“Oh, this is heaven.”
Dimitri slapped Dane on the back hard enough to nearly send him sprawling. Dane grabbed on to Ru for support.“Only a natural-born chef would recognize the quality here. Go get cleaned up, aprons for both of you. We’re prepping the dough first.”
“Does that mean we get pizza for lunch?” Ru asked.
“I think we can manage that.” Dimitri winked. Ru showed Dane to the sink where they both washed their hands and found clean aprons. Dane was more than a little nervous but excited too. He knew very little about pizza, other than what it looked like. Bas loved pizza, and even Adam had rhapsodized over the greatness of the Dimitri pies.
“Why is it called a pie?” Dane wondered out loud. “It doesn’t really look like a pie.”
“That’s because of all the ingredients you can put in, it’s much like a pie. Ever changing. And the best sort of pizza is one you need a fork to eat. You can actually make a pizza like a pie, crust on the bottom, fill with toppings, and cover with crust. But that? We’ll work on that one another day. Today we start simple.” Dimitri set all the ingredients on the longest counter. “This is our dough station.” He threw an entire bag of flour on the counter and spread it around in three sections. “Pick a spot, and it’s now your station.”
“How come no one else is here?” Dane asked as he took the spot beside Ru, who was already playing in the flour.
“We don’t open ’til eleven. The regular chefs and waiters arrive around ten to prep for the day.” He arranged each of their heaping flour stations into a bowl shape. “It’s very important to follow the directions here, or your dough won’t rise. So listen carefully.”
“Don’t we need a bowl?” Dane looked around, but Dimitri and Ru were both shaking their heads. “No?”
“We’re doing it fresh right here on the board. Be ready to get messy,” Ru told him.
During the next hour Dane spent more time squishing dough between his fingers and laughing than talking or thinking. Dimitri was hilarious. All three of them were covered in flour, since Dimitri was prone to randomly throwing it on them in huge handfuls, but no one seemed to care. They each had several perfect white balls rising under cloths.
“What’s the secret to a perfect crust?”
“Never frozen!” Dane and Ru shouted at the same time.
“Good. Go clean up, and we’re going to make the sauce.”
“This is more work than I thought it would be,” Ru told Dane as they made their way back to the sink. “But I think I got the hang of it. I wonder if he’ll show us how to twirl it. I’ve watched him do it a million times, but never gotten in there like today. I want to spin pizza on my fingertips.”
Dane stared at his friend with wide eyes. “Like in the movies? Where they stretch it out in the air? That would be so cool.”
Ru laughed. “I’m glad you’re so into this. Let’s work hard and make great pizza, okay? We’re going to bring the boys lunch at school.”
“Really? Bas and Adam?”
“Yep. It’s sort of become a midweek tradition. I show up with a pizza, and we picnic, either outside, or in the rotunda of the college if it’s too cold. Bas almost always comes unless he’s tutoring someone through his lunch.”
“Do you know what Bas’s favorite pizza is? Maybe I can make that for him.” They made their way to the sauce station, which was six industrial-size range tops with giant pots of boiling water. A bowl of ice water and an empty sauce pot sat beside a large sink with a garbage disposal.
“Tomato and pineapple. Sometimes he’ll do peppers, but that’s really a me and Adam thing.”
Dane could do tomato and pineapple. He didn’t think he could touch meat, even for Bas. Dimitri carried a box of fresh tomatoes to them from the storeroom.
“Ever flash peeled a tomato?”
“Flash peel…?” Ru looked at Dane, but Dane shrugged. He didn’t know either.
“It’s a neat trick. Watch.” Dimitri dropped a handful of tomatoes in each boiling pot. A minute or so later, he grabbed a tomato out with tongs and plopped it into the cold water. Then he reached in, swirled the tomato for a moment, and pulled it out. With two gentle pulls, the skin peeled right off the tomato. Dimitri cut off the stem and added the finished tomato to the sauce pot.
“Okay that was really cool,” Ru said. He fished a red fruit out of the boiling water to add it to the ice water. Dane took another pair of offered tongs and got to work. Dimitri filled the pots, Ru and Dane emptied them until the sauce pot was full. Then they were off to blend, add spices, and cook to a rolling boil. Staff began to arrive and went right to work, chattering among themselves and throwing together dough balls at a speed which Dane could only envy.
“I think I’m going to like pizza,” Dane mumbled as they got to work stretching their dough. Dimitri did a few twirls in the air, but neither Dane nor Ru was willing to chance losing their pizza in a heap on the floor.
* * *
Bas had been told to go to the office by a security guard who was now occupying space in the main entry. He sighed and headed for O’Brien’s office. He didn’t have a chance to greet Mrs. Willcox before O’Brien poked his head out of his office and commanded Bas to come in.
This couldn’t be good. Bas sat down in the chair opposite O’Brien’s desk as the principal closed the door.
