Jimmy G was still asleep when Bill got back to the locker room. Bill had expected him to at least be up and stirring, but he was out and snoring.
Jimmy Banquet Chef wanted to throw cold water on his cousin. He was waiting for Bill and shushed him before he came upon Jimmy G.
“Lazy son of a bitch,” Jimmy Banquet Chef said. “Even if he is my own cousin, my own blood. You know how much trouble he’s caused me here?”
“I sort of got the idea from your aunt,” Bill said.
“My aunt likes you. She likes you more than any other cook we’ve had out there. She wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”
“I’m being good,” Bill said.
“You been with Beverly?”
“We were just talking,” Bill said. “She’s got a lot going on.”
“You been pretty quiet lately with the girls.”
“I never asked for anything from any of them. I never started anything either.”
“Well it finds you, don’t it?”
“It doesn’t find you?”
“It could. But I got too much family here. Can’t even have whispers coming around. Anyway, let’s get him up and get you going. Bet Caesar’s having a fit without you even showing up out there yet.”
“Good. Let him — I better not say it,” Bill said.
“Yeah. Best keep it to yourself.”
Jimmy Banquet Chef kicked his cousin on the bottoms of his feet which he had up on the bench on which he was laying. When Jimmy G didn’t stir, he kicked him again. This time, slowly, Jimmy G got up and started sitting up.
“Get up you lazy bastard,” the banquet chef said to his cousin. I’m not letting the boy set up all by himself. He offered to, but I told him no.”
“Ya,” Jimmy G said, yawning as he said it. “Ya.”
So they all washed up even though Bill and the banquet chef didn’t need to. Jimmy G ran water on his face to wake himself up. Then they went out to the kitchen floor and Jimmy Banquet Chef peeled off from them and went into the chef’s office. Bill and Jimmy G went by the buffet table which was still out there and filled with all kinds of nice things. Jimmy G made himself a pastrami on rye and stood by the table eating it.
“I’ll get the truck,” Bill said.
On his way back with the truck Bill ran into Rosie and Edelgarde. They were in red today with white trim and white stockings. They both wore Christmas hats. They said quick hellos and went opposite ways, but not before Rosie told Bill she had a surprise for him.
“I’ll be there in a bit,” Bill said.
“We’re gonna be slow tonight,” Edelgarde said. “We always are on Christmas eve. But we’ll be busy tomorrow. Everyone in the hotel comes out to eat Christmas dinner.”
“You know what?” Bill said. “It will be what it will be and then we’ll be done with it.
Bill turned for a moment and watched them walk away from him. He couldn’t help but enjoy the view of their lovely shapes. In the skimpy maid’s outfits their shapes were hidden in plain sight. He could see almost everything if he looked hard enough, but he’d already seen everything so he didn’t have to look too hard to know what he was looking at. They knew he was looking. They knew he liked to look as much as they liked to be looked at by him.
Then Bill was back in the kitchen. Jimmy G was eating dessert, a big piece of chocolate cake. He was clearly enjoying himself and the cake and he didn’t seem to have any inclination to be doing any work at all.
“Ya,” he said to Bill. “Don’t worry. We’ll be ready.”
Bill wasn’t worried. He wasn’t worried at all. He knew they would be ready. He knew if they wanted to they could double-time it and complete their set up in half the time they normally took.
