The snow had not melted but total accumulation was less than two inches and so it would not in any way discourage customers from coming out. The lunch had been good. Dinner would probably be good. Over by the convection oven, Bill started pulling out the hot potatoes.
Then the steam table was all set. Everything had been checked and double-checked and all that was left for Bill to do was to cart up the meat. He dragged his weary ass down the stairs and popped in on Henry Lee in the meat room.
Henry Lee had spent a good deal of time cleaning up the meat room. He had gone twice into the deep freeze to make sure that the meat he wanted frozen was in there and the meat he was going to use but had not yet cut was in the walk-in. He had cleaned and put the scale away and even had time to talk with Marie. But he had not fooled around with Marie, not because he didn’t want to, but because Marie was busy complaining about her husband. Henry Lee, for his part, did not want to hear about it. It turned him off so he listened with a deaf ear as he went about his business.
Bill and Henry Lee took a moment to get high in the deep freeze. They talked over what Marie had said. Bill asked if she’d said anything about him and her from the night before. Henry Lee said no. Bill asked if Henry Lee wanted to hear about it. Henry Lee said no. Henry Lee said he didn’t care, that if Bill and Marie were getting it on that was better for him. Alfreda, he said, was giving him a hard time and he was getting tired of the whole situation. But then, as the weed kicked in and both their eyes glazed over, even there in the deep freeze blowing out the steam-smoke that came from their hot breath in the cold air, he kind of smiled at Bill and made a remark as to what a fine piece of ass she was.
So there they were in the meat room. Henry Lee immediately went back to cutting meat. Bill immediately went to carting meat trays, two at a time, up on his shoulder and on up the stairs. He would lay the trays on top of his meat reach-in, stack the old steaks already upstairs either in front of the new ones or on top of them, as the case was given the space on the tray. Then he would slide the tray into its slot in the reach-in, always the same slot, always in the same place and same order, never a change.
That was one of the first and most important rules of being efficient as a line cook, really as any cook, in a professional kitchen. When it got busy, and it always did, there was no time to look for anything. Everything had to be where you knew it was so that you could reach for it without having to think about it. Part of that same rule was that if you finished something, anything, you replenished it immediately. This meant that if something like the film, Saran wrap, ran out, you got a new box, opened it, set it for immediate use without having to do anything first.
Done. Another day’s prep work, another lunch, another meat delivery, another set-up for dinner. Mary’s work was finished. Bea’s work was finished. Bill’s work, until the dinner started, was finished. Marie was working at her station. She and Bea had set everything in place, Marie moving things around so they were exactly the way she wanted them. Bill took a moment to go back into the office and call home, the second call. His fiancé was there, answered the phone and they spoke. The call ended with her telling Bill that she was spending the night at Tim’s. Tim, she said, was horribly depressed.
