When Jimmy Banquet Chef came by, he brought their dinner on a kitchen truck. He wore his big chef’s hat and a big bright smile under that hat. He was happy for many reasons, first of which was that he had a great dinner for them: rolled, stuffed filet of sole in a white fish sauce and topped with fresh mushrooms.
Yummy!
Because they’d finished their work and he didn’t have much to do into the next day, he’d cooked this on his own, happily and clearly with love. He justified it, not that he actually needed to justify it, with making enough for Bill and Jimmy G to run as a special, so before they dished up for themselves he unpacked the two pans of rolled fish into The Falstaff Room kitchen. Caesar came by as he did so and while the banquet chef didn’t shoo him away, he most certainly did not welcome him. Jimmy Banquet Chef didn’t welcome Caesar enough such that Caesar did not come too close and did not stay long. He did not even step fully into the kitchen.
All three girls saw this. They were close by the serving window. Caesar saw them see it and maybe that more than anything else irked him, the notion that they saw him being not wanted, even diminished. He found a way to at least somewhat gracefully inquire about the special and its pricing and then bowed out of the kitchen.
Unpacking the pans of fish meant leaving them covered with foil and in a safe place. It meant putting the bain marie of sauce into the steam table and setting the mushrooms there too. That done, Jimmy Banquet Chef stuck his head out of the double doors and called “Hey kid.”
Bill got up quickly and joined Jimmy Banquet Chef in the Falstaff Room kitchen. They dished up their plates from a separate pan of fish that was already set in sauce. This was the extra pan he’d brought for his family and their newly adopted kid, Bill Wynn. They dished out five plates and when that was done Bill carried out the first three while Jimmy Banquet Chef set everything in order and followed him with the last two.
They sat around Kalista’s service counter, Kalista and Victor, the two elder Greeks, on one side, her serving side, the two Jimmy’s and Bill on the other. At first, conversation was about business, parties for the next day, the ones Jimmy Banquet Chef and Bill had prepped. They ate and talked and sat comfortably and happy. The conversation, as it always did, soon switched to Greek at which point Bill finished what he was going to eat and got up. He put his dirty dishes in one of the bus boxes, went over by the wall in the passageway leading back toward the main kitchen. There, he stood leaning against the wall and lit a cigarette.
It was getting close to opening time for The Falstaff Room now. Bill didn’t care and he knew Jimmy G didn’t care. Once the restaurant opened, if an order came in someone would come and get them. So he stood away from the others while he smoked. He didn’t want his smoke to disturb them as they finished up eating.
While the stood there, Rosie came out. Without any hesitation, she went right over to Bill, stood against the wall next to him and reached for his cigarette. He did not stop her, did not pull back.
“We’re not going to be too busy,” she said. She puffed his cigarette and held it.
“We’ll see,” Bill said.
“I have to pee,” Rosie said. “Want to hold my skirt up for me?”
