“You want us all to get jobs at this new Mexican restaurant?”
“That’s right,” Unk said. Kat, the lilrabbi and CS Lewis exchanged glances.
“Why?”
“I have a plan. Besides, Bud needs the help. After his Flameburger shop was shut down by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, he was pretty discouraged.”
“Oh, we were all discouraged about that!” Kat said.
“Well, I miss it, and so does Mr. Dracula. The Draculas are going to work at the new place too. Anyway, we could really help Bud to get it going and . . . well, I have a plan.”
“To infiltrate Doc’s compound?” lilrabbi asked.
Unk looked uneasy and left the question unanswered. “So here are the applications for you to fill out.”
Again they glanced at each other before taking the forms from Unk.
“I don’t have a social security number,” CS Lewis said after a while.
“It would probably be illegal to employ you, so you can just volunteer your services,” Unk said.
“Not get paid?”
“Come on! What do you need money for?”
CS Lewis sat gazing at Unk.
“All right. I’ll pay you.”
“How much?”
“I’ll pay you twenty bucks.”
To which CS Lewis readily agreed even without having it stipulated exactly how long he was expected to work.
***
So it came to pass, when the restaurant opened, that every Sunday after the service Doc would bring all the visitors to La Casa de la Llama Ardiente, to thank then for coming to church, to let them talk among themselves, to find out what sort of thing the modern person expected from a religious service, but mostly to satisfy his strange craving for Mexican food.
Had Doc been his old self, he might have noticed the two waiters, one male and one female, working on Sundays were rather pale and resembled no living Mexican. He might also have noticed there were heavy drapes covering the windows so that no daylight entered. But Doc was not his old self, and though Molly did not understand what was happening, she liked the candles.
She had tried bringing up the matter of Doc’s apathy for all but things Mexican with the youth pastor, although he gave her the creeps. He had been rushing around making plans for a youth activity and had been inattentive, so she had given it up. She tried some of the deacons but none of them dared suggest anything to Doc he was not already planning to do. There was only Dull Sodder left to try, but Molly was not that desperate yet. She liked Mexican food, and Doc never had before, so she was enjoying as much of it as she could get, despite the rather strange waiters on weekends.
The proximity of La Casa de la Llama Ardiente to Doc’s compound brought many of the faithful that way. Working during the week, Unk, Kat, lilrabbi and CS Lewis were able to gather some demographic information and overhear some very interesting conversations. The Draculas, being irreligious, worked on the weekends, staying up all day.
