Henry Lee followed Bill down the stairs and into the meat room.
“Man,” he said, “I thought you was gonna get yourself into a pickle.”
“I thought so too. Good thing she came in when she did.”
“What it is,” said Henry Lee.
They carted the meat up two trays each at a time making trip after trip until all the shelves in the van were filled. After the last trip, Drenovis closed and latched the van doors. He followed Bill and Henry Lee back into the kitchen.
Mary had fixed Bill another coffee. Since there were no orders, Bill stood on the side of the line by Bea’s station and drank it. Drenovis went out to see Tommy and came back into the kitchen to say goodbye and head out the back door.
No one said bye to him but he did take a moment to stop by Bill and Bea who happened to be standing on her station.
“Have your fun now. It’s not gonna last long,” he said to Bill.
“One of your Riviera girls says your pecker’s as ugly as your face,” Bill said.
Drenovis turned red. His face, pockmarked from chicken pox, flared. He glared at Bill and maybe he would have started toward him but Bea stepped between them.
“Don’t you got nothing to do?” she asked Bill. “And don’t you got to get back?” she asked Drenovis.
Drenovis thought better of doing anything more. Lunch was about to start and he did have to get back. He didn’t want the East to be without a cook. That would be disastrous. So he downplayed what Bill said and repeated what he’d said. “Have your fun now. It won’t last long.”
“Why don’t you just take your fat ass to the van?” Henry Lee said. He had come onto the line and was by the fryers greasing up a towel to coat the grills to cook off some hamburgers and bleus.
Drenovis didn’t respond to Henry Lee. He had calculated the odds. If Bill and Henry Lee walked off, well, that would be the end of the lunch and dinner and no way Mr. Bowman was gonna tolerate that. In the end, Drenovis would lose his job. Henry Lee and Bill would not. They’d get chewed out and be high up on the shit list, but Robert would save them. So Drenovis tucked his tail between his legs and slinked out, walking across the front of the kitchen so as not to venture onto the line.
“Pussy,” Henry Lee called at him as he walked out the door.
Drenovis didn’t say anything.
“Just couldn’t let it go, could you,” said Bea.
“Give me a kiss,” said Bill. He took Bea in his arms and kissed her then took a solid feel of one of her hefty breasts.
“Get out of here, boy.”
Bill moved his hand inside her kitchen dress so he could feel bare skin.
“Boy, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“Like I told Mary, I feel ornery.”
“Ornery ain’t gonna help you when he fires you. You don’t think he can fire you?”
Bill’s hand made it inside Bea’s bra and played with her momentarily before she slapped him on the arm.
“Maybe I don’t care,” he said.
“Well maybe we do,” Mary said coming over to where Bill and Bea stood. “I know he pisses you off. But you gotta give him his respect.”
“Respect this,” Henry Lee said. He grabbed his crotch in the way men do when they’re making that point. “I’m proud of the boy. He done good. Don’t you take no shit from that fat-ass cracker. Not now, not ever. You can work anywhere now.”
“Don’t you listen to him,” said Mary. “You need this job.”
