thatâs the truth.â
âReally?â I say. âThey were that bad? I checked each box twice against the list.â I know I was tired when I was doing it, but did I really screw up three boxes?
Cook sighs and shakes her head. âI need some cheese grated.â
I nod, but I have a rock in my stomach. This is not a good way to start the day.
It gets worse. As well as grating the cheese, I grate my finger, and Tricia has to take over. When April comes in, Iâm in a corner buttering toast.
âThe guides will be coming in for breakfast soon.â Cook nods to the warming pans, so April and I start moving them into the staff dining room. Iâm on my way back to the kitchen for another when thereâs a big bang.
âBailey!â April hollers from the staff room.
I fly back. The floor is carpeted with scrambled eggs.
âWhat happened?â
She glares at me. âWhat do you think happened? You left the warming pan on the edge of the counter and it fell on the floor. Tell Cook weâre going to need more eggs. Then help me clean up this mess.â
I want to protest. I didnât leave the pan where it could topple over. Did I? But now Iâm not sure, and thereâs no time to argue, so I bite my tongue and do what April says.
The day is doomed. Before the guests show up for breakfast, Gabe cruises through the dining room and spots a dirty coffee cup on one of my tables.
âI know you donât wash the dishes, Bailey,â he says, âbut the tables are your responsibility. Imagine what a guest would think if he went to drink out of this.â
It doesnât get any better. During service, an entire table has to ask for napkins. Another has no cutlery. How can I be screwing up so much? Itâs like my first week at the lodge all over again.
Iâm actually relieved when itâs time to clean cabins, especially when I find a four-leaf clover in the grass. I start at cabin one, and April starts with cabin eleven. She has the wagon, so I have to keep making trips back and forth to the washhouse to drop off soiled linen and get fresh stuff. It bugs me how Aprilâs taken over my job, but I donât say so. I donât want her to tell Gabe Iâm complaining.
Finally, weâre done, and we have some time to ourselves before dinner. I go back to where I saw the witch. The ground is still all chewed up. Iâm relieved. It proves what I saw last night was real. I want to tell April, but she isnât exactly being friendly, so I decide to keep the witch to myselfâfor now, anyway.
As the fishing boats start returning, I head back up to the lodge. I pour myself a glass of lemonade and take it out to the back deck. Before Iâve had even a sip, Winnie comes storming out of the washhouse.
âWhat do you think youâre doing?â she demands.
âWhat do you mean?â I look around guiltily, though I canât think what I could have done wrong. âIâm sitting down?â
âNot when thereâs work to be done, youâre not,â she says. âGuests in cabin three donât have any towels. You better be taking them someâright nowâand make sure you apologize. Then you can take some toilet tissue to cabin four and say youâre sorry to them too. Is this how you do your work? Sitting down? Because if it is, you can sit yourself down on the next plane out of here.â
âWinnie, Iâmâ¦Iâm sorry,â I sputter. âDid I really forget to put towels and toilet tissue in the cabins?â
âWould I be telling you if you hadnât?â she hollers. âDonât ask silly questions. Just fix it! And when youâre done, you can dust the lodge.â
I deliver the towels and tissue and then head to the lodge with my duster. Iâm in a fog. The day has been one disaster after another. Itâs bad enough that Iâm screwing up, but I donât even realize