In a days work
Kolm cautiously cleared the table. He was pleased as to how the day progressed. At least up until he had this thought. The moment he realized this, the atmosphere changed. Janus entered the restaurant and Kolm felt an earie chill run down his spine. That man had a habit of ruining every blissful moment.
Kolm acted as if he hadn’t seen him and continued clearing the table. He was almost ready to hide into the kitchen with all the dirty plates and cutlery. ”Hey you, get over here,” a conceited voice called out to him. He could always act as if he didn’t know it was directed to him, but he knew Janus was to smart and not nearly as patient enough for that to work. So he turned around, took a deep breath and stepped toward the high ranking official.
“What can I do for you, sir?”, he asked with a decently confident voice.“Bring me some snacks and a bottle of Riskwiller with,” Janus hesitated and quickly counted the number of people at a specific table. ”Five glasses.” Janus already continued his way to the table when Kolm uttered a reply. ”Excuse me, sir, it is 3 in de afternoon and therefore we cannot serve alcohol. Also the kitchen staff in on a break in-between half-past…”, that was as far as the staff member got. A fuming version of Janus had turned around in the blink of an eye and grabbed him by his collar. Fumingly he pronounced each syllable slowly, but carefully articulating:” Look at my shoulders, how many stripes do you count worm?” The desperate waiter stood on the tips of his toes hoping to free his throat to breathe. He was very aware of the number of stripes each shoulder carried. Janus was a Frigatecommander. They had four tilted stripes and one star.
In this restaurant, even lieutenants were uncommon, so someone who could showcase a star was obviously well known. ”I see four stipes, sir,” Kolm said and he continued quickly: ”accompanied by a star.” He knew Janus was very susceptible to that.
Janus loosened his grip a little and continued his charade rather loudly. “A higher ranked gentlemen does not have the time for such trivial guidelines. Of course, I would not expect a proletarian like yourself to understand, but I do expect those snacks and that bottle, WITH GLASSES, within 60 tics at the central table!” He tossed Kolm aside and turned to a table with sergeants in the central part of the military dining establishment. Kolm inhaled delightedly and planned on personally preparing some snacks when the member of staff caught his eye. She stepped over to the commander. What was she planning on doing? She had no grasp as to how dangerous that man could be. Kolm had to stop her, but it was already too late to try anything.
Sara walked over to him gently. “Excuse me, Frigatecommander. There is nobody in the kitchen currently and the liquor cabinet is sealed with a timelock. Kolm can under no condition facilitate to your needs. I am sure a gentleman and high ranking official will naturally also realize this unfortunate truth. I was wondering what other beverage we could offer you as a replacement? We have a rather nice selection of tea or Kolm does mix a rather good…” Janus stormed over her and growled something that sounded like “Move over you runt.”
Sara regained her balance and spoke up: “ Sir, one does expect gentlemen to behave in a better fashion. Kolm though he would faint in agony, he had seen colleagues get fired for far less and worried for her safety as well.
Janus interrupted his stroll to the center. De sergeants look worried at their outranking official who was clenching his fists.“DID. I. ASK. YOU. SOME-THING?”, he bellowed. “Well sir,” she continued her course as he dashed towards her.” You will probably know that…” With incredible speed, he stretched his arm and struck Sara on the cheek with an open hand. Sara stared at the floor.
After a ten-second silence, she oozed: ”SIR, is this the level to which officers stoop nowadays. Are you even aware of the restriction of all violence between naval personnel?
Furiously frigatecommander Janus Tomalin swung his first at Sara's head but missed. Sara had shifted a step to the right and was by doing so out of his reach. When he tried to swing again she simply parried his blow. Kolm was sure the third punch would hit, but miraculously he lost his balance. He was relieved until he saw her legs sweep Janus' stilts from underneath him and he smacked hard onto the floor.
