The Disciple

Chapter Nineteen

Arriving at the nursing home at 11am, I enter the entrance and head straight for the elevator. I press the up button waiting for the elevator to open. I think about the dream hoping to find some answers. As I enter the front lobby of the nursing home, the elevator opens with nothing but an empty area for me to gaze into the ceiling. I enter the elevator and press the first floor. It starts to move and after five seconds the doors open as I step out to clock in. Minutes afterward, I start making my way towards the kitchen. A lot of pots and pans are stacked up on the cart as I roll my eyes.

"Tristan!" Nathan exclaims as he does his usual greeting.

"Hey man." I say.

I walk over to the stove to grab a pair of gloves. Nathan was working his usual position calling out the tickets and placing them on the trays. Putting on the vinyl gloves, I grab the steel wool and start scrubbing off the stains off one of the larger pots. Scrubbing with force I try to figure a way to see if Nathan was the hooded superhero in my dream. Grabbing the steel wool in my hand, I clench it tightly in my right hand ready to throw it. I turn around as Nathan had his back turned towards the sandwiches. Wind up my right hand I throw it straight at Nathan's head without anyone watching what I was doing.

"NATHAN LOOKOUT!" One of our co-worker's yells out.

Nathan had his headphones on so he couldn't hear anyone. The steel wool was going at 10 mph. Nathan starts bobbing his head listening to Drake as always. I hope he doesn't yell at me or anything. I would hate for him to angry. Before the steel wool can nail him on the head, he raises his right hand with his palm facing me as he grips the steel wool without even looking. My eyes enlarge in shock and my jaw drops. Nathan didn't even have to look at what was coming at him. I turn towards the sink finding another steel wool on the rack. Grabbing it, I continue to wash the pots and pans pretending like nothing happened. I continue to do my usual routine; washing trays, making coffee and tea, and cleaning the stove until 3pm. My arms begin to get sore as the heaviness of the kitchen supplies feels like they gain extra pounds.

Lunch time arrives and I see Nathan sitting by himself in the manager's office. I decide to talk to him in and give some company. Grabbing my food I walk into the manager's office. Our manager is never there on the weekends, but for some reason she keeps her door office open. There, I see him saying grace before even touching his food. We then get into a deep conversation about life and what he is about.

"Hey Nathan." I say to him.

"What's up." He replies.

"Not much, but I saw you saying grace before you had your meal. Do you always do that?" I ask.

"Yeah man all the time. It's a good way to talk to God." He answers.

"Oh." I reply.

"Yeah. So Tristan, what do you want to do in life?" He asks me.

"Well, truthfully I want to become a writer. I want to get my ideas out there and hopefully start a franchise like J.K Rowling. I figured if she can do it, so can I. What about you?" I answer back with a question of my own.

"As for me, I want to manage my own business someday."

"Oh that's really cool."

Before I can get another question in, it was time for us to serve. We all take our positions when serving dinner to the patients. Nathan's job usually was serving the food and my job was taking the carts up to their respective floors. The food carts are heavy to move as the trays inside make the carts heavier to push toward the elevator. Not only that, I also have to bring up the coffee. It isn't really that bad though. The good thing about it is that I get to exercise, considering how cold it is outside now. Serving the food takes us about an hour to do and afterwards, I get my second wave of pots and pans. The second wave is a usually not a lot, so it's easier for me to clean. The second batch usually consists of trays and the small buffet containers. As I'm doing all this Nathan wraps the utensils in a neatly fashion. He puts on his left earpiece of his headphones and starts jamming out to Drake again. Turning towards him, we continue our conversation where we left off.