They came up about a half-hour later. Henry Lee and Bea were still mulling over the horses that were running at different race tracks throughout the country. Bea had not moved from her stool. Henry Lee was smoking a cigarette and leaning in over her shoulder.
Both Bill and Mary came up empty-handed. Ordinarily that would’ve raised an eyebrow or two, but both Henry Lee and Bea knew what they were doing and really could care less. They told Bill and Mary that Tommy had come into the kitchen twice looking for them, that they had told Tommy not to bother looking because they were downstairs getting things together for the rest of the day. Then Henry Lee made a crack to Mary about hoping she was ready to work now.
First thing Bill and Mary did was check the ovens. The steamship round was working. Round about noon, or more like a little after one, Mary would put in the prime rib. Bea’s special for the day was chicken salad. Mary had cooked off the chickens yesterday, so all she and Bill had to do was to break them down, take off the skin and cut them into the size needed for a good chicken salad. Bea would have to cut her own celery and add the mayonnaise, and that was it except for building the salads which consisted of Romaine and iceberg lettuce, arugula, cherry tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs and carrots. Bea didn’t look as if she was too concerned about getting that done. She had done this many, many times before and knew exactly when she needed to get started.
After checking the oven, the first thing Bill and Mary did was put on a pot of au jus. Next, Mary set up the pot for yellow rice. While she proceeded to make that, Bill went around to the line and began turning things on. He started by lighting both fryers. Next, he lit one half of the charcoal grill and the Garland. That done, he went over by the pot washer station and began gathering the inserts and pans for the steam table. It was a little too early to begin building the table, but he placed all the inserts and pans he would need inside the table itself so that he didn’t have to go anywhere anymore and could fill it with water after laying out the pans.
By this time Henry Lee was ready to head downstairs. He told Bill he didn’t need him until about eleven when they would grind the meat for the hamburgers and make the hamburgs and bleus. So Bill, after checking that Mary had nothing for him to do, sat down in the hall on the milk cases.
The back door was open and the hall was chilly. Outside Bill could see there was only a slight accumulation of snow. He knew Tommy would put Paulie, the ADHD kid, to work shoveling snow while the other dishwashers cleaned up whatever was left over from the night before. Soon the waitresses would start coming in and the quiet the kitchen crew enjoyed, despite the droning exhaust fans and other noises of the kitchen, would end. Slowly but surely the pace of work would begin increasing, and the day, like every other day, would take its shape.
No one could tell yet what the day would be like. There were so many variables it was impossible to tell ahead of time. Maybe the snow would curtail the business, maybe not. Maybe all the waitresses would work well together, maybe not. Maybe Drenovis would stop by and if he did it would change the nature of the day altogether. Maybe, just maybe, Mr. Bowman would show up. That would change the nature of the day also. Then of course there was the service, how the orders came in. It could be a humongous rush or a slow steady game. You just never knew.
