Despite the fact that his family was waiting for him, Mr. Jim took a moment and sat at the bar with Henry Lee and Bill. He asked Bebe to pour them all another round of the bourbon. When that was done, he picked up his glass and invited Bill and Henry Lee to do the same.
“Boys,” he said, “this may be our last drink together for a while. And I got something to say before we have it. I ain’t one to judge much. God knows through the course of my life I been judged not just for the color of my skin but for the way I could do my job. I’ve been mighty lucky. I got me a good wife, a loyal one. And I’ve been a loyal husband. I ain’t never fooled around, not once, not even with any of them black girls who ended up being waitresses on the trains because they worked for cheaper wages. They was some fine pussy too. And they was willing. You know, couple of them even went about showing me their wares.” He laughed, a little chuckle to himself. Then he went on. “I had my opportunities and I could have, but I didn’t.
“That brings me to you two shitheads. You, Henry Lee, you got a gorgeous wife, a good woman, you got two beautiful little kids. What the hell you doing?
“And you, white boy, you ain’t even married yet and you already fooling around on your wife-to-be. I ought to beat you upside your head. You think this stuff don’t come back at you? And look who you messing with. Goddamn boy! You know what Robert says, so check out your mind, both of you.
“That’s it boys. Drink up. Get your goddamn heads on straight and get yourselves together. Remember always, I love you. You always love your first crew. You ain’t my first crew, but you’re mighty special.”
Mr. Jim drank up. Henry Lee and Bill followed suit. Then Mr. Jim stood up. His family was waiting and he didn’t want to keep them too long so he said “See you when I see you,” and he stepped away from them and up to his wife who had been sitting at one of the tables. He helped her up gently, took her hand, and with his kids they walked out of the party room, up the front stairs and out of the restaurant.
First thing, Bill took that knife that was now his and carefully placed it inside his locker. Later, when he had nothing to do, he would build a sheath for it using newspaper and masking tape.
After securing the knife, he went to the meat room and joined Henry Lee for another drink. He had several joints rolled and laid out in the bourbon drawer under the towels where everything was pseudo-hidden. He took up a joint, waved it at Henry Lee and then they both donned the Arctic parkas and quilted mittens and went off into the deep freeze.
When they were sufficiently high and appropriately buzzed from the bourbon, Henry Lee started cutting meat. Bill went upstairs and first thing he did was check in with Mary. Already late for setting up for the dinner, it seemed as if it were going to be one of those nights where they ran behind from the get-go. But Mary had put the trays of baked potatoes into the convection oven. The prime rib was just about done. All Bill really had to do in order to get them off to a good start was set up the steam table, inventory supplies and get what they needed. Given that Mary had everything under control, and since for the most part the dishwashers and waitresses had already cleaned up the party room, Bill set himself right away to building the steam table.
Coming Soon
