The Proposal by K.A. Applegate

Author:K.A. Applegate
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2017-11-23T05:00:00+00:00

I was not the ideal choice for the task, what with my recent morphing problem. But only Cassie, Ax, and I had the morph needed, and Ax couldn’t be trusted in a kitchen in human morph. Far too much tempting salt and grease. And we needed Cassie with Jake and Rachel. So I got the job.

While the rest of the group stayed hidden under a large, unidentified appliance, I scurried to the employee locker room that adjoined the kitchen.

And how did I find the employee locker room, you ask? Smell, of course. There are no aromas quite so distinctive as human sweat and urine.

I found an empty toilet stall and demorphed.

“Another superhero adventure,” I muttered to myself. “Does Batman go from bathroom to bathroom? No. Does the Silver Surfer surf the toilet stalls? No, he does not.”

The locker room was empty. I dug through the lockers until I found a shirt and a pair of pants that didn’t dwarf me. A bow tie that hooked together.

“Does Daredevil wear other people’s dirty clothes? No. Spawn, maybe. Next time there’s a superhero sign-up sheet I —”

I fell silent. A youngish man stepped into the room, ignored me completely, and quickly lit up a cigarette. I stepped past him, eyes down.

Noise. Lots of noise. Yelling, banging pots, roaring automatic dishwashers, knives chop-chop-chopping.

The kitchen was a swirling mass of activity. Half of the gymnasium-sized area consisted of several huge stoves, ovens, and slicing tables. Dozens of cooks were trimming steaks, slicing onions, mixing sauces.

Along one of the walls was the dishwashing area. On each side of it was a set of swinging double doors. These led to the banquet room.

The wall that separated the locker rooms from the kitchen was lined with several computer registers, an industrial-size coffeemaker, an espresso machine, and several large refrigerators. Jake and the others were most likely underneath one of the refrigerators.

Separating the cooks’ area from the rest of the kitchen was a long row of stainless-steel shelves, stacked with plates. A bunch of guys were standing behind these shelves, mixing lettuce in huge bowls.

Waiters and waitresses scurried around. Stopped at the computers to punch in orders. Carried trays of drinks through the swinging doors, out to the banquet room.

Nobody noticed when I dropped to my knees in front of the refrigerator closest to the door.

“Guys?” I whispered.

<Marco? Is that you?> Jake said.

“It ain’t Spider-Man.” I laid my hand out on the floor. Five tiny cockroaches tickled their way onto my fingers, up my hand, and underneath my shirtsleeve.

I knew they weren’t actual roaches. I knew they were my friends. I knew I’d been a cockroach myself. Didn’t matter. They still gave me the creeps.

<Did you find the salads?> Jake asked.

“Uh-huh. I’m about to have a special one set aside for Tennant.” I approached the salad station.

“Hey, dude, are you the salad guy?”

“The what?” he replied.

“The salad guy,” I said. “The guy who makes salads?”

“You mean the garde-manger?” he hissed.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I meant,” I said. “Look, William Roger Tennant said he doesn’t like tomatoes on his salad.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.