To Serve With Love,
or,
Dena’s Day

It’s always nice to be needed. But can you ever be too needed? Kids Incorporated was about to discover the answer to that question.

It was business as usual that day at the P*lace. Hungry, thirsty music lovers would walk in, and satisfied customers trailed out. Dena and Kids Inc. made a great team. In fact, they were almost like a little family, a fact that the Kids were used to taking advantage of

Dena had just stuck a pie in the oven when Anthony entered in a huff. “Man, I hate school!” he said.

“What happened? I thought you were finally catching up.” Dena asked.

“I was.” Anthony explained. “I finally got the hang of that math.  But now we’re doing something new.” He sighed. “What am I gonna need Algebra for, anyway?”

“You’ll be able to help your kids with their Algebra homework!” Dena joked.

“Not if we’re in the same class! I’ll never get this, Dena!”

“Well, maybe I can help you with it. Here.” Dena reached for Anthony’s math book. “Ah, this isn’t so bad. ‘Find X’.” she read.

“Last time I looked, it was between W and Y.” quipped Anthony.

Before Dena could get too far into Anthony’s math book, Charlie came in, looking stressed. “Dena! You’re a girl, right?”

“Last time I checked.” said Dena. “What’s got you so upset?”

“I did something.” said Charlie.

“What?”

“That’s just it! I don’t know!” Charlie exclaimed. “Jennifer’s mad at me, and I have no idea why. So I ask her what I did. But does she tell me? No! What is it with girls?”

“Well, did you stand her up?”

“No.”

“Maybe you forgot her birthday.” offered Anthony.

“I don’t even know when it is!” said Charlie.

“Well, then that could be your problem right there.” said Dena. The oven timer dinged. “Oh, hold on a sec! That’s my pie!”

“Hey, 'pi’! I remember that from class.” Anthony said suddenly. “Pi are squared, right?”

Charlie gave Anthony a funny look. “That pie’s round.” he said. Anthony rolled his eyes.

Next to arrive was Nicole. “Dena, my typewriter broke! Can I please use the phone?”

“What’s wrong with your home phone?” Dena asked her.

“My dad disconnected my extension!” Nicole complained. “He’s still paying off that last bill.  I’m only allowed to make local calls, and only if it’s absolutely necessary. And it is! If I can’t talk to Tyler, I’ll go crazy!”

“A little melodramatic there, aren’t you?”

“See? That’s exactly what I’m talking about!” Charlie said about Nicole’s desperation. “Everything’s a soap opera with girls!”

“Jennifer’s mad at him.” Anthony explained to Nicole.

“What’d he do this time?”

“We don’t know yet.”

“Charlie, that’s a pretty unfair stereotype.” said Dena. “I’m a girl, too, remember? Most of the time, we’re just as calm and collected as any guy.”

Unfortunately, this was not one of those times. “I’m telling you, I know what I’m talking about!” they heard coming from outside.

“So do I! Your way is not gonna work!”

“Well, I think it will!”

“Well, you’re wrong!”

“Oh, yeah.” said Charlie. “Here come ‘calm’ and ‘collected’ right now.”

Haylie and Ana came into the P*lace, arguing all the way. “Why can’t you just admit that it’s a good idea?” asked Ana.

“Because it’s not a good idea.” Haylie shot back. “Why are you purposely not listening to me?”

“I did listen! Your idea stunk! Now we’re moving on!”

“Okay, back to your corners, ladies!” said Dena. “What’s this all about?”

“Would you settle an argument for us?” Ana asked her.

“I’ll sure try.”

“Okay, we wanted to throw a party.” Haylie began explaining. “But we didn’t know where we were throwing it, and we had to get permission from our parents.”

“My mom would be okay with us having it at my house,” continued Ana, “but she won’t be there. She’ll be at work.”

“And see, my mom flipped, because she doesn’t think it’s a good idea to leave a bunch of kids alone in a house.” said Haylie. “If we had it at my house, she’d be there, but it would have to be kinda small, and really short.”

“But my mom,” said Ana, “she believes in letting kids be responsible for their actions. We’d be in charge of all the guests, and we’d have to make sure things don’t get out of hand.”

“So, who’s right?” Haylie asked.

Uh oh. “Well, both moms do have a point...” Dena stalled. A crowd began to file in. “...and I’ll have to get back to you on that, ‘cause it’s showtime.”

“Wait!   I thought you were gonna help me with Algebra.” Anthony complained.

“And what about Jennifer?” added Charlie.

“I’ve got to call Tyler within the hour, or it will be too late where he lives.” said Nicole.

“I will get to everything, I promise!” said Dena. “But you’ve got to do something for me first - get yourselves on stage. Now, go on!” Once they had finally left, Dena allowed herself to collapse on a barstool in exhaustion. I’ve really put my foot in my mouth this time, she thought.

Business was booming that day, so it was a while before Dena could keep her word and devote some time to the Kids’ problems. She had barely given them some thought before they burst in on her in the storeroom.

“There you are!” Nicole said. “You never answered me before.”

“Oh, right, yeah.” Dena said absently. “You wanted the...phone, right?”

“Yeah! Except now, Charlie’s hogging it!”

“I was trying to get through to Jennifer!” said Charlie, pushing past Nicole and into the room. “Now she won’t return my phone calls! Dena, have you thought of anything yet?”

“No, not yet, Charlie.” sighed Dena. “I’ve got a little more on my mind than just you, you know. I’ve got Nicole’s problems, I told Anthony I’d help him with his math...”

As if on cue, the door opened again. “Dena, bad news!” said Anthony. “I just found out there’s gonna be a big test next week. If I don’t learn this stuff, I’m gonna fail for sure!”

“I know, I know! Don’t worry, I’m on it.”

Not to be outdone, Haylie and Ana’s problems were also taking a turn for the worse. “I can’t believe you went behind my back like that!” came Haylie’s voice from behind the door.

“I can’t believe you! I stick my neck out for you, and this is how you thank me?” yelled Ana. “Remind me never to help you again!”

“Some help! With friends like you, who needs enemies?” They both reached the door at the same time, and got stuck because neither of them wanted to let the other go first.

“Now what?” said Dena. No one seemed to notice that she was starting to get annoyed.

“I talked to my mom again about our party.” said Ana. “And you know how Haylie’s mom can be a real stick in the mud...”

“Oh, yeah, like your mom’s so great”! Haylie interjected.

“She agreed to talk to your mom, didn’t she?”

“But now my mom thinks I had something to do with that!” Haylie complained. “There’s not going to be a party at all if I’m grounded!”

“What do we do now, Dena? You said you’d help.” said Ana.

“Hey, wait your turn! I’m still waiting for her to help me with my problem.” said Charlie.

“You should wait!” Anthony said to him. “I think me failing math is a little more important than your relationship.”

“At least he still has a relationship.” Nicole griped. “I never got to call Tyler. Doesn’t anyone care about my problem?”

Everyone started griping at once. Dena was down to her last nerve. “If I’m going to work on your problems, I could use a little quiet.” she suggested. Her suggestion fell on deaf ears. “I said, QUIET!”

They stopped, shocked. “You are all being incredibly selfish right now. Did it ever occur to you that I just might have some problems of my own? I am one person – one! I can’t be expected to solve everyone’s problems. And I hate to break this to you, but your lives will go on without parties and boyfriends and girlfriends and math. There are a lot more important things in the world. Why don’t you try thinking about those for a minute?” And she left.

“Boy, was she grumpy!” said Haylie.

“Yeah, it’s not our fault she had so many things to do.” added Ana.

“She shouldn’t have agreed to help us all if she was already busy.” Anthony said.

“She’ll apologize when she gets back.” Charlie said. So they sat and waited for her.

An hour passed. Then another. And then another. “Uh...do you guys think she’s back yet?” asked Charlie.

“I don’t think she’s coming back, Charlie.” Nicole sighed. “She’s not the one who needs to apologize. We were the ones asking her for too much.”

“But Dena always helps us.” said Haylie.

“And that’s why we ask her – because we know she’ll never say no.” explained Nicole. “Even when she should.”

“Well, we never meant to run her off like that.” said Anthony. “How do we get her to come back?”

“Assuming we can find her.” said Ana.

“She said she had some problems of her own. Why don’t we solve them for her?” Charlie suggested.

“Might as well. We can’t solve our own.” said Nicole. “Tyler’s probably gonna dump me.”

“Can’t you fix that stupid typewriter?”

“It’s older than I am! I could walk to him faster!”

“Why don’t you just write to him by hand?” Charlie said to her. “Or use the computer lab at school?”

“Oh, I never even thought of that!” Nicole said happily.

“Hey, maybe we don’t need Dena to help us after all!” Haylie realized. “We can help each other!”

“After we help Dena.” said Ana. She was walking around the storeroom when she happened to notice the calendar on the wall. “And I think I know just the way.”

Once Dena had blown off some steam, she realized she should be getting back to her responsibilities. Going off on the Kids hadn’t been such a good idea. She liked helping them out. It made her feel like she was more than just a club owner to them. Sure, sometimes she went above and beyond the call of duty, but it was only because she cared about them. She hoped they were all still at the P*lace so she could explain.

They were there, all right - all standing in a line waiting for her. “Oh, good, you did come back!” said Haylie. “Would you mind pulling up a chair? There’s something we all want to say.”

“I know, I was wrong to yell, and...”

“Wait! Before you say anything,” Charlie interrupted her, “we have to apologize for the way we’ve been treating you.”

“Sometimes we take you for granted,” continued Anthony, “and we forget to thank you for always being here for us."

“But we do appreciate you.” said Nicole. “You’ve always been more than a friend to us.”

“Yeah, like a...Mom-away-from-Mom” added Ana.

“That’s why we decided to do something special for you.” finished Haylie. From around the corner, they whipped out balloons, streamers, candy, a huge bouquet of flowers and a whole table full of presents.

“Happy Mother’s Day!” they said. Dena didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Okay, so it’s a little strange.” said Charlie. “But there’s no Dena’s Day – yet.”

“Oh, you guys, I can’t believe you did all this for me, and I didn’t even end up helping any of you!” said Dena.

“Oh, we took care of those things ourselves.” said Nicole. “Charlie actually helped me out. And guess who I ran into at the computer lab?” She handed Charlie a piece of paper.

“Jennifer?” he said.

“She wasn’t talking to you because her mouth is numb, Charlie! Don’t you remember her telling you she had a dentist’s appointment this week?”

“Oh.” said Charlie sheepishly. “Guess I did forget.” He read the note. “Charlie, you goofball, I’m not mad at you! As soon as I get the feeling back in my jaw, I’ll call you.”

“See?”

“Thanks, Nicole.”

“Now you’ll have a date for our party.” said Ana. “Which Anthony has agreed to let us throw at his house.”

“In exchange for them helping me with math.” added Anthony.

“So you did help us, Dena.” said Haylie. “If you had helped us, we wouldn’t have realized we could do it on our own.”

“Wow, I’m pretty good at this problem solving stuff, aren’t I?” Dena joked. “You know that I’ll always be there for you guys if you really need me.”

“Yeah.” said Anthony. “There are plenty of moms, but there’s only one Dena.”

“Aw, I have the best kids!” Dena exclaimed tearfully, hugging them all. “Now, what’d you get me?” she said, and they laughed and bestowed gifts upon her.

Being needed is only a good thing if those who need you know a good thing when they have it. And if it’s Kids Incorporated who needs you, you have nothing to worry about.

The End