A chef's nightmare

Chapter 3: protocol

After making a few calls the secret service took me to the White House, and I somehow gained access to the most prestigious and most secure building in the world. It was as if they escorted the most dangerous criminal in the world, with the way the security personnel’s watched my every move. I had to wait at the kitchen for a bit before the president’s daughter met me there.

The daughter seemed to have just woken up from bed since she was still in her pajamas. She walked closer to me as she snuggled the stuffed animal that she held with her left arms firmly to her chest, she was obviously a bit younger than I was.

She was a blonde lady, with her hairs flowing down beyond her shoulders. Somehow I had not really expected much, and for some weird reason my mind had imagined a bossy girl since she was the child of the most powerful man in America.

“so I was informed that you are the new executive chef right?” she asked me

“yes I am, and I am honoured to be here,” I replied, she was a soft-spoken lady. She was a jolly good fellow whose smile could brighten a dark place.

“what! I am honored to have you at our house, my dad had told me a lot about you and how extraordinary your cuisines are,” she said to me, I was proud to hear that from the young lady, “I am Kimberley by the way, and you are?” she asked.

“I am Bella Ann,” I replied to her with a warm smile, “so I was hoping we could have a conversation about the dishes that I would be making during my stay here, I was told that I would have to schedule dishes before time. For the ingredients to be delivered, since external things were not allowed in the house,” I explained to her.

“oh yea, that is true. Even for me too, it can be so exhausting following all those weird rules,” she said to me, at least I was not the only one that felt that way, “those bodyguards follow me everywhere I go just to ensure that I do not eat anything beyond these walls, worst of all is that I am not allowed to attend parties anymore,” she told me.

“I do not attend parties though, never really grew up into that kind of life but I suppose it would be sort of interesting,” I said to her, I spent most of my teenage life perfecting many cuisines and I had little time for my social life. Sometimes I feel like I had a boring childhood, but when I think about I realize that I would have never gotten to where I am. Perhaps you can never have everything you want in this world.

That little meeting had marked the beginning of our friendship, we had abstract conversations not even relating to the reason why I had initially come to the white House. It was already about thirty minutes and we were still getting to know each other. As I and Kimberley conversed, I realized that she was lonely, her dad did not seem to have much time with her while he chased after his political career.

I was not too sure about her mom, since she barely mentioned her, perhaps she was not in the picture anymore. I was curious though but I reserved my words because I did not want to reopen old wounds if there were any.

One of the secret service personnel that set up the meeting came into the kitchen, his name was John Henderson. He was shocked to find out that we had not even prepared the schedule of the meals.

“I think you guys would have to cut the discussion and get this over and done with, we all have places to be,” Henderson said to us.

“my bad, we will get to it right away. My apologies for wasting your time,” I replied to Henderson.

“I am also sorry, it was my fault. I got her carried away with all my questions,” Kimberley told the guy, trying to take all the blame.

I and Kimberley were able to finalize the meals that would be prepared, but Kimberley also wanted me to make a surprise dish for them on Wednesdays. Something that had never been done before in the White House, although it sounded fun it was not what the secret service wanted just as they had pointed out before.

They had a code of conduct that should be followed and not even the president’s daughter could make them compromise on it. I accepted Kimberley’s idea originally but as soon as I left, I changed my mind and fixed in one of my cuisines.

“she liked you,” Henderson told me as they escorted me out of the White House, he seemed a bit surprised that we had such a connection on the first day.

“yea and I like her too. Is there something wrong, am I missing something?” I asked him, I already envisioned that there was another rule that probably prohibited us from getting too close to the daughter but that was not the case.

“that is the first time I am seeing her that happy these few months since she arrived here, she would not even have conversations with anyone. According to her dad she was in a state of depression since she lost her mom,” Henderson narrated, “but somehow you have managed to appeal to her soul in a few minutes, something even her dad could not achieve,” he explained.

“wow! I never knew that, maybe I was lucky and I met her on a good day,” I replied to Henderson.

“Anyway, I hope you have drafted out the entire ingredients needed for your meals so that we get them prepared for you, before your arrival,” Henderson uttered.

“yea I did,” I said, passing the write-up to him.

“that is perfect, so we will be picking you up tomorrow morning. We need to meet up with the president’s 8 am schedule,” he said.