Ch 179 - A Taste of Childhood

Seeing Alex's discomfort, Darryl sneered and said, "Go on then, get the money. You can do it on your phone. Five hundred dollars isn't much."

"My money's been frozen, and I can't take it out for the time being," Alex explained calmly to Leona.

"Shit, I bet his account's been frozen because he can't pay off his debts," laughed Darryl.

Someone else shouted out, "If you live on credit, how on earth do you think you can compete with Darryl?"

Alex was devastated when he saw that Leona was looking at him suspiciously. He said anxiously, "Honestly, I'm not lying. I have a lot of money in my account, but my card is frozen."

Darryl chuckled and said sarcastically, "Well, of course, I believe you. Of course, your card is just frozen, and you have a lot of money in your account." The other diners were finding the whole scene hilarious and were all laughing riotously at Alex's expense.

Alex didn't care what any of them thought. When he looked at Leona, her eyes flickered, and she looked away. He was very anxious when he realized that she thought he was lying.

Darryl was enjoying himself as he continued, "If you want to go out with Miss Marvel, you at least need to be able to take her out for a decent meal. From what I've seen, I don't think you can. So, tell us, can you treat her to a nice meal?"

"Of course, I can. You don't have to interrogate me," Alex said angrily.

"Good. Now that you say yes, you can invite Miss Marvel to dinner right now. You're lucky because we haven't had our main courses yet. Can you afford it?" He looked at Alex with a cruel smile and continued, "If you can't afford it, please leave right now."

"I—" Alex stuttered. He felt in his pocket and realized that he only had ten dollars on him. There was no way he could afford to pay for a meal in that restaurant. He didn't know what to say.

Darryl saw him hesitate, and he gestured toward the door, indicating that he should leave. "Please," he said calmly.

"I can afford it," Alex said in a loud voice. He couldn't stand to be humiliated in front of Leona. He needed to prove himself. He looked at her and said, "Wait for me here. I'll be back in ten minutes, and I'll treat you to the best dinner you've ever had."

He turned to Darryl and said, "Wait here. I'll be back really soon, and then I'll buy her a delicious dinner."

He turned and ran out of the building.

He took out his cell phone and immediately called Ken Stokes to ask him to unfreeze his credit card so that he could buy Leona dinner.

But he only heard the engaged tone coming from the other end. He tried three times, but couldn't get through. Then he tried Sam Woodsworth, and then Graham Stirling, but no one answered their phones.

Ken had made it clear to Alex that as he was still looking for Debbie, the family would not allow him to use any of his family resources. He knew that the family was extremely strict about this and that he must obey their orders.

"Damn!" Alex hit the wall with his fist. His knuckles started bleeding, but the pain in his hands was only a fraction of the pain in his heart.

"What do I do?" he asked himself. "I don't want to let Debbie down. The situation is so unfair."

He walked out onto the street with his heart in turmoil. He took out the ten-dollar bill from his pocket with disgust. He was the oldest son from the richest family in New York, and he had only ten dollars to his name.

He suddenly heard a faint voice with a foreign accent calling, "Sweet corncobs, lovely sweet cobs of corn." Turning into a narrow street, he saw a middle-aged woman in plain clothes sitting on the curb with some corncobs spread out next to her.

The woman looked very poor. There were hardly any customers walking on the street because of the rain. Her clothes were wet, but she still sat there and tried to sell the corn.

Alex couldn't help but think of Debbie's mother, Carla.

When Carla was in New York, Alex had paid for her room at the Azalea Guest House. They had talked together about many things.

Carla had told him that she had worked very hard to pay for Debbie to go to school when she was a child. She had often had to leave her at home alone when she went to work on a farm. At that time, Debbie was young and foolish. She used to hear from other children that their parents had taken them to fast-food restaurants to eat hamburgers. She heard from her friends that hamburgers were delicious, but she had never tried one. When she came home from school, she told Carla that she wanted to eat a hamburger and begged her mother to buy her one.

It was a very difficult time for Carla. She had no spare money to buy hamburgers, but she felt sorry for Debbie, so she bought her one anyway.

Debbie ate it, and it was as good as her friends had said. After that, she asked her mother to buy her a hamburger every week.

Then one rainy day, Debbie had gone with her class to visit the museum. As they walked there, she had seen her mother sitting on the roadside selling sweetcorn.

When her teacher told her that the corn was only fifty cents and the hamburger was three dollars, Debbie started to cry. She ran to her mother and hugged her for a long time. Finally, she started to help her sell the corn.

Debbie didn't find hamburgers so delicious after that day. Whenever she thought of them, the thought of her mother's misery and toil only came to her mind. From that day, she thought corn was the most delicious food, although she often couldn't stop herself from crying when she ate it.

Thinking of this story, Alex approached the woman.

When she heard the sound of footsteps, she turned to look at him and said, "Tender corn, fresh from the fields. Sweet and delicious."

He looked at her wet hair and sodden clothes and was moved. He knew that Carla used to be the same.

Finally, he used his ten dollars to buy corn from the woman. The woman looked so happy with the money that he couldn't help smiling. He knew that he had done the right thing.

He took the corn and returned to the restaurant.

"That boy is back," commented one of the diners.

Another said, "He must have borrowed money from someone. Even if he did manage to borrow some money from a friend, he won't be able to afford to eat much here. The cheapest dish is over one hundred dollars."

Then someone observed, "He's bought corncobs. What's he doing now?"

Alex went and sat next to Leona and said, "You've been waiting for a long time, I'm sorry."

Darryl pointed to the corn in Alex's hand and said, "We've waited all this time and all you've done is buy some cheap corn. Do you really expect Miss Marvel to be happy eating that?"

"Don't worry, I know exactly how Miss Marvel likes to eat it. Sir, can I use your cooker?" Alex asked the restaurant manager.

"Since he's gone to the trouble of picking corn, we might as well let him continue with this charade," Darryl advised. Then he looked at Leona and said, "Miss Marvel certainly hasn't had enough to eat. It just happens that I know a little bit about cooking. I'll show her what I can do in the kitchen too."

Darryl and Alex then walked into the kitchen together. After half an hour, they each came out with a plate of food, which they placed in front of Leona. Alex's plate contained two boiled corncobs, while Darryl presented a shrimp stir-fry.

"Damn it, he really does expect Miss Marvel to eat plain corn. That's showing her such a lack of respect," commented one of the diners.

His wife said, "Darryl's so handsome, and it looks like he can really cook too. The stir-fried shrimps look delicious."

"That boy should feel ashamed, cooking corn for Miss Marvel," another woman said.

Darryl smiled at Leona and said, "Miss Marvel, I want to apologize to you first. I never imagined that this boy would keep pestering you and now buy you a few cobs for dinner. If you don't want to eat them, of course, that's fine. I think that my fried shrimp is pretty good. I hope that you'll try it," He had already inquired and found out that one of her favorite dishes was fried shrimp.

Leona deliberately didn't look at Alex. She felt that he was teasing her.

Instead, she picked up a spoon, scooped out a shrimp, and put it into her mouth. She chewed it slowly, and swallowed it. With a smile, she said to Darryl, "Your cooking is excellent. The food is delicious."

Darryl was overjoyed with the praise. He said, "Miss Marvel, thank you for your kind praise. To hear that you like my food has made me the happiest man in the world."

An onlooker commented, "Oh, what a lovely thing to say. Darryl is so considerate. What woman wouldn't want a man like him?"

Her friend agreed, "It looks like Darryl has managed to outdo the other men that Miss Marvel has turned down. He has surely won her over now."

The first woman replied, "Yes, if Darryl and Leona get married, it will be a match made in heaven."

"Even if you're still hungry, don't feel that you have to eat those two corncobs," the restaurant manager said to Leona.

With a polite smile, Leona picked up a cob of corn. Although she really didn't want to eat the food brought by Alex, she felt that she should at least try it. After all, he had spent time preparing it.

Leona gently bit on the corn. As she chewed it, she tasted it carefully and found it to be extremely sweet and tender.

Darryl advised her, "Miss Marvel, don't eat it if it's not delicious. Who knows where he picked it. There might be pesticides on it."

Leona didn't seem to hear him. She took another bite, then a second, then a third. As she continued to eat, she started tearing up.

The people watching looked at each other and didn't know what to think.

"Miss Marvel, what's the matter?" Darryl asked her gently. He couldn't understand how eating a corncob could make her cry.

Leona put down the corn and wiped her tears with her hand. She replied, "I don't know. When I eat this corn, I feel very sad. I feel guilty about something, and I can't help crying."

"Miss Marvel, which of these two dishes do you like best?" One of the onlookers suddenly asked.

His friend retorted, "Duh! Isn't it obvious? How can the corncob compare with Darryl's stir-fried shrimp?"

"Darryl's dish won hands down," someone else said confidently

"The boy's corncob also made Miss Marvel cry. Now someone's got to kick him out," his friend said angrily.

"I like—" Leona's started to say, and everyone else stopped talking and listened intently. She looked at the corn and said, "I really like this corn."

Darryl looked at her in disbelief. He said, "What? Miss Marvel, do you like to eat plain corn? Do you really prefer it to my shrimp?" He simply couldn't understand that simple corncobs could be more delicious than his own fried shrimp dish. The other diners were also shocked. They chatted excitedly amongst themselves and wondered what was going on.

Alex looked her straight in the eye and said earnestly, "Debbie, think hard. Your mother told me that corn is your favorite food because of something that happened when you were young. Corn once made you feel sad. Now, will you admit that you're Debbie?" When he saw he tear up while eating the corn, he was more certain than ever that this girl was Debbie.