dishes he needed to use had to be washed first, and there was a big pile of tickets that had already
been waiting for over thirty minutes.
Once he got everything cleaned, he was ready to begin.
Snod sliced potatoes to make fresh fries, dropping them down into the fryer while he seasoned the
meat. Onto the grill the patties went, sizzling loudly. He moved quickly, noting that most patrons had
ordered cheeseburgers.
A few had requested chicken tenders, and while he hated to serve the frozen abominations, he had no
other choice. He seasoned them with sweet peppers and made a spicy mayonnaise dipping sauce to
make them more palatable, starting to quickly plate.
The orders were coming faster now, and Snod was worried that he might run out of ingredients. He
didn’t understand why there were so many orders now. It finally began to slow down after a few
hours, and he was very grateful when the evening was over.
“Last ticket!” Mandy called out, bringing the order to him. “I told everyone the kitchen is closing—”
“Thank you,” Snod sighed in relief, quickly making up one final plate of chicken tenders for the ticket.
“Hey!” Mandy grinned wide. “I don’t know if you’ve heard yet. Everyone is going nuts for your food.
They can’t stop talking about it. They fuckin’ love it, Snod. You Amish guys can really cook, huh?”
“They’re all asking if this is gonna be the new menu!” Athaliah squealed excitedly as he came
bouncing into the kitchen to join them. “See! I told you that you’re a great cook!”
Snod allowed himself a little flush of pride, shrugging as he replied, “Thank you. It was nothing,
really. I have some talent, yes, but—”
“But nothing!” Mandy laughed. “That sauce you made for the chicken? I saw people licking their
plates. Come on. It’s amazing.” She smirked at Athaliah, glancing back at Snod as she said, “I think
we gotta tell Rees we got ourselves a new cook.”
“And why is that?” Rees’ grumpy voice rumbled, strutting back to find where all of his staff was
hiding. “What the fuck happened in here? What’s that smell?”
“I cooked,” Snod replied, turning around to tend to the last few burgers he had going on the grill.
“How’s Dwayne?” Mandy asked immediately.
“He’s okay,” Rees sighed, pausing to cough into his handkerchief. “They’re keeping him overnight to
monitor him. I’ll pick him tomorrow whenever he gets released.” He eyed the food Snod was
preparing, asking, “Those aren’t our burgers. Where’d you get that stuff?”
