am - !"
Boss cut him off and said, "I know who you are. You're Ulmus Cinerea, owner of Cinerea Bakery."
"So you've heard of me!" the old elf said, pleased. "Then that saves us plenty of time! I-!"
The younger elf suddenly butt in and practically shouted, "I'M Gray Ashwood, owner of Ashwood's Future Foods! And I've come to sell you my delicious elf cakes!"
"Blast you, Ashwood!" Ulmus cursed. "Don't get in my way! Good sir, do not listen to that brat. He wouldn't know good elf cake if it hit him in the face! Mine are all made using ingredients and techniques handed down from generation to generation, the way they're supposed to!"
"Times change, and so do tastes," Gray said. "Yo, Mr. Bossman, nobody wants those stale, outdated things anymore. If you really want to rake in the customers, then you gotta go for the new, fresh and hip!"
"Your cakes make a mockery of elf tradition!" snapped Ulmus. "They are unacceptable abominations!"
"Well yours are a thing of the past!" Gray argued back. "Nobody wants to follow those old routines anymore. Face it old man, your precious tradition's time is up!"
"Do you think your monstrosities will last?" Ulmus said. "Sooner or later, everyone will see that those things are wrong, and that my cakes are right! Surely, you'd agree, good sir?"
A shaggy weredog wearing a brown suit with patched elbows froze just as he was about to bite into his sandwich when Ulmus spoke to him. "Huh? You mean me?"
"Yes, you," Ulmus said. "Judging by the violin case at your feet, I take it you are a master of classical music. Surely, you understand me. Would you call that newfangled noise that some misguided young'uns make, that break from tradition, music?"
"Well . . ." The weredog hesitated a little.
The less-shaggy dog sitting opposite him glared daggers. "Why are you hesitating? Is that what you think my music is? Just 'noise'!?"
"Well, I was certainly miffed when you decided not to take the violin," the older weredog said.
"So you do think it's just noise!" the other weredog shouted. "Like your oh-so great violin's not!"
"What was that, whelp!? Our family's been musicians for generations! To think my own flesh and blood would not continue that tradition, I couldn't feel more betrayed!"
"Hey! I am a musician! Just because my rock-n'-roll's not classic, doesn't make it any less music than yours!"
"You tell 'im!" cheered Gray. "That's right. In fact, it's more music than his! I bet you get even more fans than he does!"
"You think that just strumming some strings of some loud, electric noisemaker makes you a musician?" the older weredog barked. "That's like grabbing a paintbrush to draw some random weird shape and calling yourself an artist!"
An elf girl in a green beret flew out of her seat in a rage and screamed, "What was that, you mangy mutt?"
Close by, a tiny, old fairy lady loudly scoffed and said, "He's not wrong."
"Oh, like your sketches are any better!"
Oh, this is bad, Peggy thought as one by one, the shop's customers rose from their seats and raised their voices at one another.
They were divided into two sides, those who followed the old ways versus those who followed the new ways. It's like a civil war was about to start here. If nothing's done, a fight might really start.
And then Ulmus's attention turned to Peggy, herself.
"Come, young lady!" he said. "Join us! Surely, a refined lady such as yourself can see tradition is the only way to go!"
"Huh? Uh . . ."
Honestly, Peggy didn't care either way. Whether or not it's traditional or new, to her cake was cake, music was music, and art was art.
"No, only the new way is the right way!" shouted Gray. "You know that, right little dude?"
He threw the question at George who wore a troubled face and turned his left head and right, unable to pick a side and reply back.
"THAT IS ENOUGH!"
With a mighty roar, Boss stomped his foot against the floor and a freezing gust of wind blew out, spreading with it a layer of whitish-blue frost that covered the whole of the shop. Although untouched by the ice, everyone was hit by the cold air that sent shivers down their spines and made their knees turn to jelly. Unable to keep standing, they all fell into their chairs. Only the Boss remained on his feet with fire in his eyes.
"Have you all forgotten the Shadow Civil War?" Boss asked of the people in his shop. "I know most of you were there when it happened. Have you forgotten the pain it caused us all? If not, why are you all trying to start a civil war in my shop?"
No one could answer him. Nor could they look him in the eye. Instead, many just looked down at their feet. The Boss, then turned his gaze to Ulmus and Gray.
"As for you two," he said, "saying stuff like how the traditional way's the right way and that the new way's wrong, or that the new way's the right way and the traditional way's wrong, you're both wrong!
"There is no right or wrong way. Whether it's the traditional way or the new way, each single person can choose the way they do things and how they want to live their life. Just because you like one way of doing things, doesn't mean you can call another person's way of doing things wrong and try to stop others from trying them. No one gets to decide how others should live their lives! And that goes for ALL OF YOU!"
He spoke to the rest of the shop before returning his gaze to Ulmus and Gray.
"Now get out of my shop," he ordered them.
The two elves blinked. Confused, they uttered, "Huh?"
"You heard me," said the Boss. "Get out! You think I still want to do business with you after starting a fight in my shop, getting my customer's all riled up into starting a civil war over how too do things, and worse yet, trying to get my kids mixed up in all this? I don't even want to look at you, much less buy one of your cakes!"
"Come on, man!" cried out Gray.
"Be reasonable, sir!" Ulmus implored.
But Boss cut them off.
"You are the last person who should be asking others to be reasonable," he said. "From now on, Ulmus Cinerea and Gray Ashwood are banned from this shop! If you ever show your faces here or near my kids again, you'll be lucky if I just have you thrown in jail!"
After saying his piece, the angry vampire snapped his fingers. There was a flash of bright light that was followed up a loud bang, like a balloon popping. When Peggy could finally see again, there was just empty space where Ulmus and Gray had been.
Peggy hesitated to speak up, but she couldn't contain her curiosity and asked, "Um . . . what happened to Ulmus and Gray? They were just here, and now they're . . . gone."
"I sent them packing of course," said Boss. "I had a magic spell set up in the shop in case any troublemakers like them showed up. I only wish I'd used it sooner."
"You sent them packing? Where'd you send them?" asked Peggy, although she wasn't sure she'd like the answer.
But as if he could read Peggy's mind, the Boss replied, "Don't worry about it. They're fine. I just sent them flying into a pile of a trash at the town's trash yard."
He then shot a stern look at the customers.
"As for the rest of you, you all have two choices," he told them. "You can either behave yourselves and finish whatever you ordered, or you can leave. But if you start acting out, I'll send you packing like I did the last two idiots. What's it gonna be?"
After a brief exchange of looks, some of the customers left, others stayed to finish off their drinks. But no one dared to make trouble again. For the remainder of the day, there was just awkward silence.
Peggy never saw Ulmus and Gray ever again. But one day, while walking down an avenue to the library, she happened to overhear a trio of old ladies gossip.
"Did you hear about those two elves?" one lady asked the other two.
"You mean Ulmus Cinerea and Gray Ashwood, right?" said the second lady. "Yeah, I heard they made trouble at another shop."
"I heard about that too," said the third lady. "Because of that, business went south for the both of them. Not a lot of people want to go to their shops anymore."
"I'm not surprised," said the second lady. "There's a rumor going around that they tried to start another Shadow Civil War."
"Seriously?" the third lady exclaimed. "If that's true, I'd rather eat bug pastries than step foot in their shops!"
