Last Order
On Black Kettle’s closing shift, there is no mystery to solve. There is a broken glass, a customer who has not understood the word closed, a delivery that arrived wrong, and two employees trying to decide who has to clean the milk system. Sometimes a work night is enough.
A fictional narrative within Callizto Dark Symphony.
At 22:03, a man tried to order breakfast.
“The kitchen is closed,” Jana said.
“The sign says breakfast until closing.”
“We closed three minutes ago.”
The man looked at the door.
It said OPEN.
Jana closed her eyes.
Behind her, Malik turned the sign around.
“Now?” she asked.
“Technically better.”
The man got a sandwich.
After he left, Malik pointed out that it was her turn to clean the milk system.
Jana argued that the division of labor reset whenever someone voluntarily served a customer after closing.
Malik argued that no such rule existed.
“It should.”
“You’re inventing labor law.”
“All labor law was invented by someone.”
At the window, Coda Vale sat with a cup she had emptied twenty minutes earlier.
“We’re closed,” Jana said.
“I know.”
“It wasn’t subtle information.”
Coda stood.
“I was waiting for the table to dry.”
Malik looked at the table.
“It’s dry.”
“Excellent.”
She put on her coat.
“Good night.”
“Good night.”
The door closed.
Jana watched her leave.
“She always does that.”
“What?”
“Makes you think she’s about to say something interesting.”
“And then goes home?”
“Yes.”
Malik started lifting chairs.
“Terrible behavior.”
The delivery at the back door turned out to be six boxes of lemon syrup instead of two coffee containers.
Jana photographed the label.
Malik swore.
The dishwasher beeped.
A glass slipped from Jana’s hand and broke.
The clock reached 22:41.
“You know what?” Jana said.
“No.”
“This was a bad evening.”
Malik looked around.
No fire.
No injuries.
The till almost balanced.
“Four out of ten.”
“Three.”
“Sandwich man brought it down.”
“Two and a half.”
They cleaned the milk system together.
The next morning, Black Kettle opened at 06:30.
None of the customers knew anything had happened.
That, Jana thought as she filled the first jug, was the whole point.
Mentioned in this record
- Black Kettle
- Coda Vale