vandrophobia

The Birthday Wish

With only three hours of sleep, I drive my small van up into Wintar Cammin's driveway. Now, my van really isn't that small, but in comparison to Wintar's mansion it is. There is a gated community in our city known as the Birds of Paradise and they house some of the largest mansions and wealthiest people. I didn't know Wintar was one of them.

It took me longer than expected to get through the front gate since the security guard was unusually suspicious of me. It's not my fault that my uniform is almost all black and I'm driving a large van with boxes and ropes in the back. I promise I will not kidnap Wintar. Even better, I can guarantee it.

Stepping out of the van, I walk a flight of stone stairs before reaching a large set of heavy double doors. I look at the knob and wince. Even the knob looks like it's been custom designed.

I knock and wait.

I hear several muffled voices; a small high voice with a deeper one and with a click, the door slowly opens.

Here is what I learned in that one glimpse —a Cammin family fact: they breed beautiful people. Remember that for future Jeopardy games.

A gorgeous woman stands at the doorway, her hair waving in ringlets down past her shoulders and held half up in some type of bun. She's wearing a long flowing dress and her body is thinner than most, but not skeletal. Her face is vibrant and her eyes are almond shaped.

Thank god I'm not scared of beautiful women. Having no phobia of them though isn't helping that I still feel very intimidated. I should have gotten more sleep to hide these heavy bags under my eyes.

"Hello!" she says smiling. She sounds very nice. "You must be our caterer—Lira Treviso?"

I nod and give her a smile. "Yes! I have my van parked out in front right now." I turn my body to show her. "Where would you like me to set up?" I sound so professional. Another gold star for Lira.

The woman, whose name is Jazmyne Cammin according to the sheet I have with me, steps out and walks to the balcony with me. "You can drive around to the side of the house here," she explains. "We have tables set up already with tablecloths, napkins, and utensils. I'll open the door to the kitchen for you once you get there so you can begin preparing the food."

"Right!" I say happily. My fear of my very first catering job is gradually transforming into excitement. I can do this!

I take the van to the side of the house and, as promised, Wintar's mother left the kitchen door open for me. I sound like I did all of this in a matter of several minutes.

Not quite.

First, I spent two minutes gawking at the fact that there were more than two driveways at their house. Then I couldn't believe that they had two kitchens! One upstairs on the main floor and one downstairs by the yard.

Do you know how many soufflés you could make with two kitchens?!

Well, actually I don't know…but it would be more than one kitchen for sure!

And last, I caught a glimpse of their backyard. Or should I say garden slash fountain slash pond slash fireplace slash wildlife preserve. I'm joking on the last one, but it's huge. I half expected someone to come out and ask me to pay to get a tour of the place. Map included. Extra for the headphones with audio tour.

I'm unloading all my dishes and trays onto the kitchen counters, counting everything and making sure I have enough time to prepare the food. The party starts in about an hour and a half. First and foremost, I have to prepare the appetizers.

Since I've made some of the appetizer dishes earlier in the day, I place those onto a nice plate with a mint leaf. An hour goes by quickly and I can hear pounding upstairs for some reason—as if someone is running. Yes, you can run in this house.