A Part of the Saga of Gertrude and Sally

"The Kalamazoo Burger Shack on a weekday afternoon can be pretty crowded", Sally thought. "Wish people wouldn't treat the place differently than they do their own dining area at home", she silently mused. Six tables in this section to clean up. "There, that's looking better", Sally thinks as she wipes up the mess on one of the tables. Soon, all are done.

"I wish the customers would be neater and not drop food all over the place and put their used cups and burger containers in the trash bins. They wouldn't behave like this at home. I suppose, it could be worse; parents get tired of watching their children, and get caught up in conversations, then, miss some of the messes the children make.", runs Sally's silent speech.

Some of the parents are more observant than others, she notices. "I guess maybe we provide a little vacation from constantly picking up after small children. I like that family over there, they're instructing their children to put their empty containers in the bins and the older one picked up the french fries the baby dropped on the floor", she thinks.

Pretty soon, the floor is swept and Sally inwardly beams at seeing the results of her work. "This has been some winter. So much snow. The roads weren't good for travel and this area is so hilly. It's awful for driving. We'd have days with very few customers. I think people come out just to get a change of scenery", Sally thinks to herself.

Sally continues her silent conversation, "I'm glad Gertrude is here today. She's been encouraging me to go to night school. I can with the hours I work here. She's studying secretarial skills. Her English is better than mine. I can understand it but am not fluent. She told me I'd do all right anyway, the teacher speaks French and will help me."

Then, Sally silently realizes, "I'd better start packaging the burgers. Gertrude's mother invited me to join them for dinner tonight. I'm looking forward to it. Gertrude is going to show me some of her work from school so I can get an idea of what it's like. They have a nice old house with a big porch in front. It's within walking distance. Kalamazoo is a lovely place to live. The residential area is near the downtown. Wish my family owned a house here. Maybe someday they will."

Sally notes in her mind, "Someone spilled sugar on the counter with the self serve coffee. Better clean it up. There's always plenty to do. It would be boring to not have enough work. I feel like I've accomplished something at the end of each day."

She continues, "Wonder what Gertrude's mother will have for dinner. She's a good cook, about as good as a television mother's cooking would be. Last time I was there for dinner it was near Labor Day and she made filled crepes. I told mother about it and it sparked her to make her style of french toast kebabs which are delicious also, sandwiched in between melon balls and grapes. I hope Gertrude's brother Roger will be home, he's really nice. I have fun kidding around with him; the big flirt. He has the warmest hazel eyes. He used to have a puppy. I don't know what happened, the puppy's gone. Someday, maybe he'll tell me."