The dinner service went well. For a Monday they were unusually busy, did over a hundred-twenty covers. Over a hundred was becoming the norm. This was a good thing. Bill and Jimmy G finished up at 12:30 and punched out at 1:00.
Rosie and Edelgarde were quiet all night. They did not come around Bill much except for business.
Jo Ann was ever herself. She was crazy-happy, had bounce in her step. While she was waiting for her dinner, she came up close to the counter on her side.
“Caesar gave them a real scolding,” she whispered to Bill. “Told them he’d fire them if they didn’t stay away from you.”
“I’m not surprised,” Bill said.
“He really hates you.”
“He’s an asshole.”
“You bet.”
“He didn’t start with you?”
“Honestly, he wants me to set you up.”
“How?
“Say you harassed me, touched me where I didn’t want to be touched.”
“No shit?” Bill said.
“No shit,” said Jo Ann.”
“You gonna do it?”
“If I didn’t like you, I might think about it. As it is, I wouldn’t even consider it.”
“How’s he going to take that?”
“I wouldn’t trust him as far as I can throw him. He’s gonna try something.”
“Yeah. But how’s he gonna take what you told him?”
“He didn’t like it, but he took it. He will try something else.”
Bill went home thinking about this. Two courses of action went through his mind. One part of him told him to make peace with Caesar. He envisioned it like a weaker dog turning belly-up or baring its neck. The other part of him told him there’d be no peace with someone like Caesar. Someone like Caesar regarded any conciliatory attempt as weakness, as a green light to push ahead. He went home knowing he had to nip it now, before he could do anything.
As he showered he thought about the tough in the workhouse. He remembered (he would remember it all his life) that moment the tough approached him, when he asked him why he was in there. Bill told him assault and battery, and when the tough asked him if he’d beat up his wife, Bill had said no, a cop. That had stopped the tough cold.
There was only one way to stop a bully. You had to face him and stand up to him. You had to let him know that even if you couldn’t beat him, you would make it hard for him such that it would not be worth his while to mess with you.
Of course that’s what Bill had to do. He knew this sure as he knew each day the sun came up whether you could see it or not. He knew he had to formulate and execute a plan as soon as possible and that meant immediately since he now knew that Caesar was working at getting him.
It would involve a preemptive strike with all the girls.
Bill realized that his best bet was to have them all agree to talk to Caesar about how they were happy with Bill’s performance and how they wanted to do everything they could to make sure he would stay. This would upset Caesar, but it would let him know where they stood. It could be innocent enough as to look just like they were concerned for the room and the business and of course for their tips.
The plan would also involve talking with the banquet chef and letting him know what Jo Ann had said about what Caesar wanted her to do. Jimmy Banquet Chef would then take that to the chef and if nothing else it would be on record.
Finally, Bill would talk to Millie. Millie could, if she’d been being honest with him, talk to her boss and her boss could do whatever she might to insure that Caesar, for whatever he had in mind, couldn’t get away with it.
It was just like the soap operas on TV.
