Raise Your Glass!

I Am A Follower of Yours

Sergey, "... Yes, I looked him in the eye and said, " Thank you for taking us all of Russia," it happened in the summer of 1990, the weather was nice, and Moscow shone in the sun, the streets were busy, and full of signs all in Russian, oh, I wish I had had Google Glass to read them;  unfortunately, Google Glass  hadn't been invented yet-- Glass is the best friend for a tourist; for example no one gets lost in Paris with Glass, its wonderful translator application is able to show all road/traffic signs in English."

The elderly lady raises one eyebrow, stares at him in surprise, " Really, Brian?"
Sergey nods, " Yeah... of course I knew Russian very well, so there was no problem with Russian Signs." he starts laughing, his laugh voice awakens some of spectators, Sergey smiles at them gladly.

 The nice lady takes her glasses off, Sergey shouts at her, " Immediately Put it on again-- I'm afraid, Ma'am, but wearing Glass is required in this place."

The lady blushes, " Oh, I just wanted to polish them."
Sergey feels embarrassed, " Oh, I'm Sorry, Ma'am-- I thought you didn't like them."

The lady , " Oh, No, Brain-- In fact I enjoy wearing glasses, I look more interesting with them, " she laughs loudly, " These glasses are really great , I am a fan of them."

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Your Pretty Jacket

A grin spreads across Sergey's face, " Oh, thanks a lot, Glass is proud to have fans like you, Ma'am."
The Lady says, grinning, " Please call me Nicole," then she points at the dotted jacket lying on the counter, " Why had you taken off your pretty jacket, you looked more attractive in the green."

Sergey looks at the jacket sadly, " The TV producer obliged me to take off, because the TV Cameras badly contrasted with patterned designs."
Nicole , " Oh, What a pity! where can I purchase one? "

Sergey, " I don't know, it is a gift from Larry."
 As soon as Mr. Assistant  hears Larry's name, opens his eyes,  looks around excitedly , " Gee, Larry? where is he?"

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It Brings Good Luck

Sergey bursts into laughter, " Wish he were here, but he is on vacation now."

Mr. Assistant sighs deeply, " How sad!", then he turns his attention to Gloria keeps sifting the flour for 310th time, the girl looks weary and weak, her forehead is covered with beads of sweat, and her face is too pale, as if she  was fainting.  Mr. Assistant asks her, " Miss. Roberts! Are you OK?"

Gloria brings a faint smile on her face, " OK Glass, I'm fine."
Mr. Assistant laughs ," OK , How many times should the flour be sifted?"

Gloria shrugs, " The Better you sift, you have the finer flour, plus My mom always says that sifting the flour is very important, it brings Good luck! I guess 500 times is enough. "
Mr. Assistant's mouth drops open, " 5oo Times?"

Sergey laughs, " You shouldn't believe what she said, she only wanted to pull your leg."
 a wrinkle forms between Gloria's eyes, but remains quiet.
 Sergey is surprised ," Are you sure, Glory?"

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Cooking contest

Gloria blushes , and stares at her floury fingers, her expression shows that she has never cooked pancakes. By the way, Sergey had better find another way to manage the cooking show; not only he is tired of recycling his old jokes, but also the TV producer is angry with him, so he rises from his chair, Circulates among the guests, looks at their faces carefully, then shouts as loudly as he can, " My Friends! Are you ready for a contest?"

The TV Producer's eyebrows are raised in surprise, says to the director " Gee, this man is driving me mad, at first Talk show, and now quiz show!"
The TV director murmurs , " 315--Take it easy, Buddy."

 No guests are asleep at present, Sergey repeats his words, " Are you ready for a cooking contest? We just need a few All-American contestants,  Come on, Put your hand up, if you know how to cook pancake-- or Raise your glasses! "

Mr. Assistant puts his hand up along with a few other men,  Sergey signals to him to move down his hand, " Sorry, Mr. Assistant-- the others can come on the stage."

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All the World is a Stage

" Don't Worry, we all are always on the stage as Shakespeare said, "All the world is a stage."' Sergey said as the four men come forward. They stand opposite the counter, and stares at Sergey. He turns to them, " Please Tell your names by turns."

The first man, " I'm Park from China."
The Second one, " Francesco ,  I was born in Rome."
The third man,  " Rodolfo, from Mexico."
The fourth one, " My name is Takashi, I'm from Tokyo."

Sergey plasters a smile on his face, " Welcome to our cooking contest, Are you prepared to cook a classic morning dish, 3...2....1... Start.",   each of contestants takes a bowl quickly, and comes at the flour, next sugar, milk, egg, and butter, they mix all ingredients together, within 3 minutes their batters is prepared.

Gloria continues sifting the flour, Sergey whispers to her, " That's enough, Take a coffee break." but Gloria is sifting the flour non-stop, Sergey lets out a bitter sigh, " Enough! Enough!", At this point, they hear a plane flying overhead,  Gloria laughs, and the others look upwards,  Flora jumps from a small aircraft without a parachute, and lands just on the counter,  everyone is puzzled by her amazing action except Gloria, She screams with laughter, " Mommy! finally you came."

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Lend me a Hand

Flora smiles at the camera, " Hi, I'm sorry to be late." 
The audiences start clapping, and cheering her; the producer feels dizzy, " I nearly died ... Will I get home again?"
The mother rolls up her sleeves , and shouts at the daughter, " What are you doing, Glory? put that sifter aside-- you don't know how to cook."

All attentions turn to Gloria, Sergey can't help laughing, Gloria clenches her jaw, and flings the sifter with flour bowl at him, Sergey's hair turns white and the people laugh, while he is dusting the flour from his hair, he says, "  Flora is my mother-in-law, the same brave woman chased the hot-air-balloon, now she's come back to make pancakes, I guess that sifting the flour brings really good luck."

His word makes a good laugh, he continues," Wish Larry were here, he's good at making pancakes... Once he posted his recipe on his G plus page,  after a while one of his followers- Jim Lime- wished to cook pancakes as well as Larry could, when Larry read Jim's comment, he had decided to attend this cooking show in order to respect his follower."
Mr. Assistant sighs, " Larry is very responsive, hard-working and friendly."
Flora smirks, " Keep the sugar handy when you are cooking."

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Who Likes me?

Sergey, " Who had read his recipe in G plus? "
All those who are in the coffee shop put their hand up, Sergey giggles, " Great, who does read my G plus page?"
Gloria glances around, no one is Sergey's follower, so she puts her hand up, shouts happily " Gloria, Gloria-- I follow your unique posts, Mr. Brin."

 Nicole raises her voice , " Me too, Brian. I keep myself up-to-date by reading your inspiring posts, without doubt you are the best mentor in the world, I'm hungry to swallow your effective words,  please write more."

Sergey's eyes shine, " Thanks a lot, Nicole . I'm proud to have followers like you." Gloria is green with envy, her look shifts from Sergey to Nicole for several times, then gets fixed on her mother making batter. Gloria signals to her to put Sergey down, Flora calls Sergey kindly, " Dear Sergey! Can  you lend me a hand?"
Sergey nods his head, " Why not? I like to help people."

" Come on... Stove and Pan." Flora says as leads him to the stove, then she stares at the lady angrily. Sergey comes running towards the electric stove, turns it on, says " Once I wanted to cook some fried egg, after a hard effort I ate some scrambled egg." he laughs, and pours some batter into the pan, " Now I'm Chef Sergey and ready to train you, Any question?"

A man puts his hand up, " Hi, I'm Albert, I always do my best to cook pancakes, but my pancakes burn, my neighbor says that Your griddle is too thin, what's your view, Chef Sergey?"

Sergey, " Umm, I don't think so, I like thin pans as they are lighter... I guess your pans is too hot, the next time turn down the burner ."
Albert, " Thank you."

Mr. Assistant objects, " But Chef Larry always says the pan should be thick and big enough."
Sergey, " Well ... Chef Larry is more experienced he knows better, we respect his view-- Please buy a thick pan, Albert."

The time is going fast,  Sergey is completely happy, and cooks pancakes carefully, but Gloria is so worried about him, because he is standing between Italian and Chinese contestants, opposite to Mexican and Japaneses, and all look too unsafe but Japanese; the Italian imagines playing volleyball, he throws pancakes higher and higher, but them descend on Sergey's head one after another; and the Chinese man is used to cook with high flame; the Mexican constantly adds cooking oil and pepper to his pan; the Japanese works slowly in silence. 

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Take Care of your hair

Everything is lovely until Sergey turns towards the camera to speak with the viewers that Gloria lets out a terrible shriek, " Fire, Fire!" All looks turn to Sergey, yes, his hair has caught fire, the people begin screaming, " Call 911".

Gloria faints while she is crying, " Fire, Fire!"  Sergey is pale, but calms down himself, and keeps shouting , " A Fire blanket, a Fire blanket please! " the Chinese man has stared at his hair, while the others keep on cooking.

 As another pancake comes down on Sergey's head,  and the fire flares, the Italian man seems so ashamed, he tries to put out fire by the green jacket, yet it catches fire, and Sergey sighs deeply, " My pretty jacket." the other men surround Sergey for help, instead of water the Mexican pours some cooking oil on Sergey's head, a massive circle of flame comes out, then he adds a lot of pepper, and says, " It will work, Keep the pepper handy when you are cooking. "

the Japanese man says calmly, " lid, place a lid on the fire? ." the Chinese man hits Sergey's head by his pan, " I've not seen any lids on the counters, " he points at the pan ", however fire is put out." 

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New Hair Style

At this instant, Gloria gets up from the floor, she looks shocked as she runs towards the class K fire Extinguisher, and sprays it on her date, Sergey is covered in soapy foam, while he's combing his hair the Japanese bows to the viewers, " My pancakes are ready."

Sergey takes the dish, approaches the tables " Help yourself, Try Takashi's delicious pancakes."

At first person comes forward is Nicole, she smiles at Sergey's hair, " You looks actually different ." then she picks up one pancake,  " I'm on diet, Brian,  I breaks it Just for you-- oh, What a tasty pancake!" but her pink face expresses different feeling.

Some of audiences also tastes the dish,  Flora knits her brows, " This is so hard that I can't bite into it."
Albert, " this has no taste at all."
Mr. Assistant, " No, it's bitter."
Sergey, " Too tough."

The people grab the pancakes, and throw them at one another, the producer's face is redder than tomato,  Sergey realizes it it time to go. " Dear Americans, I'm thankful to spend a nice day with you all-- unfortunately, Google is alone,  and I have to leave now,"  Sergey says as he runs towards the exit, Gloria follows her too. The TV director drops out all visitors and cuts the program, the show is off.

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Sign your name, Please

Out of the coffee-shop, Gloria looks Sergey in the eye, " Thank you for taking us of the studio?"
Sergey glows, " Wish you were nicer-- I missed my hair and jacket and you argue with me?"
Gloria, " Who was that woman?"
Sergey, " Who?"
Gloria, " Nicole , your follower."
Sergey, " Actually I don't know her-- I know only one woman in the world and that woman-- are you."
Gloria frowns, " You can't deceive me, though I was sifting but I watched you both,  you smiled at each other all the time... she called you " Brian"."

At the moment, Nicole carrying a book gets close to them, she hands the book to Sergey, tells happily, " I've read all your books, Brian. Please sign this book for me."

Gloria and Sergey are completely in the dark, they stares at the book cover, then Gloria bursts into laughter, and Sergey clenches his jaw in anger, then he hands back Nicole the book, " Sorry, Ma'am-- My name isn't Brain, I'm Sergey."

That lady who is a follower of Brian Tracy walks away, frowning. Sergey smiles at Gloria, " What a funny mistake! all the crowd in the studio were Larry's followers, so I felt proud as she said that was a follower of mine. I'm sorry, forgive me."
Gloria, " You raised doubts in people's mind."
Sergey, " I don't mean that, take it easy, Just my follower!"
Gloria, " Are you upset about this?"
Sergey, " Not really, I have the best of them,  a faithful follower."
Gloria, " No, You have millions followers, but this was Larry's show, that is why the whole of studio was his follower."
Sergey nods his head, " That's right, Now that Larry has gone, Let's go to Google."

Gloria, " Just for a few hours, my mom is also alone in coffee shop, because Rocky and daddy have gone too."
Sergey, " OK."
The couple walks away hand in hand.

Best Wishes

M.T☺

M.T☺