Alice was a short young woman wearing a blue and white dress, and she had blonde hair and blue eyes. She gave everyone a small smile and a nod.

  Becky.

  Lily.

  The ghosts.

  And Mr. Cat.

  ...Huh?

  Lily squinted her eyes.

  Did Alice just nod to the ghosts?

  Lily’s head whipped around to check the ghosts!

  But they weren’t paying attention!

  They were talking about training plans for new employees and rapid franchise expansion!

  “Good morning Lily, Rebecca, Mr. Cat…”

  Alice trailed off, and Lily turned back around.

  Alice had a smug little grin on her face and a twinkle in her eye!

  And for some reason, she had a tea cup and saucer with her, with a little bit of lemonade in it!

  Had she carried it all the way here?

  “Meow,” said Mr. Cat, and Alice looked at him.

  “Do you happen to know the Cheshire Cat, Mr. Cat of Three Creeks?”

  “Mrow, nope! Don’t go thinking that every cat knows every other cat meow.”

  “Ah, okay.”

  Lily’s eyes sparkled.

  “Is there another cat in the village?!” she asked excitedly.

  But, Alice shook her head.

  “No, but I too once had a feline companion inscrutably aiding me on an adventure. But I daresay he might have gone home, to Cheshire County…”

  “Uh huh…”

  Lily didn’t know some of those words!

  “Well, I hope you get to meet him again soon!” she said with a smile.

  They talked about the work, and Alice was fine with it. She thought that fast food was a marvelous idea!

  “But, I can only work a few shifts per week. I’m on an important quest, you see.”

  “Uh huh…”

  “Meow, that’s the best you’re gonna get out of this girl, I think,” Mr. Cat said. “She’s got that what-do-ya-call-it, middle teens syndrome.”

  Middle Teens Syndrome!

  In another language, Chuunibyou!

  Alice was mixing up reality and fantasy!

  But that was okay!

  They agreed to let her know what shifts were available going forward, and Alice stood from the table.

  “Give my regards to Lord Hades and Lady Rikka,” she said cryptically, and then turned dramatically away!

  “Lord Hades? Lady Rikka?” Becky murmured.

  Up in heaven, the Goddess of Middle Teens Syndrome delicately placed a hand over her eye-patch covered eye, and chuckled ominously.

  “Ku ku ku…” she chuckled! “The wheels of fate have begun to turn…”

  Lady Rikka was more commonly known as the Goddess of Delusions!

  Down in the mortal realm, Lily was in a bit of a pinch!

  She had one job applicant left, and she hadn’t found a perfect fit for her last open shift yet!

  Enter Zoey!

  She flounced down into her seat, and immediately confused everyone!

  “Yo, ohio morning boss ladies!”

  Then…

  She handed a french fry to Mr. Cat!

  “Your digs are looking hella fly, Mr. Cat!”

  He took it!

  “Yep, she’s a good fit,” he said.

  So easy!

  One french fry was all it took!

  Becky sighed and put her hand on her forehead.

  “Oh no… she talks like Hazel does…”

  “Yo, Hazel’s my girl, my bestie!”

  Zoey had green eyes and black hair, cut short so that it ended just above her shoulders. She wore makeup, and had her nails painted in alternating black and green on each finger, and the rest of her clothes were just as fashionable!

  Lily put on her business thinking cap!

  “So, Zoey, have you ever cooked before?”

  “Cooked? I ain’t cooked yet! Just let me cook! I’ll show you my cooking ain’t cooked ya dig?”

  Lily looked helplessly to the ghosts.

  “I think she said she hasn’t cooked before, but she’s willing to learn…?” Ray said.

  “I think she was actually speaking in tongues…” Mac said.

  Was there just an impenetrable generation gap here?

  Lily wasn’t going to let that stop her!

  “How would you feel about working at the cart? Hazel would be in charge, and you’d mainly be helping with the cooking, the set up, and the take down at the end of the shift.”

  “Yo that would be so fly! Dreams!”

  Becky, on the other hand…

  Was at the end of her rope!

  “Zoey, this is a real job, okay? If you can’t talk normally, I’m going to have to speak to your mother about this…”

  Zoey did a little Scream pose!

  “Nooo! Okay okay, I’m sorry Miss Rebecca, I’ll talk normally, okay? Please don’t tell my Mama not to let me work…”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Whoa!

  Zoey really could talk normally!

  Lily was shocked!

  “Whoa, you really can talk normally!”

  Then she said it out loud!

  Zoey flushed red at that.

  “Uh, yeah…”

  She was a little embarrassed now!

  “So, why do you want to work at Lilyburgers?” Lily asked.

  Things were a lot more professional now!

  Good job, Becky!

  “Uh, well, I saw how much money Hazel was making, and now she could afford all these nice clothes, and when I asked my Mama for more allowance she actually cut me off…”

  Basically, Zoey was in it for the money!

  A perfectly normal motivation!

  Lily nodded.

  She could understand that!

  “And would you mind working at the mine every day?”

  It wasn’t somewhere girls normally went, after all.

  And…

  Zoey…

  Blushed a little!

  She twiddled her fingers!

  “Uh, yeah, I wouldn’t mind…”

  “And where do you see yourself in five years?”

  Zoey looked up and tilted her head in confusion.

  “Uh, married?”

  That was normal in this village!

  “Probably to a miner…”

  That was also normal!

  Men would work in the mine!

  Women would get married and have children!

  Of course, not everyone did that, but it was very common!

  “Even talking like that…?” Becky said incredulously.

  Zoey nodded. “Boys my age can talk like that, too!” she declared proudly.

  Lily was a little worried about how she was going to be when she grew up, herself…

  But she couldn’t worry about that too much!

  She had to pay for her parents’ retirement, first!

  In the end, Eric and Zoey were hired for half shifts six days a week, and the second shift at the City Square Location would be split between Ron and Alice. Becky would work at the City Square Location full time and handle the regular orders and bookkeeping for both the restaurants.

  And Lily…

  Had more free time, now!

  As for John…

  Well…

  He wasn’t a good fit.

  Hopefully he’d find the right genre… er, the right workplace for him…

  Surely it would work out!

  All the new hires got some training with cooking and selling at the cart during lunch time, and Zoey couldn’t keep her eyes off one particular young miner…

  But she was professional!

  She managed to talk normal, for the most part!

  She and Hazel did sometimes talk in code with each other…

  But they worked well together!

  After that, Lily and Becky went and got the supplies to set up the restaurant in the City Square!

  There wasn’t all that much to do.

  They installed the big refrigerator, so they could keep a bigger stock of ingredients.

  They installed the fryers, and the griddle, and the heat lamps.

  They bought some extra cleaning supplies at the market, and got everything ready.

  And, by dinner time, they were done!

  Gertrude came by after work at the town hall ended.

  “Miss Lily, did you wind up hiring anyone?”

  “Ah, sorry! I forgot to come and tell you!”

  Lily explained that Eric and Zoey were hired for daily, regular shifts, and Ron and Alice were hired on a more flexible schedule.

  “Okay, I’ll add that to the village records. And will you be doing the performance evaluations?”

  “Huh?”

  Lily had never heard of that!

  Gertrude explained. “Basically, you just say whether or not they’re doing a good job as a worker.”

  “I can do that,” Becky said.

  Lily wasn’t going to be around to watch everyone work, anyway!

  This was the power of hiring a manager!

  “Phew, thanks Becky,” Lily said.

  “Good, now you can focus on setting up more restaurants!” the ghostly Ray declared.

  “Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Rich said.

  “Right, we need to make sure everything’s running smoothly before we go biting off more than we can chew!” Mac added.

  Gertrude gave Lily a few copies of the key to the restaurant, and Lily immediately gave one to Becky.

  And with that, she headed home.

  It was dinner time!

  “I’m home, Mama! Papa!” Lily called.

  “Meow!” Mr. Cat announced himself.

  And then he dashed off, to the back of the house!

  He dodged past Lily’s Mama’s legs as she left Lily’s Papa’s room.

  “Welcome back, dear. How was business today?”

  “Really good!”

  Lily excitedly told her Mama about everything that had happened, and all the people she met!

  Lily’s Mama sighed.

  “I’m glad Rebecca’s helping you. I wish I could do more, but…”

  “It’s okay, Mama! You need to take care of Papa!”

  That’s right!

  Lily was okay with going out and working chores all day, and starting restaurants, because she knew her Papa was being taken care of!

  If he wasn’t, she would be too distracted to work!

  Lily’s Mama sighed again.

  “It’s hard for him, now that he’s recovered this much. He’s well enough to want to do something, but he can’t go back to the mine, or do anything strenuous. Sitting at home cooped up is getting to him…”

  “Getting better is super important!” Lily wisely declared.

  Her Mama smiled. “That’s exactly right.”

  Once dinner was ready, Lily’s Papa came out to the dinner table all by himself!

  He had to lean heavily on a cane, but he could move a bit!

  They ate a delicious casserole, and then Lily went to bed.

  Bill…

  Grimaced.

  His little girl was working herself to the bone this last month.

  Now she was wrapped up in some kind of restaurant business…

  All because he had gone and gotten injured, and racked up all these medical bills…

  He felt terrible.

  And his wife was staying at home all day taking care of him.

  He had hoped that, now that he could move around by himself, Sally could go back to working and Lily could stay home to keep an eye on him…

  But Sally had shot him down.

  “Bill, Lily’s working really hard for our sake. And she’s making more money than I could, anyway.”

  Sally didn’t say it, but she couldn’t earn enough to pay all the bills.

  But Bill knew.

  At the end of the month, they wouldn’t have the money to pay back their loans.

  They’d have to go to debtor’s prison.

  Before, they had been worried that Lily would lose the house they lived in…

  But it seemed like she was making enough money to pay for that, at least.

  So she wouldn’t be homeless.

  Their daughter would be okay.

  But they wouldn’t be there to see her anymore.

  It was frustrating!

  If only there was something he could do!

  Sally held his hand.

  “Bill, I love you,” she said, looking in his eyes.

  Bill…

  Looked down and away.

  “Bill, just focus on getting better. We have to trust in the Gods’ plan. Lily’s doing well…”

  That was what was frustrating!

  Bill felt terrible for relying on his daughter like this.

  She was only eight years old!

  Sally poked him in the chest.

  Pretty hard, actually.

  “Bill, say it.”

  Uh oh.

  She was using her firm voice!

  “Ahem, I love you, too, Sally,” Bill said.

  Sally smiled.

  “Good, and don’t you forget it. Together forever. No matter what.”

  “Together forever,” he repeated.

  Bill and Sally loved each other very much!

  But Bill still wished he could do more…

  And so, he prayed…

  Prayed to the Gods for something he could do.