Jimmy Banquet Chef filled a pint soda bottle with whiskey and closed it with the cork from a wine bottle. He also put a six-pack of imported beer on the kitchen truck.
The chef, maybe all chefs did, kept a box on his desk with all kinds of things to close bottles. Inside that box were twist caps, corks and some plastic stoppers that would fit various-sized bottles. The most commonly used closure item was a cork.
The second trip out for Bill and Jimmy G was all about food supplies. They carried the first of the hams and turkeys as well as the prime rib. They carried the sauces for each item, a gravy for the turkey, a sweet-glaze sauce for the ham, au jus for the prime rib. They carried a pan of vegetables and a backup pan, a pan of stuffing and pans of potatoes, one mashed the other yams.
They had laid in all the regular menu items on that first trip and the only things left were to check and replenish all the condiments and decorative items. Today there was no room for error, or at least that’s what Bill surmised from what they had told him about Christmas days past.
Before they unloaded the truck, Jimmy G gave his aunt the little whiskey bottle and two beers. She did not hide these or make any pretense to do so. She simply put the whiskey in her kitchen drawer and the beer in her underneath reach-in cooler. One thing about Kalista, she didn’t care if Caesar saw her doing anything she did. She didn’t care about anyone seeing her do whatever she did. In and of herself, she was not only an icon there, but she was also the matriarch of much of the main kitchen help there.
Before the boys headed out on their last trip to and from the main kitchen, they stopped by Kalista. Kalista had prepared espresso for them all only she had made a lot of it and put the black liquid into coffee mugs. She handed them to her two boys with a big smile and when Bill went to put the coffee to his lips he understood why. Kalista had laced the espresso with whiskey.
“Health,” she said.
“To a good day,” Bill said.
“Ya,” Jimmy G said.
They stayed a moment all together and drank their coffee. Then Bill looked at the clock and saw it was time to start making that last trip. The one thing he did not want to do this day was not be ready at the start. Starting behind pretty much meant running behind the whole way if it was busy. If it was non stop, like they all said it would be, starting behind meant, or could certainly mean, running behind all day.
Once the truck was fully loaded, they stopped into the chef’s office. The banquet chef was sitting in the chef’s chair with his feet up on the chef’s desk. He was looking mighty comfortable there.
“What’s up boys?” he asked. “You ready?”
Bill and Jimmy G both sat down in the arm chairs facing the desk.
“Good to go,” Bill said.
“Have another drink and another beer before you head out,” Jimmy Banquet Chef said. “I’ll be running the food with Victor. Personally. We have everything all set up and will be able to get anything you need to you at a moment’s notice.”
“Ya,” Jimmy G said. “You know what to do.”
Bill and Jimmy G both got up. Jimmy G poured the drinks. Bill went to the window where the curtain was drawn. He peeked through a corner of the curtain and saw Victor coming into the office. Not many people were at the buffet table, he saw. The room service cooks were tending to the food. Bill could see they were not replenishing items because very shortly now they would be switching out the breakfast fare for lunch foods and the day’s specials. As a courtesy to the staff, all of whom were stuck away from their families to work one of the biggest of family holidays, the kitchen was offering unlimited, free, holiday fare.
