They worked straight through, no breaks, no rest, the board continuously full. Tommy came into the kitchen right after the influx of orders and set up for expediting. By then Henry Lee had already cleared the board of dupes and collected them for Tommy.
Tommy went first to the coffee urns and took himself a mug of coffee. He stopped to talk to Bea to make sure everything was okay and everything was set. He did not bother to check in with Mary because Mary would have taken that as an affront. Bea was designated kitchen manager so he was supposed to check in with her. Mary, the prep cook, was simply supposed to know what to do and have it done. Tommy only checked in with her when he had something specific to discuss.
Bill and Henry Lee were hard at work. Because they were so busy Bill had taken to carving some of the round ahead of time. He was happy now that he and Mary had taken the fresh round out of the oven when they did so that there would be no need for him to stop in the midst of the flow of orders.
On they worked. Order after order, one after the next, like dance partners who had done the dance many times together before. Henry Lee cooked steaks and made sure the bleus and hamburgers did not run out. He slid over next to Bill when he could and helped Bill with all the side dishes.
Mary made sure they never ran out of anything. Frequently and regularly she came over on the line and checked everything on the steam table to see what needed replenishing. Each time she asked Bill if he were okay, if there were anything she needed to do for him or that he wanted her to do for him. Each time he reminded her that what he wanted her to do for him had nothing to do with what they were doing on the line.
Bea found herself working hard too. She had to replenish her salads several times, had to fill the dressings several times, had to send a dishwasher downstairs once to bring up fresh bottles of salad dressing. On top of working her station, she had to make sure the waitresses did not give away the store, that all the pie and dessert orders were appropriately-sized and properly served.
As he worked, Bill watched everything. He watched the waitresses, he watched the dishwashers, he followed the flow of everything that was going on in the kitchen as he could see it. Several times he asked waitresses to bring in sodas for the dishwashers. He also asked for beer for Henry Lee and himself. But he did not drink his beer. He gave it over to Henry Lee and he drank coffee instead. He had Norma make coffee for him. He didn’t have to tell her how he took it because she already knew.
Then it was just about over. Before they knew it, even though they actually knew it, it was one-thirty and the orders were starting to subside. Orders still came in, but the pace was slower, and they were starting to clear the board, as it were.
The dishwashers worked furiously. The dish machine had not stopped once. In the midst of everything that was going on on the line, plates were replenished so the plate warmers never ran out. Bill tracked when Mickey left the kitchen to head out to the bus stations. At the bus stations, Bill knew, he was replenishing silverware, cups, saucers and glasses.
“See,” Norma said, “I told you we were gonna get slammed.”
“Well, you were very right,” said Bill. “Make a lot of money?” he asked.
“I haven’t had a chance to check it yet,” said Norma, “but I’m pretty sure I did.”
Bill thought about Arlene. He didn’t mind working so hard when he thought about her making a lot of money.
