Mary was hung over. She was a mess. First thing, when they got downstairs to change into their uniforms, she plunked herself down on the metal, folding chair and sat with her legs spread wide for balance. She buried her head in her hands.
“I had to wake her up,” Bea said to Bill. “When I got to her house she was fast asleep. In her clothes from yesterday too.”
“Least you got her here,” Bill said.
“She babbled some stupid shit and threatened to throw me out, but I dowsed her face with cold water then threw her in the shower, clothes and all.”
“Well she can stay down here and sleep it off,” said Bill. “I’ll do everything upstairs.”
“You’ve done enough,” Mary said. “You can just stay the hell off my station and stay the hell away from me.”
Bill laughed. He had already taken off his shirt and his pants and stood there in his underwear and socks. He walked straight up to Mary, so close to her he was almost touching her. He pressed himself even closer so his male parts were just about against her head where it sat in her hands. He leaned down over her and kissed her on top of her head then tucked his hand under her chin and pulled her face up. He kissed her once on her lips.
“Girl,” he said, “don’t want me on your station, get your gorgeous ass up and get dressed for work.”
Mary did not move. She did not say anything. Bea interrupted the moment by tossing Bill his uniform. He stepped back and got dressed.
Upstairs, without Mary, he drew himself a cup of coffee and took it back into the back on Mary’s station. First thing, he put on a pot of water which he would turn into au jus. Next, he lit all the ovens and set them for 400°. He lowered the temperature in the oven he would use for the steamship round.
That done, he went over to Mary’s bulletin board and read the menu for the day. Mary, he could see, had underlined today’s specials and had circled the vegetable and soup of the day. She had also circled the special salad from Bea’s station.
Everything settled in his head about how he was going to go about the morning, he leaned his butt against the counter and sipped his coffee. When he finished what was in his mug, he went over to the Bunn and refilled it, went through the line and lit up everything there. The exhaust fans were already droning. He stood a moment and looked all around the kitchen. From where he stood he determined that everything was the way it was supposed to be minus one prep cook of course.
Back on Mary’s station he sat his coffee on the stainless steel counter. Then he went into the walk-in to check how much steamship round was left over. Seeing there was enough for the start of the lunch, he began taking things he would use out of the icebox and setting them on the counter near where he had left his coffee. These were mostly the same things he had put away last night, things which would be used first during the service or incorporated into what he was going to cook.
Satisfied he’d taken out everything he wanted, he finished his coffee. On his way out of the kitchen he put the mug into the dish rack on the dish machine counter. Then he went down the stairs.
Mary was fast asleep on the metal folding chair. She was still in her street clothes and sat slumped down with her head leaning back.
Bill noted that she was quite a sight.
