Café Q

Chapter Nineteen

Pike was already back from the talk with Mrs. Cheryl. His face was wretched, I wanted to asked what happened but that could make things worse. "Table Five's buzzard stop working and they need your assistance" Winnie said, she was holding a tray of soup, rice, and vegetables that we serve as appetizers. "Sorry, I'll get on it" I say to Winnie before heading to the table. It was a family that was having breakfast.

"How can I help you?" I asked them. The mother spoke up as she showed me her fried rice with scrambled eggs. "My eggs are bland and I don't think the friend rice is cooked thoroughly" she said to me. I could see that the food looked different from what we used to serve a few months ago. "I'm sorry, I'll get the chef to remake this" I apologized. She thanked me as I took the food from the table and went back to the kitchen.

Nobuo noticed that I was hold a plate full of food and looked concern. "What's wrong?" He asked me. "A customer didn't like their food" I explained to him before going to the kitchen. Caspian was back and looked just as gloomy as Pike. "Caspian the eggs are bland and they didn't like how you cooked the fried rice, you need to remake it" I said to him as I dumped the food in the trash. I placed the empty plate in the sink before leaving the kitchen.

"That's the first time I saw someone brought back their food" Nobuo said, it made me even more concerned. "It's been happening a lot now" Winnie said as she dumped her empty plates and utensils in the sink. "I don't know why, I'm not in the kitchen a lot" Nobuo said. Thinking about it now, I have been sending food back a lot and I have to tell customers that we don't have certain things. "How many food is Mrs. Cheryl getting?" I asked them. Both of them shrugged, it was probably best if I ask someone that's in the kitchen or Mrs. Cheryl.

A customer buzzed for one of us so Winnie volunteered to take care of that.  "I can ask Toru but he's probably as clueless as us" Nobuo said.
"It's worth a shot" I told him. Another customer buzzed for a server so I had to leave. Before I could go see them, I was stopped by Ray. "We are having a meeting after Café Q closes for the day" Ray told me before leaving to find the next worker. Meetings are rare here so this must be important.

The rest of the day went by as it usually did. Rhett locked up the front and the rest of us went to our locker rooms to get changed. "Toru, your body is meant to have abs" Nobuo said, staring at Toru's stomach. He looked away embarrassed by what Nobuo said. "I'm not really planning on any abs" Toru said as he put his shirt on. He rolled his eyes as Nobuo started to make a pouty face. "Let's hurry up and see what this meeting is about" Clifton said as he walked out of the locker room. I followed behind him.

Everyone was sitting in the employee lounge, waiting to hear what Mrs. Cheryl had to say. Pike and Caspian knew what the announcement was but stayed anyways. Mrs. Cheryl walked in the room, her face was expressionless. She stood at one side of the table looking at each of us. Her expression started to change to a disheartening look.

With a long sigh she started, "I've been holding back for a month now but my sister has a kidney disease and needs treatment immediately. Unfortunately, we don't have enough money for her dialysis." She paused for a second to take a break.

"An...And so I made a terrible mistake by taking money from the café. The money that was used to buy quality food and for new supplies was taken away from you. I'm deeply sorry, I regret doing this to the team" Mrs. Cheryl continued but stopped to try and calm herself down.
"It was for a good cause, we won't hold that against you" Jemmie spoke up.
"We can always pitch in with our paychecks" Ember added. Mrs. Cheryl shook her head, still saddened by the news to come.

"I knew all of you would be generous to help so it's going to hurt me to break the news. With the quality of our stuff going down and horrible ratings, there is no way I can make up the money to restore the café. There is no other choice but for me to close it. Next Saturday, eight days from now, Café Q is officially closed." Mrs. Cheryl finished, looking at us but avoiding eye contact with some of us.
"But, you worked so hard for this, it was going to be your new life" Winnie said.
"I know but all good things come to an end"
"There has to be another way, it can't end like this" Nobuo spoke.
"You can't do that, and throw away all of your work!" Jemmie stood up.
"We can't go on like this" Mrs. Cheryl told Jemmie.
"We can change it!"
"All of our future is at stake with keeping this open"
"Nobody cares! We would risk it all"
"I can't let you all be tortured"
"We don't mind as long as it's for you" Jemmie said.
"That's enough" Mrs. Cheryl sighed.
"I don't want to end here" Jemmie's tone was getting more stern and I could tell the Mrs. Cheryl wanted to end it now.
"I said enough go home! Everyone! Rhett there is red paint in my office, you can use the window" Mrs. Cheryl was trying to hold back from yelling but she felt too in pain to control it. Everyone grabbed their stuff, it was hard to look at everyone knowing that café Q was going to be gone forever.

I chose to stay behind and wait for Rhett with Winnie. She looked upset as she sat on the ground to watch Rhett paint on the window. "I can't believe all our effort and work for this is going to be thrown away" Winnie said, it was heartbreaking to watch her hold back her sadness. I could tell she wanted to cry but she stayed relax. "I don't want to lose this place, even when I'm going to leave in three weeks. I still want to come revisit this place after college" I said, still counting down the days before I leave. "I either have to find another job or I'll have to move back to France" Rhett spoke as he continued to paint the window.
"Rhett... I don't want you to leave," Winnie looked up at him.

"He doesn't have to leave" I turned my head to the direction of the voice. Caspian, Pike, and, Toru were standing on the other side of the café. "What do you mean?" I asked them, not understanding what they are going to do.
"Pike found out that Mrs. Cheryl didn't sell the building back. Toru also found out the prices to replenish the foods and fix our stuff" Caspian explained to us. "So if we get the money at a certain time, there is a chance that we could save Café Q?" Rhett questioned, to make sure he was following along correctly. Caspian nod in response and gave a slight smirk.

"We can't let Mrs. Cheryl know, or else she will shut us down" Pike said.
"So how do get the money?" Winnie asked them.
"We need full cooperation with the dining room staff to pass along that our customers could help us" Caspian said.
"We can't take money away from them" Winnie said.
"I know you wouldn't like taking extra money from people but I also know how much you all love the café. So you can tell the customers that all tips would be used to save Café Q" Caspian explained.
"That would work for me" Winnie said, agreeing to the terms.
"I'll also join in" I told them.
"Rhett, can you pass the news along to Clifton?" Caspian asked.
"Yeah" Rhett said as he dropped his paint brush in the empty paint bucket. He took a step from the window to see his work. 'Closing 7/21/18' it was in red, dripping paint, it would definitely catch the eyes of our regular customers. "Pass the message along, but remember to not make it too public" Toru said as he turned around to go back to his car. Pike and Caspian followed behind him.

Rhett threw the empty paint in the trash can before wiping his hands on a rug that he brought with him. He left the rug on the ledge not really caring what happens to it. "Do you wanna go to Clifton's house tonight?" Rhett asked Winnie. She stood up and nod, she turned towards me and said, "we'll see you tomorrow."

I smiled at her before saying, "goodnight." Winnie gave me a wave before grabbing Rhett's hand. I couldn't help but smile at her as she bounced around chatting it up with Rhett. Tomorrow is the start of the plan, hopefully we could get this to work. This café was home to most of us and it's heartbreaking to leave it behind. I hope our efforts will be enough to save Café Q.