CHAPTER 26: Hell Sunday
"You'd better eat this quick, kiddo," Katie said to Tails as soon as he and Amy entered the restaurant, setting two plates of biscuits and gravy on the counter next to the register. Tails took one and Amy took the other; Graham and Lance were already halfway through plates of their own, and Katie returned to her half-eaten plate as well.
"You're gonna need everything you've got, I guarantee you," Graham said through a mouthful of biscuit. "You've got the register today. Amy and me have the tables and Katie and Lance have the kitchen."
"It can't be too hard just to sit there and hit keys, then wait for them to swipe their cards, can it?" Tails asked.
"A lot of these people order big," Amy said. "I've seen it firsthand. I worked the register before I hired you. You've got to be FAST, otherwise you're gonna have a long line before long. People get in our way, and things get even worse. They'll be swiping while you're keying. Trust me, your arms and legs are gonna be hurting before noon, because you won't be able to sit down." Tails gulped, and started shoveling down his food.
"Just do your best and no one'll think any less of you," Graham said. "Well, the less patient customers might, but you've at least got an excuse. Now, I've set you a shortcut key on the register. It'll ring up Katie's soup. It's just above the 9 key. You'll be using that a LOT. That soup is our big seller. In fact, when we close down in the afternoon, if there's any of it left, that's what we all have for lunch, every time."
"I'll try to save some for you," Katie said, wiping her face on a napkin. "Believe me, if you've ever had a better bowl of chicken and rice soup, I'll quit my job and go join the Crips."
"Where'd you get the recipe?" Tails asked through a mouthful of his own biscuits and gravy.
"It's an old family recipe," Graham spoke up. "Least, that's what she told me. Needless to say, the recipe is secret."
"My mama told me the first time I made it for the family, the recipe had been in the family ever since my great great great grandma's days," Katie said. "She also told me that neither she, my grandma, or my great grandma could make it quite like I do."
"That's quite a compliment," Tails said.
"That's what I said," Katie replied. "You might wanna hurry up with that. The church people usually aren't the first ones in here. There are still the occasional stragglers."
"Okay," Tails said. He resumed shoveling down his food and didn't say another word. About the time he got done, Lance made his first sound: a massive belch.
"TRICK OR TREAT!" he bellowed. Tails stared at him for a moment, blinking a few times, and the others just ignored him. When Amy noticed Tails staring, she nudged him to get his attention.
"Don't worry about him," she said. "We get along just fine with him. We keep him in the back, and no one ever knows he's there."
"Um, right," Tails said.
"Well, if y'all are done, I'd suggest we get to work, and hope for the best," Katie said, taking away everyone's empty plates.
"Oh my God!" Tails cried out when he saw the sheer number of cars pulling into the restaurant's parking lot. Every parking space was filled before two minutes were up, and then people began to pull into the lot across the street, cross the road, and come into this diner instead of the one whose parking lot they were using.
"Are they coming?" Katie called out from the back.
"There's dozens of them!" Tails called back. "How are we gonna handle them all!?"
"One at a time," Graham said calmly, walking up to the front. "Remember that shortcut key I set. Just do the best you can, and no one'll think any less of you." He leaned in close to Tails as people started walking in the door and whispered, "Do it for Amy, okay? She does too much, and she deserves a break."
"Okay," Tails mumbled back. Graham turned back toward the customers.
"Welcome folks," he called out. "Just find yourselves a place to sit down and we'll get to you just as quick as we can!"
Man, I guess they sure do earn their pay, don't they? Tails thought to himself, thinking about what Graham, Katie, Amy, and Lance all went through every week.
"God, my hands hurt!" Tails cried out during the afternoon lunch break. Despite only working the register, he still had a huge amount to do once people started finishing their meals. He thought the computer teacher at school could type fast, but he figured, a few weeks of this and he'd be doing even better. Graham was sitting across from him, popping his wrists, which continued popping an unnatural amount of times.
"Oh, trust me, once you've been on for a while and we get you doing stuff other than the register, you'll REALLY know what Hell Sunday's all about," he said. "I don't mean that to sound intimidating, but I'm sure you noticed those huge trays of food we were carrying back and forth."
"Good news y'all!" Katie's voice called from the kitchen. "We got some soup left over! Actually, I think we might have enough for everyone to have seconds!"
"All RIGHT!" Graham exclaimed.
"YAY!" Lance yelled. Amy didn't call anything out, but the look on her face showed she was just as glad as the others.
"I'm gonna have to try this stuff," Tails said. "You guys make it sound as good as that first breath of air after you've come within a second of drowning."
"Ah man, you have NO idea!" Graham said. "I don't know what it is about that soup, but I swear to God, the first bite you take, you can kiss the bad feelings goodbye, and hope you've got room for the good!" Seconds later, out came Katie with another tray of bowls, these ones all full of hot steamy soup. As soon as she set the tray down in the booth and sat down, everyone grabbed a bowl. Tails looked down into his bowl. Through the steam, he could see that the soup didn't have a lot of broth. It was thick with cooked rice, carrots, celery, and chunks of chicken. He reached for his spoon, plunged it into his bowl, and raised it to his mouth. After blowing on it, he took that first bite. The warm, fuzzy sensation that flooded his body was surpassed only by the flavor of the soup. The combination of that little broth, the rice, vegetables, and chicken was indescribable. A little bite of heaven was the only accurate description. And heaven was sweet. He put down his spoon, picked up that bowl, and drank the whole thing, right there in one breath. When he set it down, with some broth dribbling down his front, he had a warm, contented smile on his face. Lance did the same thing, except he didn't even bother using his spoon for the first bite.
"You were right," Tails said lazily. "I don't think I'll be able to find anything to complain about the rest of the day, except maybe if we run out of soup before I get enough."
"There's more in the kitchen," Katie said. "Go help yourselves." Tails and Lance did just that. By the time they got back, the others had finished their first helpings. Graham and Katie got up to go get more, but Amy stretched and yawned widely.
"I'd better go and finish those tax forms," she said, getting up and heading toward her office. Tails and Lance chugged their bowls of soup right there. Once Graham and Katie got back, Tails pushed his bowl aside and set his hands in his lap.
"I can't believe Amy would prefer to do tax forms than take a break after all those customers came in at one time," he said.
"I think she'd prefer to take a break, but she doesn't," Katie said. "It's like I told you before, she does too much. We all do a lot around here. It's just the five of us. It WAS just the four of us until you came along. We earn our pay around here, that's for sure. Every Sunday, a little while after the break's over, one of us has to go in and wake Amy up and tell her to go home and leave things around here to us. She never does, though. She goes right back to whatever paperwork she was working on, and doesn't leave until she's done with that. In fact, she's the only one who comes in every single day, except for Lance. I think his mama has him come in every day so he has something to do that's worth doing."
"Why doesn't she hire more people if it's so tough?" Tails asked.
"She's hired every applicant so far," Graham said, giving Katie a moment to eat some more. "Me, Katie, Lance, and you. There's just not enough applicants. Did she hire you pretty quickly when she talked to you?"
"Yeah, now that I think about it," Tails said, thinking back to his conversation in Amy's car. "She didn't even ask me for my job permit. I DO have one, in case you're wondering." Graham pointed at a sign taped to the front window. Tails read it backwards. It was a "Help Wanted" sign.
"We've had a help wanted sign up ever since I can remember," Katie said. "We actually change that thing often, because kids like flinging stuff at it. Can't imagine why. Even Lance knows right off the bat what you mean when you say 'change the sign'. I figure, if we get a couple more applicants, one of these days we might actually be able to make up a night shift too. Course, we probably wouldn't be making as much money as people who have a college education anyore, but I hardly know what to do with all mine."
"We make as much money as college graduates?" Tails repeated.
"Yeah," Graham answered. "We make eight credits an hour on normal days, and we make twenty-five per hour on Sundays, to compensate us for the huge workload." Tails's eyes went wide when he heard that. Graham went on, saying, "That was Amy's idea. At first we tried to object, but she insisted, since we all went home pretty much exhausted every Sunday night. But, looking back on it now, I'd say we've kind of changed our perspective on all that. Every week, it seems worse in some way or another."
"Course, now that we got someone on the register the whole day," Katie said, "I know someone around here whose job is just that much easier. I know Amy wants the place to be a success, but there's a fine line between keeping things running smoothly and working yourself sick." At this point, the door opened and in stepped Sonic.
"Hey Sonic, what are you doing here?" Tails asked when he saw who it was. "We're closed right now, if you came to eat."
"Eh, actually I came to see how the new job was going," Sonic said, strolling over. "So, how's it going?"
"Today's just been crazy," Tails said. "The worst of it's over, but we're not closed for the day just yet. See, there's a nice-size church just down the road, and when they let out, EVERYONE comes flocking. At least, it seems like all of them." No one had noticed until now, but Lance had produced a small action figure and was making a visual comparison: the figure was a Sonic figure.
"IT SONIC!" Lance yelled, jumping up. "IT SONIC! AMY! AMY, IT SONIC!" He ran back toward Amy's office, yelling the whole way.
"What is his problem?" Sonic asked, staring.
"He's retarded," Tails said. "I mean that literally. He is actually a mental retard. Just don't say anything offensive to him. He doesn't realize that it's wrong, but he has a tendency to punch people out for it, from what I've heard." About this time, Lance came rushing back out, dragging Amy by one arm: he evidently thought it was imperative that she met Sonic, though he didn't realize she already knew him.
"Hi Sonic," she said, taking her arm back.
"Hi Amy," he replied. "You're looking nice today."
"Thanks," she said. "Wish I felt the same way. It gets CRAZY around here on Sundays."
"I've heard," he replied, motioning to Tails. "I came by to see how his new job was going."
"Is that it?" Amy asked with a mock tone of disappointment sadness.
"Maybe, maybe not," Sonic said with a grin. "Wanna go for a quick walk, since I went so far outta my way to see you guys?"
"Ah, I guess so," Amy said. "I guess I can just finish those stupid tax forms later."
"We'll hold down the fort here," Tails said. "I'm sure things won't get so bad we need you back to be able to keep up." Just as a little precaution, he knocked on the table(Murphy's Lawnullified).
"Alright," Amy said. "I'll be back in a little while. Don't burn the place down on me!" After Amy and Sonic had left, Graham grinned widely.
"I think someone has herself a boyfriend," he said.
"Yeah," Katie said. "She actually pried herself away from those tax forms when he asked. Least she's finally taking a real break from all this."
Alrighty, sorry I took so long with this chapter. It's a little bit longer, and I've been feeling really bad as of late. Well, it'll pass once the winter's over(I'm more of a summer person). Review this bad boy, please.