To Grandma's House

First Day at Home*

Xael was awake at 4:30 am, her usual time. She didn't need an alarm to wake her, her body was already trained to wake before the crack of dawn. Getting up, she dressed for a day of cooking at the diner her Grandmother owned. Her Grams' usual cook was unreliable and lately the food had gone downhill. She left her job as an EMT to return home to help her out, along with other personal reasons. Being the first one up she headed to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee for her Grams. While the coffee brewed she let her boys out, telling them to stay close to the house which they did.

Standing at the door, the air was fresh and crisps. The main door was open, but she had the glass storm door shut, watching the two pups jump and chase each other.

"Morning hon."

Xael turned to see her Grandma, dressed and ready to start the morning as well . Xael watched her movements with piercing, grey eyes.

"Morning Grams." Xael whistled for the pups to come in. Both came barreling towards the house, stopping at the door. Once inside, they sat and waited for her to clean their paws. Her Grandma was fixing her cup of coffee.

Xael had dressed in a long sleeve grey t-shirt and jeans, she had braided her hair again and wrapped it in a decorative head wrap. She would spend most of her morning cooking and she didn't like hairnets so the head wrap would do. Xael usually kept her hair covered. Her mom always wore them and after she got out of the Army, Xael rarely allowed her hair to show. Sometimes she was even mistaken for a foreigner. But she was home so she wouldn't wear them that much unless she was cooking.

She already had menu ideas going through her mind and couldn't wait to run them past her Grandmother. Along with new menu items, she had a list of desserts to add also. If her memory served her correctly, there was a decent-sized dessert case at the front counter.

The pups headed out with them. Xael was a veteran and sometimes suffered from severe PTSD, she had trained the pups to keep others away from her if she had an episode. Loud, unexpected noises usually triggered them. Recently, she had been able to cope much better and the pups usually stayed at home while she was at work. Being back home, her Grandma said it was ok to bring them. She put their service vests on as a precaution and to protect them from untrained humans. When they had their service vests on, they knew it was time to work, they would stay in one spot till called for or if they saw she was in need.

Driving to the dinner it was still dark out as the old van rattled down the road, passing her jeep, she saw the caution lights still going. She was relieved as that meant the battery hadn't died yet. She would get a belt while they were in town today and fix it on the way back.

Walking into the eatery, Xael was excited to start cooking. She loved to cook. The diner didn't open till 8a, surprisingly they made it there before 5:30a.

Xael found an old chalk sign board. Her grandma had given her free run of the kitchen. The diner was set up so that the grill and cook area was behind the front counter. Luckily the previous cook at least kept the area clean. She walked back to the pantry area to see what food was available. She saw pie crusts in the freezer and apples that needed to be used. Grabbing an apron off the hook, she got to work.

Before she cooked anything she went to where she had set her bag and pulled out a sage bundle, Opening the front and back doors she smudged the entire diner, her Grandma looking on with a smile. As her Grams tended to the front counter, Xael found chalk markers and worked on the signboard. Special for the morning was biscuits and sausage gravy with potatoes and fruit as a side.

Once the sign board was done, she started on making biscuits from scratch as her grams cleaned the dining area. The pups had their own booth by the door, the two of them were already fast asleep. Her Grams told her that the mornings were usually busy with people stopping to eat before heading off to work.

Xael worked at a fast pace, she helped in the dinner before she left for the Army so she was used to being a short-order cook. It was something she really enjoyed. With the biscuits in the oven, she started chopping fruit for the fruit salad and potatoes for the other side. The fruit went in a lemon juice/honey bath then into serving cups she had placed on a tray. Once the fruit cups were filled she wrapped the trays with plastic wrap and set them in the fridge. Grams cleaned the coffee pots and started them brewing, soon the smell of coffee filled the dinner. Just then one of the two waitresses that worked there showed up and chatted for a bit with Ms. Emma. Xael was in the back washing food pans to hold the sausage gravy and biscuits.

Walking back to the front Xael smiled at the waitress who froze. Dumbstruck at seeing someone new at the grill. Xael didn't have time to deal with her as she still needed to get the sausage going for the gravy. Filling two large skillets with the sausage, they cooked away as she went back and forth, filling up the cold storage under the cooktops. Leonard, the previous cook, sucked as far as she was concerned. He had prepped nothing. She filled up the sections to make things easier for herself, eggs, bread, bacon, ham, fresh veggies and a tray of fruit cups.

Now both waitresses were there. The three ladies up front worked on silverware bundles, wiping down the menus and setting the tables and bar top at the front. Once that was done that two waitresses watched in awe as Xael snaked around the cooktop.

With the steam table ready she placed the pans in their spots and filled them with biscuits, gravy and bacon. The steam table was big enough to sit pans 2 deep, plenty enough for the morning 'rush'. Xael quickly trayed up 3 trays of bacon and popped them in the oven. It was only 7 and Xael had gotten a lot done. With the bacon in the oven, she trayed up 3 more and set them in the large fridge for later along with 2 trays of biscuits.

Having finished that she cleaned the grill and got the kitchen ready for the day. With 15 minutes to spare, she brought what few desserts and pies were in the fridge up to the front and filled the dessert case. She would work on that when there was a lull in orders. With everything done Xael propped the front door open and flipped the switch on for the open sign. Turning to the ladies Xael smiled excitedly.

"Ready Grams/Ladies?!"

Xael petted her pups, washed her hands and put on gloves. Gathering the plates she set them off to the side and was ready for the morning to begin.