Eating Heaven by Simon Carey Holt

Author:Simon Carey Holt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Acorn Press Ltd.
Published: 2013-06-17T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

The Work Table

Eating, Cooking and Vocation

It’s midnight. Changed out of his whites into jeans and a pullover, James stands at the doorway of the kitchen leading out into the deserted restaurant courtyard. Behind him, the familiar sound of empty bottles being tipped into a recycling bin, and in front, the residue of another busy night all but cleaned away. It’s been good for a Tuesday. About one hundred and twenty covers in all; not bad for a place that seats just sixty. Given the business is only seven months old, things are going well. The kitchen has found its pace and is humming along nicely. Even the service staff are settling down after some early tensions. Two good reviews in the city’s newspapers have made a huge difference.

James pulls on his coat and heads out the front door. He stops on the footpath to chat briefly with Georgie, one of the service staff sitting alone in the cold with her cigarette. Normally the conversation would linger flirtatiously, but not tonight. After a few moments James says goodbye and heads off into the darkness of another bleak winter night. Usually he walks home, about twenty-five minutes from door to door. Tonight he’s tired and hails a passing taxi.

Just ten minutes later James is at the door of a small worker’s cottage in the inner-city suburb of Collingwood, a place he shares with his brother. He fumbles with his keys then closes the door behind him. After a shower and an almost liturgical flick through the television channels, James falls asleep on the couch, his mind and body weary from a fifteen-hour day. It’s not easy work, but it’s all he’s known since leaving school twelve years ago. On deck six nights a week and lunches for four of those days, James’ working hours are long. Time for relationships outside of the restaurant is almost non-existent. Still, he loves what he does and has never imagined it any other way.

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