Well, the key to my survival
Was never in much doubt
The question was how I could keep sane
Trying to find the way out
Things were never easy for me
Peace of mind was hard to find
And I needed a place where I could hide
Somewhere I could call mine
I didn't think much about it
Till it started happening all the time
Soon I was living with the fear everyday
Of what might happen at night
I couldn't stand to hear the
Crying of my mother
And I remember when
I swore that, that would be the
Last they'd see of me
And I never went home again

Alissa dances as she cooks the different burgers she had made for tasting. She was in a good mood and was enjoying the song lyrics from Genesis as it played in the background. She swings her hips and does a little turn as she flips the burger on the grill.

Gregory just watches Alissa swing her hips back and forth in time to the music. He has never seen her this happy before. He watches as she cooks and dances in place in front of the grill.

They had gone to the open market and bought a lot of ingredients for the different burgers. They bought the same ingredients they planned on using on the truck. Gregory knew Alissa loved supporting the farmers market, over getting her ingredients from a restaurant supply warehouse.

Alissa looks for the bottle of teriyaki sauce she bought and sparkle some on the pork burger. She flips the pineapple rings and red pepper ring.

“Gregory, can you mix me a small bowl of Mayo, teriyaki sauce, honey, and a little bit of cayenne, please?” Alissa turns and smiles at him.

She looks over towards Gregory as he went to the counter and mix the ingredients. She had fun with him last night. It’s been a while since she had her operation. The first chance she got after she healed, she had sex to find out how her new plumbing worked. The sex had been mind-blowing, but the orgasms were nothing she had ever experience before.

“Okay!” Gregory didn’t mind making the special sauce for the Hawaiian burger.

Gregory grabs the items he needed and a small bowl. He knew what Alissa wanted as he started mixing the ingredients together. They had talked about the special sauce on the way home to go on the Hawaiian burger.

“Almost done. The chilly sauce for the chilly burger is ready and the mushroom burgers are ready.”

“How about the extra sharp cheeseburger and Macburger?” Gregory looks over towards Alissa.

“They are done as well. Turning the macaroni and cheese into a patty was a good idea.”

She and Gregory knew every child out there, loved Mac-an-Cheese. It only made sense to add it to a burger. She had done some research and found a nice recipe to turn macaroni and cheese into a patty.

“Hey, guys!” Jessie and Bobby come walking into the kitchen.

“Hey, take a seat. The burgers are almost ready.”

“Oh, so we are your guinea pigs now?” Bobby smirks as she looks towards Gregory and Alissa.

“No, you’re my taste testers.”

Alissa toasts the buns and starts making each of the nine burgers she cooked up for tasting. She still had four more she wanted to try on the
group, but these were the important ones.

“Okay, I have two Hawaiian burgers, two Bison burgers, two hot wing burgers, two Macburgers, two mushroom burgers, two chilly burgers, two vegan burgers and two extra sharp cheddar cheeseburgers.”

“What is the veggie burger made of?”

Bobby was curious because she didn’t care that much for veggie burgers. She knew most of them were either made of tofu or grind up walnuts.

“Chickpeas. There are no nuts in it and it grills better, then normal veggie burgers do.”

Alissa sets the tray with the burgers down on the table. Each burger had been cut in half so, each person could taste each of the burgers. All of them had lettuce, tomatoes, red onions on them. The buns for the burgers were ciabatta bread.

Alissa sits down at the table where everyone else was waiting for her. She couldn’t wait to taste each one.

“Okay, there are notepads sitting in front of each of you. I want you to write down what you think of each burger. Should it be something we offer on the truck or should I find something else to replace it?”

“Are you sure you want our opinion?” Jessie didn’t want to hurt his friend’s feelings.

“I’m sure.” Alissa picks up her half of the Hawaiian burger.

Her mouth has been watering to taste it. The grilled pineapple rings, the teriyaki sauce infused into the pork burger and the grilled red pepper ring blended well on the burger. She writes her thoughts down on the notebook.

She picks the mac-n-cheese next and bites into it. The mac-n-cheese was the first thing you tasted after the lettuce and tomato. When she tasted the burger, it reminded her of ground beef, mixed with macaroni and cheese.

The buffalo meat burger was tasty and juicy. She loved the taste of the meat and the steak sauce she brushed on the meat. She puts what is left down and try the others.

“This hot wing burger is going to go over well with the sports fans.” Jessie loved what he tasted.

“Thanks, what do you think of the other ones?” Alissa looks over at Jessie and Bobby.

“Well, guys? What do you think?”

Alissa was feeling nervous as she sat there watching both guys.

“I think these nine should pass muster. You might want to offer just plain hamburgers and cheeseburgers as well.”
Jessie wipes his mouth as he leans back in his chair.

“I have to agree with Jessie on that statement, Alissa. These are all good and well, but sometimes, parents might want to buy something simple for their children other than the mac-n-cheese.”

“I think I can have a normal hamburger and cheeseburger on the menu. I’ll give the customer a choice of a normal, medium or huge burger.”

“Are you going to buy grind-up burger meat or grind it yourself?”

Bobby loved the burgers Alissa fixed already. She would love to see what else Alissa had up her sleeve.

“I’m going to grind it myself. There’s a vendor at the farmers market that gets his beef from a cattle ranch. He is also the same person I got the bison meat from.”

“So, that’s what the other burger was.” Jessie loved that burger.

“Yep, I was thinking we could offer several different types of meat. Something like Ostrich and Bison meat.”

“Won’t that get expensive?”

Gregory was a little concern about the cost. He wanted to keep the cost down and make it affordable.

“I doubt we’ll have a lot of Ostrich meat burgers request, but we might have a few Bison requests. Most of our sales will be ordinary hamburgers.”

“Well, what you created for us today, would be good to sell from the truck. How many burgers were you planning?”

Jessie wanted to know so his cousin could put the proper freezer in the food truck. His cousin had discovered that the floor and generator would need replacing. Also, putting a deep fryer in the truck for fries and such. The good thing was the grill. Part of the grill was a flat surface and the other half was an open charbroil grill.

"Fourteen different types of burgers."

Alissa looks over towards Jessie and wonders how the repairs on the food truck were coming.

“So, how are the repairs going on the food truck?”

Jessie takes a deep breath before he speaks "well, your floor had to be replaced, the generator is being upgraded and we are waiting for the arrival of the fryer. The gas line that feeds your grill has been replaced. My cousin says he’s going to need two more weeks to work on the truck.”

Alissa looked kind of disappointed that the truck wouldn’t be done in a week. She looks towards bobby since she was doing the artwork on the truck.

“How long will you need the truck for?”

“If Art can get the truck primed and painted before I do the artwork. I could get it done within a week’s times. I’ve never done anything so big before, but I can get it done.”

Bobby knew she could get the work done, but she had to wait once the truck was painted. Alissa has already approved the design of the logo and the menu that would be painted on the side of the truck.

“So, I’m looking at about three weeks?”

“That sounds about right Alissa.” Jessie knew it put a cramp on Alissa’s plans.

“Well, if it needs to be that way. I guess I have no choice then.”

Alissa starts gathering the paper plates to throw away the leftover bites that weren’t finish.

*Song Lyrics:
No Son of Mine by Genesis