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thirty-seven, and would like to have a family already.”
    “Are you proposing to me?” I asked him ironically.
    He looked at me and replied. “Now, I only want you to join us. Mommy would be really happy if you do.”
    “Ha!” I laughed resentfully. “Now that’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told! Your mother has never, ever liked me. And it gives me the creeps when I hear you call her ‘mommy.’”
    “And what do you think I should call her?”
    Before I could answer anything, he fired his next question: “And what made you think that Mommy – sorry – that my mother doesn’t like you?”
    “I beg your pardon?! Do I need to remind you how she announced in front of everybody that I hadn’t achieved anything in my thirty years of life, just because I hadn’t become a grandmother?”
    Lewis laughed out loud.
    “Women. You always tend to exaggerate. My mother was just joking.”
    “All right, if you think that was a joke.”
    “Look, I don’t wanna argue with you. Are you coming?”
    I hesitated, looking at him. If I had refused, he would have spent a month plaguing me about not meeting his detestable mother who had traveled all the way from Seattle to New York to visit her favorite son. I didn’t know what was more annoying to bear – Jackie or her son’s reproaches.
    I sighed. “All right. I'm coming,”
    “Awesome! I’ll call Mommy to give her the good news.” He started for the balcony, dialing her number on the go, and I sat back on the couch. Why did that goddamned Jackie Decker have to meddle with our relationship all the time? I was sure that she was dying to see me just to make fun of me. Again.
    “Okay, I’ll let her know. Yes, she can’t wait to see you, too. Okay, bye, kissing you. Tomorrow, 5.30pm at Sushi Nakazawa,” Lewis announced when he hung up. “Oh, and she said we had to be there on time because she’s going to see an opera at Metropolitan at 8. She is seeing Madame Butterfly.”
    “Disgusting, pretentious bitch! I hate her!” I muttered under my breath.
    “Sorry? Did you say anything, baby?”
    “I said I love you, honey.” I smiled at him.
    ***
    I stormed out of AEC’s studio right after 5p.m. and waved at one of the taxis parked in front of the building.
    “Sushi Nakazawa,” I told the driver.
    “Oh, man, where was that damned restaurant? Is that in Lower Manhattan?”
    “23 Commerce St, East Village.”
    The driver started the car and after a while we ended up stuck in the severest traffic jam imaginable. It was Thursday and the standard 9-to-5 workday was over. I would usually remain in the office for another hour or two after work to prepare my future shows, but now I wanted to be on time for the rendezvous with Lewis’s mother. I could easily imagine her bitter remarks on my being even just a little bit late. I needed a miracle to make it, though.
    Suddenly the driver hit the brakes. There was a multitude of cars in front of us and its end was nowhere to be seen. We were still on 11th Avenue.
    “Is there a way we can make it by 5:30? I’m really in a hurry…”
    “What can I do? Run over them? It’s all the same across Manhattan after five in the afternoon. If you want to get there quicker, just walk.”
    “Yes, that’s exactly what I’ll do, thanks for the advice.” I paid the driver and got out of the taxi. I started walking down the street and took a nervous glance at my watch – it was almost 5:20. Damn it! I looked around for somebody on a bike. I needed a miracle. “Wait, why don’t you just ask for this miracle?” I asked myself, took the coin out, and fired out loud: “I want to be at Sushi Nakawaza restaurant.” I had hardly said this when I found myself sitting on a chair at the restaurant.
    “Can I take your order?” the waitress asked me tersely. She was standing by me with the menu in her hands.
    “Um, not yet, I’m expecting company.”
    She left a menu for me and I turned away and looked at the door. The restaurant