Piper's Perfect Dream by Ahmet Zappa

when there was a lull in customer traffic. Diane had definitely warmed up to her. She lowered her voice to add, “And that’s unusual lately. You know….” She nodded across the street, to a restaurant with a big yellow-and-black BB on its sign. “‘Your local Busy Bee,’” Piper read from the sign, “‘the buzz-iest place in town. Five billion served.’”
    â€œEver since that fast food place opened,” Diane continued, “business has been slower than usual.”
    Piper understood the slow business part. But fast food? She pictured hamburgers and French fries with little legs, racing around a restaurant.
    â€œLots of customers have started eating across the street.” Diane shook her head. “The prices may be cheaper, but you can’t compare the quality. This right here”—she tapped the counter—“is real home cooking. Just like—”
    â€œBot-Bot cooks used to make,” Piper finished.
    â€œHuh?” said Diane. “I was going to say ‘Mom.’ Like my mom used to make.”
    â€œOf course,” Piper agreed. “That’s what I call my mom. Bot-Bot. It’s from when I was a baby.” Of course,
mom
and
Bot-Bot
sounded nothing at all alike. But it was the best Piper could do. “I have no idea why.”
    Diane shrugged at the explanation. “Alice and Pete will never admit it. But they’re feeling stressed about the business.”
    Piper’s heart thumped at the word
stressed
.
Aha,
she thought.
If Alice and Pete are stressed about customers, then Olivia must be, too.
That was the problem.
    I’ve identified the wish!
she thought. She didn’t feel any energy, but she knew not all Starlings did. Well, hopefully she had identified it. Piper knew not to count her stars just yet. Fifty percent of wishes were misidentified, after all.
    Still, Olivia’s wish seemed clear enough: she wanted the diner to have more customers! If the diner did more business, Olivia would feel better and her bad dreams would end.
    â€œWaitress!” someone called out to Piper, interrupting her thoughts. Piper had seen Diane flinch when a customer called her “waitress,” though most knew her by name. Greenfield was a small town, after all. But being called “waitress” made Piper feel proud. She looked out the diner window to see a dad lifting his son out of the backseat of a car. He slammed the door shut and the two walked into the diner. The boy didn’t look happy. His face was streaked with dirt, and tears had left clean little trails down to his chin.
    Before Piper could say a word, the boy started to wail. “Where Harvey?” he cried. “Where Harvey?”
    â€œI’m sorry,” said the man. “Harvey is my son’s—”
    â€œBest friend?” Piper suggested.
    â€œNo, his bunny,” he explained.
    â€œI’m sorry, sir,” Piper said to the father. Her heart went out to the little boy, but she was proud to know that a bunny was a Wishworld animal with long floppy ears. “We don’t allow pets in the diner.”
    â€œNo, no,” the father said. “Harvey is his stuffed animal.” He turned to his son. “It’s okay, Sammy. We’ll find that lost bunny. I promise. But right now, we’re going to order you a special treat.”
    But Sammy didn’t want ice cream, pie, rice pudding, or Jell-O. He just wanted Harvey back. Piper’s own mind flashed back to the day before and how a special treat seemed to cheer up Olivia—if only momentarily. “I know just the thing,” she said.
    She disappeared behind the counter. Then she set to work making two chocolate egg creams. “Chocolate syrup,” she told herself, “milk, and seltzer. No eggs. No cream.”
    â€œAre you making egg creams?” Alice asked, moving closer. “We don’t sell them; they’re not even on the