After hearing the bell, both Lorraine and Victoria came quickly into the kitchen. One took one order, one took the other, and quickly the seven burgers were gone from the kitchen. Bill managed to tell them to bring two more beers, and that said, both he and Marie went back to finishing up their last cleanup.
Marie did not have much to do. She needed to rinse the knife she had used to cut the tomato for the setups and then clean her cutting self. After that it was simply a matter of making sure everything was properly covered and stored for the night.
Bill still had a lot of work. He would skim the fryers quickly one more time since he had used them again. He needed to brush the grills on the Garland and then empty its grease drawer. Since he was not changing the grease tonight, he would empty the drawer into the grease barrel outside. When he went to do this, Marie followed him out.
“What you want, baby?” Bill asked seeing her right behind him.
“Oh, lots of things,” said Marie. “A joint would be great. And you know what else,” she said shaking her booty a little bit. Not only did she shake her booty, but she ran her tongue all around her lips. Then, when she was sure Bill had emptied the drawer, she reached up under his apron and felt him up.
Bill’s hands were full and he couldn’t stop her, not that he really wanted to. Or, he did and he didn’t. But either way it was impossible for them to linger outside. Not only was it cold, but there was no one in the kitchen and that wasn’t good.
“Listen, we can’t stay out here.”
“I know,” Marie said.
Bill set the empty drawer down to slide the cover back on the grease barrel then led the way in toward the kitchen carrying the drawer so no grease dripped. Before he turned the corner from the hall into the kitchen, the bell rang. When he did turn the corner he saw Victoria with dupes in her hand.
“You’re not gonna like these,” she said. She did not spear them. Instead, she waited for Bill to set the drawer in its slot in the Garland then handed them to him.
“Goddamn it,” he said.
“I told you, you wouldn’t like it.”
“Shit.”
“What you got?” Marie asked. Since she was right there with him, Bill handed her the orders.
One was a four-top, all steaks, a King well-done and three Bostons medium-rare. Bill immediately put the King on. It was a large-size filet mignon with a bacon slice wrapped around it. Being the biggest and thickest of the four, it would take about three times as long to cook. Worse, because of its thickness, it had to cook slowly and be turned often so as not to burn and it had to be watched all the way through.
The second table was two prime ribs. That was easy and Bill could do it immediately except Marie had to put up the salads first and the customers had to have time to eat them. So all in all, they were looking at a minimum of a half hour to get these out of the kitchen.
Marie wasted no time. She went immediately to her station and put up the six salads herself. Victoria and Lorraine were there to take them out and told Marie which dressings they took. Bill told Lorraine to bring in two more beers, and while he turned the King, he lit himself a cigarette.
“Anything I can do for you?” Marie asked.
“Yeah,” said Bill. “You can go out there and tell the guy who ordered the King to kiss my ass.”
“Oh yeah,” Marie said. “I’m on my way.”
