Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 I woke up early the next morning, all excited. I brushed my teeth. I brushed my hair and even put some goop in it like a grown-up. I looked in the mirror to make sure that all the hairs on my head were lying down. They were cooperating. Then I picked out a pair of socks that actually matched. And to finish off the grown-up look, I chose a shirt that had no trace of yesterday's taco lunch on it. When I came out for breakfast, Emily laughed. "You look like a mini-Dad," she said. "Except more dorky." "You look like a maxi-lizard," I shot back. "Except more slimy." "For your information, Hank, lizards aren't slimy," Emily replied. "They are shiny because

they have natural oil in their scales." "No breakfast for me, Mom," I called out. "I just lost my appetite." My mom handed me a slice of toast with peanut butter, anyway. "You've got to have something," she said. "You need energy for the busy day ahead." My dad came rushing into the living room, pulling on his jacket. "Let's move, folks," he said. "We're running late." We all gathered our things, headed out the door, and got into the elevator. When we got outside, my dad and Emily headed right to school. My mom and I went the opposite way, toward the Crunchy Pickle. The place was already buzzing when we got there. Lots of people were sitting in the

booths, having breakfast. Some people were waiting in line for an empty table. There was even a crowd at the counter where people were ordering a roll and coffee to take to their offices. My mom looked around the deli. I could see that she was feeling great that we had so many customers. When she first took over the Crunchy Pickle from Papa Pete, she wasn't sure she would be good at running a deli. But wow, was she wrong. "We've got to get busy, Hank," she said. "It's the breakfast rush."

"Okay, Mom. I'm ready. What do we do first?" "I'm going to go wait on the customers at the counter. I'll put Carlos in charge of you. Come on, he's over at the grill." My mom took my hand, and we made our way across the crowd, saying good morning to everyone as we passed. We found Carlos at the grill, flipping turkey sausages. They sizzled on the grill and smelled delicious. I wanted one, but I knew it wasn't right to eat the customers' food. Carlos, who has worked at the deli since he was a teenager, turned around to say hi. He had a lot of goop in his hair, too. He used it to make his hair stand up in tall spikes, which poked through his hairnet. He must have seen me checking out his hair.

"I know what you're thinking, Little Man," he said, turning around so I could see the back of his hair, too. "You're thinking my hair is as cool as an iceberg in winter. I couldn't agree more. The reason it's so cool is that I have a hot date with my girl tonight." "Oh no," I said. "If it's going to be hot, you should take off your sweater." Carlos stared at me, then burst out laughing. "You have a lot to learn, Little Man," he said. "Speaking of which," my mom said, "Hank is going to be spending the day with us. I'd like you to put him to work." "Sure thing, Mrs. Z.," Carlos said. "It's hopping in here, and we can sure use extra help." "Good, then I'll leave Hank in your hands." She gave me a quick kiss, which I hoped no one saw, and hurried off into the crowd of people.

"My mom still kisses me every time I leave the house," Carlos said. "I ask her not to kiss me in public," I said. "Moms are like that," Carlos said, taking the turkey sausages off the grill and sliding them onto a plate. "Come on, Little Man, we've got a lot of breakfast orders to fill." "What's first?" I asked him with a big smile. "I'm going to scramble up a pile of eggs to go with these sausages," he said. "Why don't you head over to Table Seven and take their order? They've been waiting a long time. They look hungry." Carlos handed me a pad of paper and a pencil, and hurried off into the kitchen. The second he was gone, the smile disappeared from my face. I stared at the pad and pencil, and sighed.