Part 361: Legacy of a Friend Part 1

June 12th, 2005

Mia sipped on her juice, as she stared at her finger. She gently used her other finger to make the ring slide from side to side. It had only been two days and she already was missing John. But she had made her promise to her good friends; more sister and brother now than anything. At the moment, they were resting in a Winkies Diner, waiting on their breakfast. They had traveled up to San Francisco to find Brendon’s Restaurant that his Uncle left him. They hoped it would be still there and maybe the present owners would let them into the establishment. Sadly they wouldn’t know till they got there.

Shanna sat next to Mia in the booth together. She was looking through the photos that her sister brought with her. The redhead giggled as looked at the pictures; mostly of the old house that she and John now live it. She laughed at the pictures of John holding out the camera, so he gets both him and Mia in the shot. There was another picture with John, McKay and Tony; with what looks like them all together in the living room watching a ballgame. The redhead sighed, remembering Tony could only listen. Then she saw a very cool picture of Mia in her typical bandana over her head; however she was on her knees on the ground, planting something. “Mia, are you making a garden?” Shanna smiled.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve dug my hands in the Mother Earth,” the Lakota smiled, “I felt I owe her some growth.”

“Oh, please, let me have some of whatever you make.”

“It’s a given. Besides, you are welcomed any time.”

Then inside the Winkies diner music began to play over the loud speakers. It was “And we Danced,” by the Hooters. Mia’s eyes when wide when she saw Seth by the jukebox. The young man was tapping his hand on jukebox to the rhythm and then much to her dismay, starting dancing. Seth stuck in tongue out, and swung his arms from left to right; mimicking Bruce Springsteen. The Lakota quietly buried her face in her hands. The redhead by her side smirked, resting her head on her right hand. “We can’t take him anywhere.” She whispered.

The girls in the dinner started to cheer on Seth as he danced, and swung his body in a twirl. The waitress just shook her head smiling as she brought them their plates of food. The bookstore worker then bowed and smiled, as the surrounding women clapped for him. “Thank you, ladies, thank you,” he smiled, “Now that I have appropriately embarrassed my two sisters, I will enjoy my breakfast. Have a great day.”

Seth slid over on his side of the booth and picked up the syrup to place on his waffle. He then looked up to see Mia staring at him disapprovingly, as she ate her omelet. Shanna giggled as she spread jam on her toast. “Don’t glare at me, Mia,” Seth said, eating his bacon, “Admit it; I dance pretty good.”

“Must you make a scene EVERYWHERE we go?” she hissed.

“Uh . .let me think . . .YES!” he laughed.

Mia just shook her head, trying not to laugh. She wasn’t going to give Seth the satisfaction. Then she found him leaning his head down to look at her with that idiotic grin he always gave. The Lakota eventually giggled. Seth was satisfied as he continued to eat his bacon and waffle.


After breakfast, Seth walked out first and held the door for Shanna and Mia. The musician then walked over and pressed his key-chain; unlocking his Avalanche. Seth got in the driver’s side while Shanna got into the back and Mia road shotgun. The bookstore worker cranked up the truck and then put on his seat beat. He then pulled out the napkin with the phone number on that was given to him by one of the women in the diner. Seth sighed and crumbled it up; throwing it back. Shanna giggled as she picked it up. “Looks like Marie was too quick to notice the ring on your finger.” She laughed.

“Yeah,” Seth said, pulling them out of the parking lot and onto the road, “ She was cute though.”

“Why did you even take the napkin?” Mia questioned.

“WELL, I gotta be polite, don’t I?” he shrugged his shoulders.

Shanna giggled in the back. Mia just smiled as she looked at the long road ahead. It was good to be back with them. She wanted Brendon to be there but it wasn’t meant to be. Being with Seth and Shanna was enough. And hopefully in an hour or two, they would be able to find a piece of Brendon they didn’t know about.


Seth drove through the Chinatown area. The shops and stores were decorated in various Chinese, and Japanese emblems. There were near hundreds of restaurants, various departments stores and gift shops. “I want a Kimono.” Shanna laughed.

Mia then thought briefly about the dream she experience with Brendon in the theater. She watched on the big screen as Seth and Brendon were samurai warriors, while she and Shanna were dressed in traditional Japanese garb. The fact that her best friend wanted one now almost brought it full circle. She leaned back and winked at her. “We’ll get us one.” She smiled.

“Are we near it?” Seth asked.

Mia checked the map again and then looked at the street. “Yeah, it should be up this corner,” she pointed, “Right next to that bank.”

Seth then pulled up the street, then turned right where Mia was pointing. When they got at the location, they saw the restaurant. It was boarded up and it wasn’t hard to miss. It’s name was The Battle Field; Japanese buffet and sushi bar. Seth clicked on his blinker and then pulled into the side street. The three friends immediately jumped out of the truck and ran across the street toward it. Mia walked up toward the door and peered in. The lights were out so she could barely see anything. In the distance, she saw the multitude of chairs and tables, plus the buffet area in the back. To the cash counter was various Japanese decorations and a giant empty fish tank. There was a very large rectangle box in the middle but she couldn’t see what it was. “SETH!” Shanna screamed.

Mia then turned around and saw her good friend picking up a trash can and holding it above his head. By the way he was moving, he looked like he had every full intention of throwing it through the window. “SETH!” Mia stomped her foot down.

“What?” he said, innocently,” You want in or don’t you?”

“NOT LIKE THAT!” she pointed, “Put that down!”

Seth rolled his eyes and put the trash can down. Before Mia could berate him further, Shanna quickly tapped her on the shoulder. “Mia, look,” she pointed.

The Lakota woman turned to look at the sign posted on one of the windows. She walked over and read it.

FORECLOSURE BY BRAND BANK
AUCTION SCHEDULED
JUNE 13, 2005
PLEASE BE IN ATTENDANCE
10:00 AM.

“Oh, my God,” Mia whispered, “With no left to own the restaurant, the bank foreclosed and now they are going to sell it off.”

“Mia, that’s tomorrow!” Shanna sniffed.

“We got to do something,” Seth grunted, “ We didn’t come this far only to have the last piece of our friend taken away from us.”

Mia then turned and looked down the front of the street. Then she looked down toward the other side of the street. In the far distance, there was signs for various restaurants and a Best Western. “Let’s go get a room for the night,” Mia pointed, “I got to make a phone call.”



Inside their room, the trio had already settled in for the evening. Seth sat at the table, munching the remaining crab Rangoon. Mia had already settled over on her bed with Shanna. The Lakota was writing in her diary like she always did. Shanna was leaning on her side of the bed, propped up against the head board. She was flipping through the channels to find something to watch. She paused when she thought it was a decent cartoon but she stuck her tongue out when she saw it was Voltron. “You got a problem with the big V?” Seth said, sipping his Dr. Pepper.

“Voltron sucked major ass.” Shanna grunted, “I get sick of that formula. The super groups with the token female, token nerdy kid and token fat guy, surrounded by two hotties.”

“No, Voltron kicked major ass,” the musician countered, “You only jealous cause it was a better show than Pretty Pony.”

“I so did not watch Pretty Pony.”

“Jem?” Seth smiled.

“No,” Shanna stuck her tongue out at him.

“Care Bears?” he grinned again.

“I was always into Batman, thank you very much.”

“I was partial to the G.I.Joes myself.” Seth said proudly.

“Let me guess . .you were in love with SHIPWRECK!” Shanna pointed.

“MIA!” the bookstore worker said in a child’s voice, “Shanna is picking on me.”

“Both of you shut up,” Mia said without missing a beat, “Or you’re both going into time out.”

The trio laughed. Mia smiled at the joy filling the room. It almost felt like being back on the Island. They were hanging out again and cutting up. Seth and Shanna were always the trouble makers while Mia played the Den Mother role and kept them in line. The only thing missing was Brendon. The Lakota girl smiled when she thought she was going to cry but didn’t. She had high hopes that Brendon would return to her life, in some form or another. Seth crunched his Dr. Pepper can and then threw it into a nearby trash can. Then they heard a knocking at their door.

Seth got up and checked the eye-hole on the door. He then turned and smiled toward his sisters. He opened up the door and their large friend smiled at finally finding them. “HURLEY!” Shanna laughed as she ran up and hugged him.

The big man laughed and hugged her in return, placing the brief case to the side. He shook Seth’s hand and hugged him briefly. Then Mia laughed, walking up to him with her arms wide. Hurley then embraced her and then picked her up, making her laugh. Seth and Shanna laughed as his near famous hugs that he constantly gave. “Dudes,” Hurley smiled, “I am so glad you called me. I missed you guys.”

“ We miss you too, big man,” Seth said, crossing his arms.

“Thank you for coming here, Hurley,” Mia smiled, “I can’t tell you how much we needed this.”

“When you told me over the phone that this restaurant belonged to Brendon, I had to help,” he said, sitting down, “I never knew the guy but I didn’t have to. I can tell by looking at your faces that he was very important to your life.”

“He was,” Shanna smiled.

“So how much did you bring?” Mia asked.

The large man picked up the brief case to and handed it to her. “It should be more than enough, plus interest.” He smiled.

“Interest?” Mia blinked, “Hurley, what are you talking about? How much is in here?”

“A million.” He smiled.

Mia then froze, feeling her knees wavered. Her hands started to tremble and then she gazed over at him. “A mil . . .Hurley . .you said . . .ONE MILLION DOLLARS IS IN THIS BRIEF CASE?” she finally demanded.

“Absolutely.” He smiled, “I wanted to make sure you would absolutely without a doubt get this restaurant. Plus, you’ve more than earned it.”

“Earned?” the Lakota was still confused, “What . .what did I do?”

“You saved me, Mia!” Hurley laughed, “When you told Watchman to reset my electromagnetic signal. All my bad luck had turned into good luck.”

“Whoa, “ Seth smiled, “I GOT to hear this. Hurley, what do you mean?”

“The numbers cursed me and my family,” he told them, “ The moment I won the lottery, no matter what I did, no matter how many things I bought for myself; my family started to die around me. My mom was the only one left when I went to Australia and crashed with the rest of you. Then Mia re-set my . . .thingie . .that causes this and now good things happen to me. But I have to do good things too.”

“What do you mean?” Mia asked.

“I used to own a shoe making factory in Florida. About two weeks ago, it blew up. No one knew what was happening. I sent a private investigator to figure out why and as it turned out, the manager of the warehouse was using kids and keeping them in piss-poor conditions. I then called the police down there and promptly had him arrested. The very next day, a check arrived by courier and it was for ten million from the insurance company.”

“Wow.” Shanna smiled.

“But that’s insurance, Hurley,” Mia countered, “That stuff is typical.”

“You don’t understand, Mia.” The large man grinned, “I didn’t take out Fire Insurance on that place.”

Mia then froze when he said that. The thought of the magic of the Island following them made Seth jump up for joy, then grab Shanna and twirl her around the room. Mia laughed at them then looked back to Hurley. The gentle giant wiped his tears and smiled at the Lakota girl. “You saved me, Mia,” he smiled, “You saved my mom. You helped give me the chance of a better life with Joe by my side with just the push of a button and with that . . .I OWE.”

“You are the kindest man, “ Mia the hugged him and kissed him on the forehead.

“You guys are the ones who totally rock.” He said.

“Hurley, you want to stick around. We got plenty of food left.”

“Actually, I need to be heading back. I promised Joscelyn I would go with her and her two nieces to the park tomorrow.” He said, “I want to beat the traffic.”

“Things are looking up for you and Joe, eh?” Mia asked.

Hurley blushed slightly, pushing his hair back over his ear. “Yeah, I hope so,” he smiled, “Good night, guys.”

“Take care, big man,” Seth patted him on the back as they left.

Mia stared at the briefcase, and then opened it up; hard to comprehend she was staring a million dollars. Seth even placed his pinky on his lips and did his best Dr. Evil impersonation from Austin Powers. The Lakota girl had become so excited about the prospect of the purchasing of Brendon’s restaurant, she decided to have some fun. She got three hundred dollars out of the briefcase. She then grabbed Shanna, saying they were going to do some shopping and get those Kimono’s. Seth agreed to stay behind.

After all, someone had to guard the brief case.