Tain't What You Do

Chapter 1-2

“I’LL DITCH THE GASH. Be back soon.” George grabbed the bucket of food scraps to dispose of overboard.

“Thanks, Shorty.” I wiped down the already gleaming stainless-steel worktop and triple checked the hotplate was turned off, even though we hadn’t used it to cook dinner. My first day on the HMAS Bathurst hadn’t been without incident, but it had gone pretty well, considering.

I flicked open the galley comments book and scanned the most recent entries. It was tough being the new member of the team. George was one of the boys already, back slaps and in jokes, but the crew still held me at arm’s length. If the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, then I’d get three quarters of the crew onside if I found meals everyone liked. As we served up dinner, I’d asked each person to leave a note in the comments book with any meal requests. I’d ruled up a column for likes and one for dislikes.

Likes: chips, roast beef, salad, Indian, pasta...

Dislikes: broccoli, curry, vegies, Italian, salad...

The lists went on, likes and dislikes continuing to contradict each other. Chips were the only thing that came out on top but I couldn’t serve them for every meal or I’d end up putting my CPR skills into practice to deal with all the heart attacks.

I opened the fridge and reached right into the back, behind the shredded cheese on the top shelf, and felt around for one of the small chocolate bars I’d stashed in there on my first shift. I peeled off the wrapper and popped the whole thing in my mouth. Chocolate was perfect for everything - celebrating, commiserating, contemplating. The layers of caramel, nougat and chocolate blended together. Everyone loved Mars bars but they wern’t dinner. Although, I had tried a deep fried Mars Bar at my local Fish and Chip shop back in Sydney. My mouth watered at the memory. Battered chocolate. I shook my head. That was totally off the nutrition chart. I grabbed another chocolate bar and shoved it in the back of the freezer. Hopefully I’d remember it was there next time we put the deep fryer on.

Maybe I should just follow George’s lead for our meal plans. He’d been feeding this lot for a while so he knew what they liked. I closed the comments book and slipped it back onto the shelf.

I revelled in the moment of silence, something I’d never found on my last ship. I was so glad to leave Sydney. I’d loved working on the big ship but things had become uncomfortable after the incident. I’d never put myself in a position like that again. I knew it had been a bad idea at the time, but I couldn’t help myself. He’d made me feel special. He’d promised no one would find out. He’d lied. This posting came at the perfect time. I wasn’t running away, I was moving on.

“Righto.” George dumped the scrap bucket into the sink and rinsed it out. “How d'you go with the comments book?”

“Waste of time. There’s no possible way to make everyone happy.”

“Yep.”

“What? Do you have a secret menu they all like?”

“No. I mean you’re correct. You can’t please everyone all the time but you can do a fair sight better than that meal plan you emailed me last week. That’s likely to piss them all off.”

“They’re all my specialties. I always got compliments for my meals.”

“You can’t pair up fancy food with more fancy food. You need some simple stuff in the mix.”

My spine straightened. “Are you telling me how to do my job? I’m officially in charge of this galley.”

George leant back against the bench. “I know. I’m just telling you how I’ve done your job for the past two years.”

“Oh. I didn’t realise I’d taken your job.” My shoulders began to round as I looked away.

“Nah. The last bloke was a slacker, left me with all the planning.”

I pulled my shoulders back and met George’s eye. If I wanted to be a leader, I needed to act like one. “Well, I’m in charge now. I hope you won’t have any problem working under me.”

George smirked. “No problem with you being on top. You’re welcome to do all the hard work.”

Heat flushed up my neck. I held my head high. “Let’s revise the meal plan together. I would appreciate your input.”