He could not shake the notions. The image of Millie flashing him stuck in his mind as he worked. He thought about her, Millie, and he thought about Norma and Marie, especially Marie because she was freaky-deaky. Then he thought about Jenny, Pam’s cousin, and that seemed so long, long ago. Jenny was getting revenge. Revenge sex was wild.
Revenge sex caused him to think about his lovely banquet waitress and her husband who was not cheating but having an affair. Mother Mary, Bill thought. She would have been an affair if Bill had been married at the time. Because he wasn’t, he was just cheating on his fiancé. How messed up was that?
Well, he thought, I never asked to be working in kitchens. I never asked for most of the stuff that’s happened to me. Then he remembered his father. He remembered being taught, mostly, never to ask for anything.
They only had one party, not even two hundred people. It was a nice one, prime rib, baked potato and asparagus. The rest of the week and the following week were booked full, and after that the holiday season would be in full swing. There was no let-up in sight.
Since it was a slow day and since they had some time, Jimmy Banquet Chef and Bill sat in the chef’s office and arranged time off for them both. Bill would be off every other Sunday and would come in later two days per week if the banquet schedule allowed it. Later meant noon or so. The banquet chef would take off Mondays, every other one, and Bill would be in early on those days to cover for him where the executive chef couldn’t.
It was all good on paper. It looked good on paper. But very often what looked good on paper didn’t work out that way.
The prime rib prep was easy. Along with Victor they knocked it out in no time. Then came the asparagus. They made sure the vegetable people took care of that and the baked potatoes. Only when the party for the evening was all ready to go into the oven did they start on the ones for the next day.
Wednesday had a breakfast banquet. This one was a little more deluxe, eggs Florentine with home fries and a fruit salad. Then there were two lunches and one big dinner. Altogether, on paper it was a hard day from start to finish. Beverly would be in for sure, Bill thought as he looked at the day on paper. Maybe she’d be there all day.
So they worked. They worked happily, the three of them. They worked together and were becoming a team in the sense that they were beginning to understand what each of them was doing and what had yet to be done. Like with his Falstaff Room partner, Jimmy G, Bill was learning to anticipate what was next and to go to it as the others were working on what they were working on.
By one-thirty, when it was time for them to take a lunch break, they had everything ready for the day and for the next day and they had already started on Wednesday. They would have taken lunch earlier, but the banquet chef decided they should work through so as to get as much done as possible. Beginning tomorrow, he would have a full work crew, regular banquet cooks who would be working full time until the holiday season was over. Bill had met most of them, but he would get to know them better now.
“We’re gonna have a good season,” the banquet chef said. “The hotel is gonna make a lot of money, and we are too, well you guys are since you’re hourly.”
“You’re not?” Bill asked.
“He’s not hourly,” Victor said. “But he’ll make money cause gets a piece of the pie.”
