"Ginger Snap"
All was peaceful on a Monday afternoon. Charles saw Hillary that day before one. She had on something casual, an unusual look for her. Her top was a blue striped tee with a gold chain belt. She had hug tight jeans with an anchor at the back pocket. And she had red sneakers.
"Well, Hillary, is it casual day at your office?"
"If you are referring to my unusual dress, then I will say no. I have a day off. My district attorney decided I am working way too much on my case. So...here I am. Now about the order of chicken and fries?"
"Right, Fox." Charles gave her the bag filled with a chicken basket. "Here we are; one large chicken basket with eight tenders, golden curly fries, sourdough rolls, coleslaw, applesauce and two bowls of macaroni and cheese."
"Thank you so much." Hillary's face glowed when she took the bag. Her mouth started to drool. "My colleague will love this so much!"
"You're all chipper, aren't you!" Emma walked over and put coconut shavings in the ice cream mixer. She was so glad Hillary had a smile on her face. "That's really great you're doing this for your colleague. Who is this person?"
"Stone." Hillary began. "Be...la! Bella Stone! She raves about your food so much! But of course, I ignored her comments. Grease is never good for the body; I keep telling her. Arteries cloggers and all."
"That's transcended fats, dear. Our oils are pure canola, made from grape seeds."
"Grapes?" Hillary asked, blinking a few times. Her cogs are turning again and her face lightened up again. "Grapes! Yes, it makes much more sense! Thank you once again!" She ran from the diner with the bag in her hand. The owners looked at once another, stunned.
"Blimey!" Charles proclaimed adjusting his hat. "That's odd! We might have another customer!"
"Maybe more if Hillary tried it herself!" Emma closed the mixer. "I wonder what got into her?"
Tony opened the kitchen door. "Hey, Mr. Mersfield, did a customer came by to collect her order?"
"Yep, paid in advance and all, Son! Speaking of son, where is Nathaniel? It's almost one ten. It's unusual for him to come less than a half hour before his shift."
"Right!" Emma answered, turning on the ice cream mixer. "He's over at the pastor's place! He's in counseling about what he heard the other night."
"Oh right..." Charles sighed as the door opened again. Wilbur entered Mavis, along with three other people. "Oy Wilbur! You have a full house of queens and jacks, ey?"
"You card!" Wilbur laughed as he showed his females guest an empty booth. Mavis waved to Charles. "Hello, Charles! My friends from England came by to visit us on behalf of Wilbur's mum. She's too frail to travel, Major Burns said."
"Major Burns?"
"That would be me, Sir." The gentleman with receding hair approached the co-owner. "I'm Major Jeremy Burns. I was Wilbur's co-worker at Kite Brothers."
"Oh yeah?" Charles went over and shook the major's hand. "It's an honor to see you and Mrs. Crane and Miss Francis. Wilbur and Mavis told us about you guys."
Emma walked over to the counter after putting the order on the kitchen window. "Charles, are they who I think they are?" She grinned over the older man as Charles laughed. "Yes, love! These are Wilbur and Mavis's old colleagues!"
Emma squealed and hugged the Major, embarrassing the soldier. Mrs. Crane walked over to her colleague. "Is there anything you want to say, Major burns?"
"Mrs. Mersfield, I presume?"
"Yes! That's right!" Emma let him go and went over to Mrs. Crane. "Oh, you must be Mrs. Cherrie Crane. Wilbur told me about you in length. I thought you with different colors of hair is so wild!"
"He told you that?" Mrs. Crane looked at Wilbur. "What a sweet man! I should introduce to you my favorite wigs. By the way, Mrs. Mersfield, how do you feel about pussies?"
The question made Emma uncomfortable. "Uh..."
Charles barged right in. "Hey, she doesn't mind pussies. Just as long as they are safe from harm, she's okay with them." He then gave his wife a wink. The wife blushed as Mrs. Crane opened her big leather pouch. Inside was her Black Persian. "I'm so glad you feel benevolent about them. I so want my pussy to be comfortable with the new environment. This is my cat, Bibi."
Emma's eyes beamed up. "Aww!" She cooed. "You have a cat! She looks so precious! Yes she is!"
"I would suggest you don't pet her yet." Cherrie informed her. "She needs to get used to you first."
"That is a proper protocol for pets these days." Major Burns yawned. "Well, Wilbur, shall we move to our booth?"
"Of course!" Wilbur replied with excitement. He walked with his shoes clacking on the floor. "You must tell us happened after Mavis and I left the store!"
Mavis and Miss Shirley Francis exchanged their own gossip as the others joined them. The latter heard Wilbur's latest command and shrugged. "There really isn't much to tell really. Mr. Kite was on holiday last year and he died right in the middle of the ocean."
"Oh dear!" Mavis cried. "Did he have a stroke or a heart attack?"
"In a way...his secretary's bikini top popped out and gave him a send-off."
Mavis's brown eyes blew up in surprise. "Wow! Well...at least he died what he loved best! Nuzzling between his favorite secretary's boobs on a tropical island! How is Miss Bakewell by the way?"
The three friends went silent. Bibi mewed in Cherrie's handbag. "Oh, Bibi, you'll have your din-din soon." She turned back to Mavis. "Well, after Mr. Kite's passing, she went on to become one of London's fashion designers. Oh, and Mr. Randell, do you remember him?"
"Yes, that loudmouth smart pervert that hit on Ms. Francis all time, right? How is Mr. Randell?" Mavis asked Cherrie.
"He resigned of being a senior's assistant. He couldn't stand another death of another senior."
"Another?" Wilbur asked. His eyelids fluttered. "Girls, how many seniors come and go after I was gone?"
"Five." Jeremy answered quickly. "Yes, it felt like our manager hired the men that are too old to work. There was one senior that only lasted a month."
Shirley nodded as Katie brought them tea. "Here we are, Wilbur. Five Earl Gray tea. Are you guys ready to order?"
"What is today's special, Katie?" Wilbur asked. Katie emptied her pants pocket and checked her note pad. "Today's special is Minestrone with butter rolls, followed by Turkey club sandwiches on sourdough with two sides."
"Oh good, we'll all have the special with chips and diced melons. Plus, would give the turkey bits to Mrs. Crane's pussy?"
That made Katie baffled. "Ah...okay?" She turned around and made her way to the kitchen window. Wilbur sighed and stirred his tea. "Yes, it seems our times at the store is now closed. But our window of opportunity is now open. May we toast to a new beginning?"
The five former shop clerks raised their cups to a new beginning. Once the clinked they talked about the good times they had during their years together. Wow, I have heard some of their stories from time to time during my stay in summer. It's was a hoot! Funny and random adventures came their way. And they had opportunity after opportunity to improve their store's sales.
Jeremy laughed hard at their last adventure and sighed over his half drunken teacup. "Yes, Wilbur, it's not the same after you and Mavis left. I guess without you two, things were dull."
"Yeah, but I'm glad you two made it on your own in America." Shirley added. She put her hands on both the couple's hands. "It would be nice to work again like old times."
Mavis looked at Shirley with an idea. "Hey! Wait a minute! I think we can give you jobs here!"
"There are jobs positions in this camp?" Jeremy asked. Wilbur nodded. "Most certainly, Major Burns! It so happens that the manager of this camp needs a few hands for his camp."
"How many workers are they?" Shirley asked. Mavis shook her head. "Billy, the manager and councilor of Camp Hattawata, is the only member in his fleet. He does so much work on his own. He needs help so bad."
The three colleagues gave some thought. Jeremy scratched his chin. "Well, Mavis, Wilbur, we might need to ask the American Immigration site to apply for working visas first. But what the hell? We are out of work for three months. We are thankful for Mr. Kite's generosity for giving us enough to come here."
Mavis jumped and hugged her friends. "Oh, thank you, guys! You won't regret this!"
After their brief lunch, the gang walked over to the Billy's lobby trailer and gave him the news. Billy understand it at first, but he had an excuse. Daniel was doing his exercises and his butt distracted him. Jeremy brought him back to focus and discussed about their dilemmas. Billy took it well and understood their situation.
"Yes, you're right! I could use a few good hands! Doing a lot of things for myself isn't very easy for me now that the camp is increasing. Sure, I have residents that stay, but it's their homes. The tourist cabins are more important. We have about..." He counted the cabins in his head. "Over eighty of them. Can you imagine my cleaning all eighty camping cabins every single day??"
"You really never have time to even do some activities." Wilbur reminded him. "I can't give myself that amount of energy to clean. I do wish to help you out with activities."
"Yeah! I do need some help with them! In fact, I have an upcoming gift exchange coming up. I'm calling this 'Summer Solstice Holidays'!"
"You mean like we can dress up like Santa's helpers!" Shirley jumped happily. "I love giving people presents! What sort of presents, Mr. Liberstat?"
Billy looked around with an awkward face. "Actually...I haven't gotten around what people wanted. I'm so busy with work, I didn't have the chance to make a list."
Jeremy nodded with understanding. "Yes, you're a hard-working person. You have too much work with little time for yourself. That is why we are here. We want to apply for camp employees."
Billy blinked and his mind was on the blank for a minute. "You mean...I finally have my own staff?"
"If you want us of course!"
Billy clapped his hands! "Goodie! You have no idea how happy you made me!"
Shirley shrugged as she took a good glimpse at Daniel when he stretched. "Somehow, working here will make me very happy."
She giggled with her best pal when a car drove way passed the check-in cabin. She stopped giggling and turned baffled. "Oi! That car didn't check-in!"