CHAPTER 5: IL CANTO DI MALAVITA PIÙ
(More songs of the bad life)
Today at basketball practice Coach Fletcher spent most of his time going over what to expect from Saint Mathew's, the school they were playing tomorrow night. During the regular season the team usually played two basketball games a week, one on Wednesday or Thursday nights and one on Saturday afternoons. Practice let out at the usual time of four in the afternoon and Colin got home around four-thirty. When he arrived at the apartment he was by himself once more, his mother still being at work.
Today would be Colin's first day back to work at his uncle's restaurant. Colin had started out there as a dishwasher and busboy, and eventually moved up to prep cook. When he turned eighteen, Patrick had allowed Colin to become a server. He enjoyed cooking in the kitchen, but if you were a good enough at it, you could make more money waiting tables by earning good tips plus a regular salary. Colin was good with people, he was always polite and did his best to make their dining experience pleasant, and as a result, most of the time he received generous tips from the people he waited on.
Colin was scheduled to work from five to nine today. Inwardly he groaned at that. Today was going to be an even longer day away from his beautiful mother than yesterday had been. But Colin knew that having a job was important and that however long he was apart from his love, they would make up for it at night. He had been spoiled by all the time he got to spend alone with Aileen over the holidays. Colin knew he had to get himself into the mindset that he couldn't be with her all the time. The only thought that really helped him manage to bear this separation was that no matter what, he would be coming home to her every night.
Colin changed into his uniform of black shoes, black slacks, and a green polo shirt with the "Reilly's Pub and Grill" logo printed on the left breast. Colin put his coat back on and headed off to work.
The pub was pretty much in walking distance from the apartments, if you considered twenty blocks as being in walking distance, which Colin did. He had to hustle though to get there by five. He could have taken the bus if he wanted to but Colin preferred to walk, it was probably faster anyway. He wouldn't have to deal with standing around waiting at the bus stop for a bus that usually ran late and would be making stops at every block to let people on and off.
Colin was glad Uncle Pat had given him his job back. However, he was concerned about how to treat his uncle on the subject of Seth, whether he should tell his uncle what he knew or not. Colin had been thinking about this all day and he decided that he should tell his mother about it first. This was a family matter and the entire family needed to deal with this together but Aileen was his partner in life and she deserved to be the first person he told. She was his greatest ally as well and he felt that as long as the two of them were together they could accomplish anything. Thinking of his mother made Colin's heart long for her so much it was almost unbearable, so he did what he had to do regularly over the last two days, force the burning desire he held for her into a slow boil to be heated up to full blast when he saw her again.
Colin arrived at work a few minutes early. He went to the back of the pub to hang up his coat and punch in on his time card then went to over to where the linens were stored to grab a black apron that he would wear around his waist. The apron had pockets for him to store pads, pens and his guest checks within. He went over to the bar to sign in and be given the guest checks he would be using that night.
As Colin approached, he saw his uncle coming out of the small office he had on the other side of the long bar.
Patrick took one look at Colin and said, "Jesus Colin! What the hell happened to your face?"
"It got bruised by a certain cousin of mine during basketball practice yesterday," Colin said blandly.
"Ah, I see," Patrick said. Then, "I'm sorry lad, but I can't have you working the floor looking like that."
"What?" Colin said looking at his uncle to see if he was kidding. He looked serious.
"I can't have you waiting on customers with that big splotch on your face," Patrick said.
"It will be gone in a few days, a week at the most," Colin said.
"Then in a week you can start waiting on tables again."
"C'mon Uncle Pat, please, it's not that bad," Colin pleaded.
"I'm sorry Colin, but I can't," Patrick said.
Colin looked at his uncle in dismay. He couldn't believe this, Seth got him again! It was Seth's fault his face looked this way. Colin knew it hadn't been an accident and now he wasn't entirely sure Seth hadn't planned for this to happen as well. Always thinking ten moves in advance...
Patrick ran his hand through his graying hair and said, "Look, we're a bit short in the kitchen this week, so if you want to, you can work back there in prep at kitchen wages."
Colin figured that was better than nothing, he still enjoyed working in the kitchen; he could just make more as a waiter. "I'll take it. Thanks Uncle Pat," Colin said.
"You're welcome Colin. You are my favorite nephew after all," Patrick said with a smile.
I wonder if I'll still be your favorite nephew once I tell you your son is a criminal. Even though I'm your only nephew you may wish you had no nephews after that.
Colin thought as he went back to the linens to trade in his black apron for a white one.
* * *
It was slow at the pub for most of the evening so there really wasn't much to do. Colin had sliced all the vegetables he thought they would need that night and was taking his time dipping boneless chicken breasts in batter and flour so they would be ready to fry up whenever someone ordered a dish or sandwich that called for crispy chicken.
The head cook and general manager of the kitchen was a guy named Pete. Pete was relatively new, the old kitchen manager, Joey, had found a job somewhere else and given his notice. Pete was kind of a nervous guy and the type that was always looking over your shoulder to see if you were doing things the right way. Colin had worked in this kitchen for four years, he knew the place better than anyone else and it was a little annoying having Pete tell him every little thing he had to do.
As is wont to happen on weekday nights, the dinner rush came in all at once so the kitchen staff went from having nothing to do to having to do everything at once. Ten orders came in at the same time and people were moving at a hectic pace to put the orders together. Then another five orders came in for carry out which was a hassle in itself because you just couldn't make the damn food and put it on a plate you had to go get containers and pack them up nice and neat.
Pete went into frantic mode screaming at everybody to pick up the pace. He had people busting their asses back and forth all over the kitchen, Colin swore he saw one young kid just spinning around in a circle for a couple minutes Pete had him so addled. Luckily Colin was used to rushes like these and he worked at a fast but steady pace getting done what he felt needed to be done in the order it needed to be done and ignoring most of Pete's inconsistent commands.
The waiters kept coming into the kitchen complaining about the food taking too long to be ready. Colin could sympathize with them, the longer it took for a customer's food to be ready the less satisfied the customer became, and unsatisfied customers didn't leave good tips. But even Colin had to admit he felt the servers were being too obtrusive and was beginning to get aggravated by their constant pressuring, it wasn't like they were purposely being slow, when you have fifteen different things to make at once things get confusing. Colin swore to himself that when he got back out on the floor as a server he wouldn't be this pushy with the kitchen staff.
Pete finally got fed up and started yelling at the servers to get out of the kitchen, he'd ring the bell whenever an order was up. He was so nasty he put Becky, a nineteen year old waitress, in tears. She ran out of the kitchen and since another server came when her orders were up, Colin assumed she had left the pub entirely. Oh well, that was Uncle Pat's problem to deal with.
Once things got calmed down enough for the food to start coming out at decent time intervals, that's when the dirty dishes came back to the kitchen to pile up in the dishwasher section. Plates, glasses, silverware, there was a ton of the stuff and only one person to wash and restock dishes. So now clean dishes to put the food on were running low so Colin had to pitch in and help washing the dishes, now he was back to the job he did when he was fourteen!
Colin was bringing a rack of clean glasses out to the bar when he noticed that his mother was there talking with Uncle Pat. Colin felt a charge go through him at the sight of her; she just had such a powerful effect on him. When Aileen saw him she waved him over. Colin approached her and he heard Uncle Pat saying, "...well you know how boys can be when they get competitive, accidents are bound to happen."
"Hi honey!" Aileen said giving him a big hug. Colin hugged her back in return indulging in the feel of her body against his. He wanted to do more than just hug her, he wanted to kiss her rosebud lips passionately, he wanted to run his fingers through her ruby red hair, but being out in public he had to be content with just the hug for now.
"What are you doing here?" Colin asked as his uncle walked off to see to one of his customers.
"I just needed to be near you," Aileen said. "I was alone in the apartment and missing you so much it was driving me crazy!"
"I missed you too Mom," Colin said. Fortunately it wasn't that unusual for Aileen to stop by the pub while Colin was at work.
"I'm sorry your uncle couldn't let you work on the floor," Aileen said with a genuine look off sympathy on her face. She ran her hand lightly over the bruised portion of his face. "How's it feel?" she asked with concern.
"Fine Mom, honestly it doesn't hurt at all," Colin said.
"There's something bothering you though, I can see it in your eyes," Aileen said.
"There are some things I need to discuss with you, but I can't do that here," Colin said gravely.
