“They don’t have a reservation!”\u00a0 The assistant manager\u00a0 was flapping his hands again.\u00a0 Bunter sighed–not too obviously–and glanced at Carson.\u00a0\u00a0 Carson nodded and with suitable demeanor headed for the backup command center.<\/p>\n
“They are old and valued guests,” Bunter said in his inimitable voice, silky with steel underneath.\u00a0\u00a0 Out of the assistant manager’s sight, his hands were busy on the Override Control Panel.\u00a0 “They do not expect to need reservations, and indeed we can accommodate them.”<\/p>\n
“But–we’d have to open Section Seven!\u00a0 At least!\u00a0 And find staff!”<\/p>\n
“Then open Section Seven–and Eight while you’re at it.\u00a0 Staff will be obtained.”\u00a0 Would the assistant manager step up, as any assistant manager should, or…<\/p>\n
“But how?\u00a0\u00a0 We’re at a hundred eight percent already; there’s none to be had!”\u00a0 A tear rolled down the assistant manager’s cheek.\u00a0 Hysteria was not far away.<\/p>\n
“Staff will be obtained,” Bunter said.\u00a0 “And you will take a rest day.”\u00a0\u00a0 He touched the correct button without looking down.<\/p>\n
“A rest day!\u00a0 No, not a rest day!”\u00a0\u00a0 But already the Guides were close behind the assistant manager, and a touch of Soothing spray dulled the wild eyes.\u00a0\u00a0 He murmured “A….rest…day…would…be…nice…” as the Guides took him by the arms and led him away.\u00a0 One of them tossed Bunter the man’s Key.<\/p>\n
“I always thought it was a mistake to promote him,” Bunter muttered.\u00a0\u00a0 He slid the Key into his module and activated Jeeves, unlocked–but did not yet open–Sections Seven and Eight, two Auxiliary Kitchens, and activated appropriate kitchen and waitstaff.<\/p>\n
“Assistant manager?” Jeeves asked.\u00a0 “But I’m–”<\/p>\n
“Emergency situation.\u00a0 All Senior Staff available for reassignment.”\u00a0\u00a0 Bunter gave Jeeves a considering look.\u00a0 Those In Charge insisted Jeeves had equivalent experience to himself and Carson, but the source was, after all, humorous<\/em> books.\u00a0\u00a0 “You’re with Carson.”\u00a0\u00a0 And it would be good for Jeeves.\u00a0 He needed taking down a little.\u00a0 Or a lot.\u00a0\u00a0 Though he was still better than the previous assistant manager, nodding with appropriate gravitas and turning to go to his assignment.\u00a0\u00a0 Bunter considered, watching the numbers mount up on the display.\u00a0 Was it time to call for help?\u00a0\u00a0 Would he himself be needed in the front of the house?\u00a0 At the least he should inform Command Group.\u00a0\u00a0 He nodded and touched the correct button.\u00a0 “Sir.\u00a0 There’s a situation in the House.”<\/p>\n ####<\/p>\n Stella had been seated in one of the many alcoves with her favorite drink in front her when Helen finally showed up, guided by one of the hostesses.\u00a0 Helen looked worried, as she often did, and the reason was obvious.\u00a0 No twins.\u00a0 “I can’t see them anywhere!” Helen said.\u00a0 She perched on the edge of her chair.\u00a0 “No one’s seen them.”<\/p>\n “They slipped in with another family,” Stella said.\u00a0 “Don’t worry; they’re around somewhere.”<\/p>\n “That’s what I’m worried about.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They were supposed to come straight here and have a fruity.\u00a0\u00a0 And no one’s seen them.”<\/p>\n Stella had argued against bringing the twins, leaving them in the care of The Author.\u00a0\u00a0 They would just be a\u00a0 problem, they would be bored and bored twins were never a safe proposition.\u00a0 But Helen had insisted.\u00a0 Biggest cast party ever, they’d remember it all their lives, and anyway The Author was one of those people<\/em> and might wander off to another book and forget about them.\u00a0\u00a0 And here they were, biggest cast party ever, and the twins loose somewhere.\u00a0 Stella was willing to forget about them and enjoy herself.\u00a0 That last book had not been all strawberries and cream.<\/p>\n ####<\/p>\n (to be continued.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “They don’t have a reservation!”\u00a0 The assistant manager\u00a0 was flapping his hands again.\u00a0 Bunter sighed–not too obviously–and glanced at Carson.\u00a0\u00a0 Carson nodded and with suitable demeanor headed for the backup command center. “They are old and valued guests,” Bunter said in his inimitable voice, silky with steel underneath.\u00a0\u00a0 Out of the assistant manager’s sight, his Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,10,5],"tags":[7,3],"class_list":["post-347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interlude","category-the-writing-life","category-vatta","tag-the-writing-life","tag-waystation-huygens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":382,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions\/382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}