Chapter 12

Sitting back with my cup of tea I was patting myself on the back, I'd done a bloody good job and I knew it. My bubble was about to be burst.

"Tony, the guests are calling for the chef, they would like to compliment you on the meal."

"Jeeze Sally I can't do that, what would I say to them?"


"Of course you can Tony, just tell them you enjoyed cooking for them and you appreciate their compliments."

Sally led me into the dinning room or should I say I floated behind her? Then my bubble burst. One of her guests was Captain Sheehan, Christ I'm sunk, there's no hope that he won't recognise me, shit, shit, shit.

The Captain rose to his feet. "Congratulations Tony, you have the makings of a great chef. I would like you to meet my other guests, on my right is Sharon my wife, across the table is her sister Rebecca and her husband Rodger. Pull up a chair and join us.

Is this for real or am I having a dream? I was gob smacked.

"Tony, the look on your face is priceless" laughed Sally. The others all had a good chuckle.

"Relax Tony, we set you up son, I've known you were working for Sally since day one. She rang me up when you asked for a job and wanted to know if it was OK, I told her that from what Tiny reported and what I had seen of you working, you seemed to be a good proposition. Sally and Sharon went to school together so we go back a long way."

I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or shit my pants. Sally came to the rescue. "Here, sit down and join us Tony, what would you like to drink?"

Sit down, drink? I feel like I'm drunk already, but I sat.

"Um, could I have a beer please Sally?"

Sharon could see I was flustered so she asked me about myself.

"Tell us a bit about yourself Tony, you obviously know your way around a kitchen, what's your background?"

I went on to tell them about the orphanage and how I got the job at the road camp, omitting my deception of age of course.

"From this evenings meal I think your talents are wasted in a road camp Tony, you should be working in a restaurant" said Rodger.

"My long term plan is to build a roadhouse, but I need a lot more experience and a lot of money to make it happen, I'm working on both."

We had a long discussion on the pros and cons of the roadhouse, I gained a lot of good information from Rebecca who worked as an estate agent. Finally the evening was over with the Captain and his party wishing me all the success in my venture. I was wrung out when we went to bed.

We both slept like babies. In the morning I asked Sally why she hadn't told me about the Captain knowing I was moonlighting.

"Sally, that was mean of you, you've all been laughing at me behind my back and all the while I thought we had something going between us ... seems like I was wrong."

"Tony, if I had told you it would have put Pat in a bad position, what you are doing is against army rules, by turning a blind eye to it the Captain was approving it but leaving himself covered if anything happened. I had to remain quiet about it to protect him, does that make sense?"

"Yes, I see what you mean Sally, but Jesus you scared the crap out of me last night."

"Yeah, it was a bit mean but Pat thought it was a small price to pay for his approval."

"I still don't know what to think Sally, I was on a high all day and then hung out to dry, I've been embarrassed, turned inside out and finally lauded. Where do we stand?"

"Tony, where we stand is very simple, I love you as a lover,

We made gentle love until it was time to get ready for me to go back to Pucka, aware that these moments were drawing to a close; my days as a National service man were coming to an end.

...

Back at Pucka the following day the Captain called me and the other Nashos into the office.

"Rest easy men, how did you enjoy your time in the army?"

The general response was OK, I spoke up, "Captain, this has been a great experience for myself, as you know I'm a cook in the 'real world' so anything I learnt here will be of tremendous help outside."

"Thankyou Corporal Concept, we try to give all of you as much experience as possible. The next big question I have for you lads is are any of you interested in joining the forces as regular servicemen?"