It was lunch time. I was cooking with the other cooks at work. I gotta say, it feels nice to be back in the line. I was making some burgers. The aroma was getting in my nose. I smelled it with joy. It felt amazing. Oh, yeah, that's the shit. I love the smell of burgers especially if it's freshly being cooked. I watched as the meat turned from pink to brown. While it was cooking, I got some slices of American cheese and put them on the burgers. This was my favorite thing to cook. Ever since that whole fiasco with the vegan burgers, we took it off the menu. I'm not gonna lie, those burgers are nasty. They smell like ass. It makes me wanna puke.
I finished the burgers and then I took them the container to the back. Then I remembered I needed to take the box t the dishpit so that the dishwashers could wash them. We got a new dishwasher named Angelo. He's only two years younger than me. The only problem is he's lazy and doesn't want to do a lot of work. I got there and Angelo was talking to Ty. Right as I dropped off the trays, Angelo got mad.
"Hey!" he cried. "What you think you doing?"
"What does it look like?" I replied.
"Ima dishwasher," he retorted. "I ain't supposed to be washin' this shit. That ain't my job."
I stared at this fool as if he had two heads.
"I hate to disappoint you, but it is your job," I insisted. "You're a dishwasher. You don't only wash dishes. You wash whatever needs to be clean and that includes kitchen utensils and supplies and whatever else we need done."
"What?!"
"No worries, bud," drawled Ty, "You got me."
"Oh, yeah," said Angelo. I watched them disappear in the back."
"And hurry up," I called, "we're gonna need that back."
I went back to work.
Soon it was time to close. I scrubbed off the grill, cleaned out the fryer, and gave the parts to the dishwashers. I watched with glee as them both sulk when they had more and more stuff to clean and hearing them complain. Been there, done that. I needed to wait for Marc to finish counting the servers' tips. While I waited and I went to the back for a bit. There I saw one of the cooks, Derek, smoking a cigar.
"'Sup, Derek?" I said.
"Oh, hey, Chris," he said.
"Another day, huh?"
"Yup. Just glad it's over."
"I bet."
"You know," said Derek. "I bet you're glad to be back on the line."
"Hell yeah," I said. "Cooking is my thing. I guess you can say it's my passion."
"It's not mine," sighed Derek.
"What do you mean?"
"My wife does all the cooking and I watch her. This pays me well here."
"Same," I said. "I wish we got tipped."
Derek chuckled. "But we know that's not gonna happen."
We laughed. I was having fun with Derek. But things were going good to bad.
"Don't worry," I smiled. "Maybe when Mike returns, he can give you lessons."
"Well, that's if he returns," said Derek.
I stopped smiling. "What do you mean?"
Derek looked to this left and then to his right, as if he was watching for something.
"Can you keep a secret?"
I nodded disdainfully.
"Well," he began, "there's a rumor saying that Mike was poisoned. On purpose. The hospital examined that contaminated burger he ate and determined that the lettuce had some harmful ingredients in it. Therefore, they put two and two together an realized it. And not to mention, they say he might not survive this."
My eyes were bigger than they had ever been before.
"Nah, I'm just kidding. He will survive this. But he won't be back for another week or so. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?"
I shook my head.
"Good," said Derek. "But they're pissed off here. They say whoever is responsible for this, will face severe consequences. If I were you, I'd just mind my P's and Q's. I wonder who was responsible for this." And he left.
That night, as I was driving, I felt a strong weight of guilt over me. I honestly thought this would be a prank. Then again, I kinda wanted him out of the picture for a while, but I didn't want him dead. If they were to find out I was the one behind all this, I'm fucked. It's bad enough that I'm already in enough trouble.
I drove into Jacob's driveway and parked. I unloaded my suitcase. I was spending the night at his place while furnace is looking in. I walked in, and I saw him and his brother at a computer talking
"...so if I had him move here and then he will..."
"Oh, hey, Chris," said Jacob.
"How was work?" asked his brother, whose name is Scotty.
"Stressful," I sighed. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Oh, well, Scotty is creating a computer game for kids. Wanna hear it?"
"Sure," I said. I needed some excitement.
Scotty beamed. "Okay," he began. "So the plot of the game is, there are five secret agents going to explore an ancient temple. However, the temple is ruled over by a sadistic scientist. He captures them and locks them up. The game begins when the leader, wakes up and escapes his prison to try and find the others. Finally, the fifth agent, hers is harder than the rest to break free. So they work together to free her. And it works. So, then they try to escape. They split to try find an exit or something. The leader and the fifth agent work together, but they don't get along well. But they encounter the scientist. He kidnaps three of the agents and it's up to them to work together find them. I know it's a lot and there are still some bits and pieces I need to work on."
"That sounds like a handful," I said. "But I swear, why does the plot sound so familiar? Like, it's on the tip of my tongue, but I just can't name it."
Jacob added. "But I like it. We'll keep working on it."
I headed to the guest room. I got ready for bed. I haf to work again tomorrow. I felt really nervous. But I lay back and though things were gonna be okay.
