Norma's Homemade Banana Bar

February 18 - Andre and JoJo

Day 5
'The Competition'

She's trying to steal Andre away from you!
How are you going to stop her?

Andre and JoJo

At the Banana Bar last night, I saw the usual crowd. Lilli, of course, plus Averren and Andre. The Basement Guy made a brief appearance, plus others I hadn’t seen in a while. Richard, Gemini Gem, Brother Nature, Wordsmitty, and LeJenDPoet all gathered for Andre’s big announcement.

Andre stood on the bar, a big banana daiquiri in hand. He began, “Ladsfdf aas Gentekamsdf, I woeulsd asodyf tost mwaer ASDNf!” Then he jumped down, still holding his drink, waddled to the back room, emerging with another monkey. This one had on a white dress, lips all painted a bright red, and holding a bouquet of red roses. That dress looked familiar. I think it was one Andre lifted from my house the other night, but it was hard to tell on a monkey. I think she altered it a bit.

Andre and his female friend jumped up on the bar. He held up his drink, ordered another, and made a toast.

“Lapweo AWELR asdfsod LOVE!”

We all clapped, then raised our drinks as well. Then I tried to understand what he said.

“Lilli, who’s that with Andre? What’s going on here?”

“Oh, NormaJean. That’s Andre’s girlfriend. He met her at the dating event the other day. Her name is JoJo. Evidently it's quite serious. They’re planning a summer wedding. Aren’t they cute?” Lilli walked to the other guests.

Andre and JoJo? Well, that’s just not acceptable. Andre and I have a special friendship. I can’t let some interloper steal him away.

I asked Averren what he knew about JoJo.

“Well, seems she’s an heiress. She owns banana plantations down in Costa Rica. Evidently her worth right now is about $8 billion. Everyone eats bananas and drinks banana daiquiris. It’s a growing concern.” He grinned, drank more of his banana daiquiri.

“So Andre is wooing a banana princess for her money? What about love? Money doesn’t buy happiness.”

“You and I know that, but Andre thinks he can be happy with JoJo. And the $8 billion can’t hurt. It’ll make his life easier, he thinks.”

We had a little chuckle at that. Andre goes from picking up change in the Banana Bar, stiffing people for drinks to living the high life somewhere in Costa Rica. Who knew!

The party dragged on throughout the day and into the night. Andre and JoJo left about midnight. I went home shortly after that.

As I lay in bed, I thought about this whole Andre/JoJo match. ‘He won’t be happy. I’m the only one who knows him.’ I fell asleep with that thought, only to be woken in the night with a furry body next to mine.

“Andre?”

Sniffing, crying, then this, “JoJo asdfk were dorysd mlm!”

I held his shaking little body, tried to comfort him. “It’s okay, she didn’t deserve you. Forget about her.”

“But $8 bilmlsdf a;sldmf, and asekrhl iauweor!” He started crying again.

“A pre-nup agreement? Oh mercy. You definitely don’t need to do that.”

We snuggled all night, talking about JoJo, the future, the past and the present. I cried, he cried. We talked, we fought, then finally went into exhausted sleep.

I woke to find him gone, probably off on another adventure. He did leave me a present, though; that white dress JoJo wore when I met her at the bar. It laid on my dresser. Freshly cleaned and pressed, but about two feet shorter than I remember. He still owes me five more dresses, four hats and about six purses. But who’s counting.


W/C 586