Part 7 (1/2)

Katani nodded. ”Sally was way cool too,” she added. ”I feel like telling my grandmother to start a car maintenance cla.s.s at school. I mean, how can you really be independent if you don't even know what to do when your car breaks down?”

”I don't know,” Maeve said. ”It sounds great, but”-she glanced down at her soft, pink sweater-”angora-wool blends really don't match with car grease.”

”Well, someday I am going to take a cla.s.s like that,” Katani declared. ”I never want to be stuck by the side of the road again!” She dug out the notebook she kept for business ideas and carefully noted down Sally's suggestion. That one was a keeper!

CHAPTER.

9.

If I Can Make It There...

It was almost eleven o'clock and completely dark by the time the Taylors' station wagon reached the streets of Greenwich Village in New York City. ”We should be right around the corner,” Maeve whispered rea.s.suringly to Katani. ”I can't wait. I'm so tired I could fall asleep right here!” True to her word, in about a minute Maeve had completely dozed off. Sam had been asleep since they left Connecticut.

”What's the address again, Katani?” Mr. Taylor called.

Katani looked at the directions her mother had written down. ”It's on Morton Street, just off of Houston Street,” Katani told him. ”I think it's about five minutes away.” She read the address out again, but it took more than five minutes for Mr. Taylor to negotiate the streets. Twenty minutes went by, and she realized they were good and lost. To make matters worse, it was getting really late. If they didn't get to Mich.e.l.le's soon, she would be too exhausted to do anything in the morning!

”Katani?” Mr. Taylor asked, taking out his cell phone. ”Would you mind calling Mich.e.l.le and asking for more specific directions? I am not really familiar with the Village.”

He handed Katani the phone and she punched in her cousin's numbers.

”Mich.e.l.le?” she said when her cousin answered sleepily. ”It's Katani. We're driving around the Village right now and we can't find your street.”

Mich.e.l.le let out a giant yawn and answered, ”That's the problem with my neighborhood. The entire rest of Manhattan is a numbered grid, so it's hard to get lost there. But not the Village!”

”I can see that...Okay, I am going to give the phone to Maeve's dad so you can tell him where to go,” Katani said as she handed the phone back to Mr. Taylor.

Mich.e.l.le was right. The streets seemed to be some kind of paved over cow paths, thought Katani. Mich.e.l.le kept asking them to give her cross streets so she could ”locate” them. After ten more minutes of cruising aimlessly, Mr. Taylor had an idea. ”Thanks for all your help, Mich.e.l.le. We should be there soon,” he said and hung up.

”Did you figure it out?” Katani asked.

”Not really,” he answered. ”But I have an idea...” Mr. Taylor pulled the car to the side of the street right in front of the bright lights and open windows of a Korean deli. ”The only way we are going to find her place is by asking a person to point out the way. Now Katani, since these two are out like a light, would you mind hopping out and just asking the clerk for directions to Morton Street? I can keep an eye on you from right here.”

”Sure.” Katani got out and walked inside the brightly lit store. She had heard that New York was famous for its delis and now she knew why. The air was rich with the smell of cured meat and spices. There was an elderly man working at the cash register and a woman stocking the shelves. The man looked up at the sound of the bell that rang when Katani walked in. ”Excuse me,” she said in a friendly tone, ”we just came in from Boston and we're kind of lost. We're trying to find Morton Street, but we keep missing it.”

She showed the man Mich.e.l.le's address neatly written in her business idea notebook.

The clerk looked at her as though she were crazy, and pointed behind her.

”What?” Katani asked.

”One block away. You turn right at this corner, you're there.” He waved his hands at her.

”Are you serious?” Katani asked. After all this time driving around, they were only one block away from Mich.e.l.le's house?

”Yes. Yes, that's it.” The clerk smiled at her thunder-struck expression. ”Have a good evening.”

Katani smiled gratefully at him. ”You too! Thanks.”

Five minutes later, they were in front of Mich.e.l.le's apartment building. When they told the doorman their names, he gallantly held the door open and said comfortingly, ”Ah yes, Mich.e.l.le is expecting you.” Sam helped Maeve lug in her two enormous suitcases. Katani managed just fine with her small black carry-on bag.

Once in Mich.e.l.le's building, Maeve was eager to be on her own. ”Thanks, Dad. Thanks, Sam,” she said. ”I think we're all set here. ”See you Sunday! I'll call you. Ciao!” Katani snorted. Maeve loved to pretend she was in a foreign movie. Tonight she was in her Italian mode.

”Hold your horses, young lady,” her father said. ”I'm not leaving until Katani's cousin comes down to meet you.”

”But Daaaaad...We're not eight!” Maeve whined. She looked at Sam, who was sleepily slumped on a bench against the wall beside them.

”I don't care if you're twenty-eight. I'm your father, and I will be waiting!” He raised his eyebrow, which Maeve knew was his sign that he meant business.

At first, Katani thought that Mr. Taylor was being a little overprotective. Then again, after everything else that had happened today, waiting for Mich.e.l.le was probably not a bad idea! She used Mr. Taylor's cell phone to call Mich.e.l.le and ask her to come down.

Two minutes later, Mich.e.l.le, in fluffy slippers and a yellow bathrobe tied hastily around her, shuffled off the elevator. As always, she was smiling. ”Hi, everyone! You must be Maeve of the famous Beacon Street Girls. Katani's told me so much about you!” she said. Maeve glowed. ”And you must be Mr. Taylor. Thanks so much for bringing them.”

”It was no trouble at all,” he said, winking at the girls. Maeve and Katani gave each other a look. No trouble? ”Maeve, take my cell phone. In case of emergencies, call your mom. And have a great time. I'll see you back here on Sat.u.r.day.” Mr. Taylor kissed Maeve on the forehead and collected Sam, and they were on their way.

”So how was the trip?” asked Mich.e.l.le once they'd wrestled Maeve's suitcases into the elevator and were riding up. Katani looked at Maeve, who just giggled and said, ”Oh it was...interesting.” Maeve and Katani took turns telling Mich.e.l.le all about the Merritt Parkway, the flat tire, Mr. Taylor's bad back, and Sam's funny but useless attempts to help.

Mich.e.l.le listened attentively as she led them into her fifth-floor apartment. ”Wow, look at this place. It's amazing!” Maeve gasped, breaking off in the middle of the story to stare around the huge room. With high, arching ceilings and big windows overlooking the Village, the apartment seemed absolutely enormous even though it was really quite small. There was even a fireplace at one end of the room that would light up by pressing a remote control. ”Too cool!” Maeve whispered.

”It's sooo fabulous, Mich.e.l.le,” Katani enthused. Katani couldn't wait to have an apartment like this.

”Well, I'm glad you like it. All right, girls, follow me. You're going to sleep in the study.” Mich.e.l.le led the way down the narrow hall and opened a door on the right. ”The couch is a pullout bed, but it's really comfy. You can ask any of my girlfriends from college. Most of them have spent a night at Hotel Mich.e.l.le. You guys must be exhausted after your crazy trip, so if you want to go right to sleep that is A-okay by me-” She stopped and looked at them doubtfully. ”Or do you want to eat something?”

”We stopped at a little diner back in Connecticut, so I'm all set,” said Katani. ”I think if I don't get into bed this minute, I'm going to sleep standing up.”

Maeve nodded. ”Me too. I've never been so tired in my whole life!” she said, collapsing on the fluffy couch.

”Sleep tight, girls.” Mich.e.l.le said as she turned off one of the lights and closed the door.

”Katani, this is the greatest place!” Maeve whispered. ”And Mich.e.l.le is awesome! She's so together, you know? I bet she can handle anything!”

Katani took off her coat and laid it carefully across an overstuffed chair in the corner. ”She can. That's why she got promoted so quickly at Teen Beat. Everyone's really impressed with how professional she is.”

Maeve strolled around the room, admiring Mich.e.l.le's computer desk, the neat stacks of papers and files, and the rows of framed photographs of her and various celebrities on the walls. As Maeve walked, she dropped her jacket on the middle of the floor, kicked her pink boots against the wall, then unsnapped her favorite jeans and tossed them on a chair. Maeve put on her pj's and a minute later she lay diagonally on the pullout couch, sprawled over the blanket, and was fast asleep.