Alissa stares at the food truck sitting in her uncle’s driveway. It has been sitting since he had his heart attack. When he died, he had left her all his possessions. He was the only one that supported her and didn’t turn his back on her when she came out being transgender. He paid for her to attend L’Academie de Cuisine to get her Culinary Arts Degree.

“Well, its going to need some work, but I think we can get it up to standards.” Gregory comes walking out of it.

“How much do you think it will cost to get it up and running?” Alissa really wanted to put it back on the road.

She already had a few companies that were excited about her getting her own truck. She had a small catering business she operated out of a converted garage. Her uncle had turned his garage into a kitchen for her to run the catering business from. Her and Gregory had built up the clientele while going to school.

Gregory does the math in his head. If he and his cousin Jimmy could get the truck down to his garage. They could get most of it done within the week. He knew they still had to get it inspected by the health inspector and get their food peddler license. Since, the truck was going to be
named differently from their catering business. They would need to get a business license as well.

“We’re looking at fifty thousand dollars. That’s with a complete motor rebuild and a new generator. Since we already have a business license for the catering business. We could make the truck business a subsidiary.” Gregory figures he would handle the licenses, while Alissa put together the menu.

He had a degree in business and handle all their business matters. He had helped her start the catering business. She was a first-class cook and could had gone to work for any of the five-star restaurants, but she wanted to start her own business.

She had told him her uncle had inspired her to start the catering business. He had seen how determine she was when she came to class half asleep from staying up long hours to prepare everything for her clients. That was when he knew she was the right partner for him.

“Fifty thousand.” Alissa had most of it already from the catering business and from the life insurance policy her uncle had taken out.The money left over from burying her uncle and his investments.

“I have the money. How soon do you think he could get started on it?” Alissa walks over to look inside the van.

It was going to take a lot of work to get it up to standards, but she was willing to put the work in to accomplish it. Alissa turns around to face Gregory.

“Thanks for everything Gregory. Tell your cousin, him and his employee’s will get free lunches from us.” Alissa figures that was the least they could do for them.

“Oh, you just made a big mistake. Those guys can put away some food.” Gregory knew his cousin’s employees could put away some food.

“Don’t forget, we have a big event tomorrow we need to start on. I think it’s going to be an all-nighter. I called Jessie to come in and help. He said that he had a cousin that needed some work. I told him to bring them in to help out.” Alissa knew even with four people cooking and packing everything, they were going to be cooking all night long.

Alissa walks over towards the door and heads inside. She turns the lights on and put some music on. A few seconds later, Gregory comes walking in. Both scrub up and put hairnets and gloves on as they start pulling everything for the meals they were going to prepare.

Alissa was going to make the home-made noodles, while Gregory cut up the meats they needed for the goulash. There was a knock at the door.

“Come in.” Alissa hands were messy with the dough she was mixing.

Jessie walks in with a short brown hair young woman walking behind him. Jessie notices Alissa mixing dough and Gregory cutting up meat and vegetables.

“You guys could have waited on me.” Jessie hangs his coat up on the hooks.

Bobby follows behind her cousin. She was lucky he was still talking to her. She came out to her parents and friends about being transgender.
Most of her friends didn’t have a problem with it and were willing to help her. However, her family was a different story. Her parents threw her out of the house, literally. Her step-father had picked her up and tossed her out of the house head first. She had hurt her wrist when she landed. He then proceeded to toss her stuff out from her bedroom window.

He broke her laptop and the one art piece she had been very proud of. All her things were littering the ground. She had called Jessie and asked him to come over and help her.

She lost her job at the auto parts place because her father was pals with her supervisor. He was the reason she had gotten the job in the first place.

When Jessie told her that a friend of his needed some help with her catering business. She jumped on the chance to work with him. Jessie has always been a wonderful cousin and treated her right.

“What do you want me to start on? Oh, this is my cousin Bobby. She’s real artistic.” Jessie was proud of his cousin.

“You can start on the schnitzel. We need two hundred of them. She can help you with those.” Alissa glances over towards Bobby to see if she had a apron in her side.

“Give her an apron from storage to wear, Jessie.” Alissa made sure everyone wore proper attire while they were cooking.

There was one health inspector downtown that didn’t like her. She wouldn’t give him any kickback from her catering gigs. He tried to shut her down several times, but if it wasn’t for the mayor stepping in the last time to protect her. He would had succeeded in shutting her down.

He now makes spot inspections, but she makes sure to record his visits.

All night long they prepare everything for the event. It was all German food, including the beer. She had a person at the local beer distributor that sold her authentic German beer. She had a license to buy wholesale and serve it at the event.

By the time morning came. None of them could keep their eyes open. Bobby had fallen asleep on a portable cot around five in the morning that Alissa kept in a backroom. Jessie was going to stay and sleep on the other cot that was in there.

Bobby had asked if she could come along and help serve during the event. Alissa had said she would think about it. She peeks in on Jessie and Bobby to see how they were doing. They were sound asleep.

Alissa and Gregory head inside the house and lay down for a few hours. They had everything prep and ready to go. Alissa takes a nice relaxing shower in the Master bedroom bathroom, while Gregory takes one in the main bathroom.

Once Alissa was done with her shower, she sets the alarm clock and fall onto her bed. It doesn’t take her long to fall asleep. By noon time she is woken-up by her alarm clock and slowly get dress in her catering uniform. When she steps out of her bedroom, Gregory meets her, and they head outside to the catering kitchen. Jessie was up fixing some brunch for himself and Bobby.

Alissa grabs a spare catering uniform for Bobby to wear.

While Alissa was loading up the catering van with the food with Jessie and Gregory’s help. Bobby was getting dress and ready. Jessie told her what she was going to be doing at the event. She comes out of the bathroom and help load the rest of the food and beer onto the van.

The food smelled heavily. As she takes a seat in the back behind Gregory. He was driving, while Jessie acted as navigator.

The place they were setting up at was a conference room in a fancy hotel. The place didn’t like that they didn’t get the catering contract, but Alissa didn’t care. The organizer of the group they were catering for wanted authentic German food. The hotel didn’t have any one to do it. Her catering company knew how, and they got the contract.

“So, Bobby are you an artist?” Alissa had turned around in her seat to look at Bobby.

“Yes ma’am, but I’ve only manage to sell a few of my pieces. I mostly do logo’s or drawings of characters for people on the web.” Bobby enjoyed drawing, painting and sculpting, but couldn’t afford any of the art schools. So, she used video’s off YouTube to learn how to do things.

“I might have a logo for you to draw for me. It’s going to be on our new lunch truck. Do you think you can do it?” Alissa wanted to see what the girl had.

“Yes ma’am. I’ll do a few test drawings for you.” Bobby couldn’t believe she was getting a shot at doing some art that would be seen by everyone.

They arrive at the hotel and park. A few staff members help them unload and take everything up to the conference room. The staff had set the tables up nicely for the event.

Alissa, Bobby, Jessie and Gregory get everything setup as a buffet style so, people could have whatever they wanted. Gregory was serving the beer, while Jessie, Alissa and Bobby served the food and refill any containers that go empty.

The event starts and for the rest of the night Alissa and her crew are kept busy. Once everyone had left. Anything that was left over was shared with the hotel staff. Alissa and her people took a plate each.

By the time they get home. It was late. Bobby goes home with Jessie, while Gregory and Alissa put the dirty utensils in the dishwasher to clean before heading to bed.

Alissa had gotten up early and went out to the catering kitchen and checked the dishes she had left washing when she went to bed. Their supply of stereo cans. She was going to have to make a run to Costco to pick-up more Sterno cans and aluminum full chafing dish steam pans, 19 9/16in wide x 11 5/8in long, 15 aluminum half chafing dish steam pans, 3/4in wide x 9 3/8 in long. The racks she has been using were fine.

Alissa walks into the deep freezer and checks to see what meats and vegetables they were going to need. She still wanted to see if she could replicate her uncle’s barbeque. She had some of his home-made sauce left, but she couldn’t get the meat just like he did. She wanted to use his award-winning barbeque on the food truck.

Which reminded her, that she needed to sit down and create a list of what burgers she was going to serve. Then which one she wanted to enter in the hamburger contest coming up. She was up against some stiff competition for that contest. If she could recreate her uncle’s barbeque. She could do the barbeque burger. Hamburger patty, top with barbeque meat with crispy onions. Then add his homemade barbeque sauce and serve it on a Brioche burger bun.

She’ll have to make a list and create some to test. She walks around the kitchen and wishes her uncle was still here. He would advise her on what she should do. He always gave her good advice and was her Jimmy cricket.

She walks into the storage area where she kept her uncle’s homemade smoker. She knows the key to his barbeque was that smoker and the wood he used. Her uncle constructed the smoker from the frame up. Every inch of this smoker was handcrafted by her uncle. She wonders if his old barbequing partner wouldn’t mind helping her. They were like brothers and would do anything for each other. Maybe he could help her learn her uncle’s secret barbeque method. She runs her hand across the metal surface on the smoker.

She walks over to the dishwasher when it is done. She puts away the clean spoons and pans they used. While she is putting things away. She thinks about how similar her life and her uncle’s life have been. He had been physically abused by his father while protecting his mother. His father killed his mother in a fit of rage. He then killed his father with a kitchen knife. He served time for the crime and was eventually set free after his case was re-evaluated.

Her case was different. Her father, older brother and their friends had attacked her when they thought she was gay. She had volunteered to play a girl’s part in a school play. They found the costume she had been constructing for the play. She kept it hidden because she knew how her father and brothers felt about males playing women parts.

Her oldest brother had gone into her room looking for his fishing pole when he found the dress he was constructing. He also found all the accessories and undergarments that went with the dress. They came up to her High school and pulled her out of class. They took her back to the house and strung her up in the garage.

Her father had started beating her with his fist. Later, her brothers and members of their group showed up. She didn’t know her father and brothers were members of the local white supremacist group. They kept that part of their life secret from her. She was in the hospital for a month because of the torture she endured. She still had marks on her body that reminded her of what happened to her. They had cut her penis off and feed it to the pit bull her brother had adopted and trained. She knew he was into the illegal dog fights and she didn’t approve of it.

The police officer that had found her, said that if she had arrived a few minutes later she would have died. She managed to slow the bleeding, till the paramedics arrived and rush her to the hospital.

Her father made the mistake of pulling a gun on a police officer and was shot to death. Her oldest brother got into a fight with a black officer and he was taken down. Her middle brother, he got in a firefight and got shot in the leg and abdomen.

While she was in the hospital, her uncle visited her every day when he could. When she was discharged from the hospital. She moved in with him and he looked after her. He encouraged her to go to Culinary school after he saw how much she enjoyed working with him. He saw the enjoyment in her eyes when she helped him in the kitchen.

As she was heading back from the storage area. The catering kitchen phone starts ringing.

Alissa walks over to it and picks it up.

“Hello, Skyvue catering service. How can I help you?” Alissa grabs a legal pad to write the order down.

“Do you guys have a wing platter that will feed sixty people?”

“Yes sir, we do. It comes with your choice of two sides. We have a larger platter if you want to do a variety of wings.”

“How much does the sixty-piece wing cost?”

“For a sixty piece, plus two sides. You’re looking at forty-five dollars. If you want us to cater any alcoholic drinks. You’re looking at an additional charge.” Alissa figures at fifty cents a wing, plus the cost of the sides added in. Forty-five dollars was a good cost.

“How much do you charge for setting the event up?” The caller was curious.

“If we set the food up. You’re looking at additional thirty dollars.” Alissa knew it didn’t take her long to set the buffet up.

“I like to hire you guys to set it up for this weekend.”

“We require a non-refundable security deposit.” Alissa didn’t like agreeing to a contract without a deposit.

“How much will that be?”

“Twenty dollars. That’s all.”

“That’s reasonable. Can you, set-up the event this Saturday at 2:00pm.?”

“Yes, I can set up the event this Saturday. What sides would you like?”

“Do you guys serve onion rings?”

“Yes, we do. We also have Blooming onion, Coleslaw, Macaroni and Cheese, cheese sticks, Nachos, French fries, Hush puppies, potato salad,
baked beans and anything else you would like.” Alissa had a long list of sides she has done since opening.

“Let’s add two blooming onions, please.”

“Okay. Now I need an address and a phone number I can reach you at.” Alissa figures she could see if Jessie’s cousin was available to help.

“5417 Waterfront Dr. The number you can reach me at is 731-924-8754. Here is my credit card number for your deposit. Xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-6532. Expiration date 12/21”

Alissa had pulled out her cell phone and used the square app to run the credit card number. Once it is approved.

“Okay, Mr. Killington. I’ll see you at 2:00pm. I forgot to ask you if you wanted normal, mild, or hot?” Alissa could do twenty of each.

“Do you have anything that is hotter than your normal hot?”

“I have a suicide mixture that is the mixture of six different hot peppers.” Alissa shivers. She tried it and she couldn’t finish one wing because of how hot it was.

“Can you give me ten of those out of the sixty?”

“Sure, but I’ll need you to sign a release when I deliver them.” Alissa made that mistake once and wasn’t going to make it again.

“Sure.”

Alissa heard chuckling on the other end. Mr. Killington thought she was joking.

“Alright, Mr. Killington. I’ll see you on Saturday.” Alissa disconnects.

Alissa walks back into the freezer and sees if she needed to go and buy any wings. She had the wings. The peppers she was going to need to make the suicide sauce. She was going to have to pick those up.

She grabs a few things to make herself a sub. As she is walking out of the freezer. Gregory was at the counter fixing them some lunch.

“Hey, what are you fixing?” Alissa figures the items she grabbed to make subs won’t be needed.

“I’m making us, a nice vegetable stew.” Gregory had brought the ingredients with him from his place.

“Oh, boy. I’m in trouble now.” Alissa takes the items in her hands and put them back in the freezer.

“Ha, ha. I’m not that bad of a cook.” Gregory goes back to stirring the stew.

A smile forms on Alissa’s face as she put things back. When she comes back out.

“We have a wing gig this Saturday and the customer wants ten of our suicide wings. He has agreed to sign our release form. He also has put down the security deposit for the event.”

“Is he crazy about the suicide? We have to wear respirators just to make the wing sauce.” Gregory knew how hot the sauce was.

He was the test subject for the sauce. He regretted doing it afterward. They did make a unique pizza sauce with it after they diluted it some.

Alissa sat and watched Gregory. She notices which of their spices he was using and once the stew was done. He fills two bowls and grabs some spoons from the drawer.

“Here you go. Bon appetite.” Alissa takes a bite of it.

It tasted pretty good. She takes another spoonful.

“So, what do you think about the stew?” Gregory had watched Alissa’s face.

“I like it. We should offer it to the catering business or on the food truck.” Alissa knew during the winter or cool months people would love a nice stew.

“How about, we serve it off the food truck? That way people can have something other than burgers?” Gregory knew what Alissa wanted to
serve off the truck.

“Sounds good. I was going to call my uncle’s old partner tonight and ask him to teach me how my uncle uses to do his barbeque. I want to do a barbeque burger and maybe some barbeque ribs or something. The ones we do are good, but my uncles were the best. He won several first-place ribbons.”

“So, you figure if you can learn how your uncle did it. It might be good to add to the food truck?” Gregory knew how much Alissa admired her uncle.

“Yes, that’s what he uses to serve from the truck before he had his heart attack. I know what spices he used in his rub. I also know what type of wood he used in the smoker and cooker. What, I don’t know what else he did to the meat to make it so tender.” Alissa was hoping her uncle's partner might know.

“Okay, I understand. Who are you planning on taking with you to the event?” Gregory had a game to take part in.

“I was thinking about asking Bobby to come with me. Jessie said his cousin could use the work.” Alissa liked Bobby and wanted to know more about her.

“I take it, you like Bobby?” Gregory has always wonder which side Alissa fell.

“God, do all guys just think of sex all the time?” Alissa looks at him with a disgusting look on her face.

“I just want to know what her plans are. I wouldn’t mind having another female working for us. Right now, it’s just me. Besides, we can make more tips.” Alissa continues eating her stew.

Alissa, Bobby, Gregory were unloading the food for the last-minute banquet request. They had been called by the banquet manager of the Sea Bird Motel. They needed a bunch of the standard banquet foods. An order of wings, meatballs, mini-hot dogs, lumpia and devil eggs. She also does a few cheese and cracker plates, spring rolls, oven roasted potatoes, vegetable plate, and salads. She and Gregory had to rush everything to get it done and ready for in the time frame they gave her. She made sure the food was cooked properly.

They had fifteen minutes to get everything set-up and ready for the group. Alissa was kicking herself for taking a last-minute rush job. She knew better than to do this. Her instructors had warned her about doing jobs like this, but with some help. She managed to get everything cooked and loaded up in the serving trays.

Now the three of them were scrambling to set the serving trays up. They managed to get everything set-up on all the tables. The last sterno can have just been lit when everyone came in.

“Wow, that was close.” Bobby watches as hundred plus people started coming in and mingle.

“Yes, it was.” Alissa was watching as people got food from the trays and platters.

“How did you know what foods to prepare for this?” Bobby was curious about how Alissa knew which banquet foods to make.

“I would say experience, but I would be lying. I had the banquet manager send over what he wanted.” A playful smile appears on her face.

“Oh, you are good.” Bobby couldn’t believe how Alissa played her.

“Here, takes this tray over there and refill the wings. I’ll get the lumpia and cheese platter.” Alissa had spotted the empty platter and wings.

For the next two hours, Alissa and her crew stayed busy. As they were working, an idea strikes Alissa as she was cleaning up the wing tray.
She pulls her cell phone out and records the idea of a buffalo burger. She could make the burger itself out of ground chicken formed into a patty. She could add the sauce to the mixture of chopped chicken meat, 2 egg whites lightly beaten, combine with the panko breadcrumbs.

“Watch you writing?” Gregory was looking over Alissa’s shoulder.

“An idea for one of the burgers. The buffalo chicken burger. We could offer the same sauce that we offer for the wings.” Alissa looks over her shoulder at Gregory.

“We better leave the suicide off the menu or you’ll have to get a signature every time you sell it.” Gregory knew every time they sold the suicide they had to get a release. The suicide was offered to their customers who loved extremely hot items.

“I think that might be the best thing to do. Leave the suicide off the menu. Less legal problems to deal with.” Another idea pops into her head.

“The Hawaiian burger might be another good idea. Chopped pork formed into a burger with a ring of grilled pineapple.” Alissa looks at Gregory to see what he thought.

“Why don’t you cook up a few of these ideas and we’ll see how they taste.” Gregory figures they could try the burgers out first.

“I’ll do that.” Alissa gets back to work.

For the next few days, the catering business stays busy. They had three weddings, seven parties and four birthday parties to do. Alissa had gotten everyone she knew to help. She couldn’t believe how many functions they had. She had to split her little team up three times.

By the time her crew is finish with all their events. They were tired. Alissa wonders how she is going to run the food truck and the catering business at the same time. She’s going to need both.

As she is cleaning the kitchen up and putting away the last of the leftovers from the party she just got done doing. It was three in the morning. She was tired and ready to hit the hay.

Gregory comes walking in “this is the last load.”

Gregory walks into the deep freezer and put the leftovers in. They will take all the full trays down to the shelter down the street. The client had
ordered more then they needed. The reason Alissa and company had the leftovers, was the client couldn’t store what was left and told Alissa to keep what was left.

“Thank goodness. I am so tired right now.” Alissa collapse in a nearby chair. Her feet were hurting her and were ready to fall asleep.

“I know what you mean.” Gregory collapses in another chair. He leans back and closes his eyes.

Alissa looks over towards Gregory when she hears him starting to snore. She just smiles as she forces herself to get up out of the chair. She walks over and lightly shake Gregory.

“Wake-up sleepy head.”

Gregory jerks awake “was I snoring?”

“Yes, come on. You can sleep with me tonight.” Alissa helps Gregory up out of the chair and into the house.

She heads back outside to make sure the garage was locked, and the alarm system was armed. Once she was done doing that, she heads back inside and up to her bedroom. Gregory was already there and undressing when she walked in.

She strips out of her clothes and slip her nightshirt on and crawl into bed. She could already hear Gregory lightly snoring. She closes her eyes and drifts off to la, la, land.

When she wakes up the next morning. She finds herself being held by Gregory and could feel his stiff manhood pressed against her butt. This wasn’t the first time the two of them have slept together or even had sex together. She snuggles closer to Gregory as she feels his arm tighten around her waist. She closes her eyes again and falls back asleep. She wakes back up when she feels the bed move and Gregory’s arm let go of her waist. She turns to lay on her back as she watches him race to the bathroom.

While she is waiting for him to come back in. She slips her nightshirt and panties off. she wonders if Gregory is up to some bed wrestling. It’s not like she has to worry about getting pregnant.

Gregory comes back into the room and slips back into bed next to Alissa. He discovers that she had taken her nightshirt and panties off.

“I wonder what you have in mind?” As he starts kissing and caressing her.

She winces when he enters her. He was bigger than her opening, but she didn’t care. For the next two hours, they enjoy each other’s body. She rests against his chest feeling satisfied and peaceful.

Gregory holds Alissa as she rested against his chest. He knew her past but didn’t care. He has always cared for her and he knew she felt the same. They have always tried to pretend they were just friends with others, but maybe they should try to be a couple. He strokes her spine and gets a little purr from her.

He glances at the digital clock on her nightstand and notices it is two in the afternoon. He looks down at her as she rested against his chest.

“You know it’s two in the afternoon, don’t you?”

Alissa glances up and looks over towards her digital clock.

“I don’t want to get up.” She lays her head back down on his chest.

Gregory just chuckles at her statement. He rubs her back.

“Come on sleepy head. We need to get up and take the trays down to the shelter.”

Alissa slowly gets out of bed. She was so sore from having sex, but she enjoyed every minute of it. She heads to the bathroom and takes a shower. Gregory went to the other bathroom to take a shower as well. She knew if they took one together, they wouldn’t be just taking a shower.

She heads back to the bedroom and starts getting dress. Since the weather was cold out. She slips on a pair of skinny jeans and a black turtleneck long sleeve shirt. She brushes her hair out as she blows dries it.

A few minutes later Gregory comes walking back in “do I have any clean clothes here?”

“Yep, third drawer down.” She slips her black furry boots on.

Gregory goes over and pulls out what he has inside the drawer. He gets dress in clean clothes. He finishes getting dress and joins Alissa as she heads down to the garage to start loading the trays in the van.

“Only load the unopen trays, Gregory.” Alissa carries a few trays out to the van.

“Gotcha.” Gregory grabs a few more trays.

Altogether they had close to twenty trays from their various events that they had set aside for the shelter. Alissa grabs a couple packages of paper plates she had on hand as well.

“I’m driving.” Gregory grabs the keys from the back door and hops into the driver seat.

Alissa hops into the passenger seat. She watches as Gregory drives the van down to Saint Margaret’s. They park in the parking lot.

“I’ll go and see who is here.” Alissa heads towards the shelter entrance.

She knocks on the door and waits a few minutes. She knocks again on the door again. A few minutes later she spots Rachel coming towards the door.

Rachel heard someone knocking at the shelter door. Most of the homeless and less fortunate they feed knew they didn’t open for dinner for a few more hours. As she gets closer to the door and looks through the reinforced window in the door. She spots Alissa standing on the other side of the door. She knew she had a catering business and normally donated food and such to the shelter.

“Hey Alissa, what can I do for you?” Rachel was happy to see her friend.

“I have some food for you to give out.”

“Thank you, Alissa. You don’t know how much this means to the shelter.” Rachel had been worried they might not enough food for tonight.

“You’re welcome Rachel. If you could go and bring a few carts back, it will help.” It would take her and Gregory a while to move all the food.

“Give me a few minutes.” Rachel closes the door and heads towards the kitchen to grab a few carts.

She props the door open and walks with Alissa to her van. Gregory opens the van doors and helps load the trays from the van to the carts. The total amount of trays they unloaded was eighteen.

“What happens? Did you burn the food again?” Rachel has only seen Alissa bring this much food when she burned or overcooked something.

“No. This is left over from a few of my clients. There’s potato salad,Coleslaw, baked beans, string bean casserole, barbeque chicken, hot wings, onion rings, egg rolls, beef stir-fry, and a few other dishes. I label each one, so you’ll know.” Alissa wanted to make sure Rachel knew what was on each tray.

“Thank you so much, Alissa.” Rachel hugs Alissa and Gregory.

“If you ever needs anything Rachel. Just call me. You and the shelter helped me and my uncle out a lot when we were going through a bad time. I want to repay what you did for us.” Alissa had just moved in with her uncle and he had come down with a nasty bug.

She didn’t know how to cook and because he wasn’t working because of his sickness. They didn’t have money to buy any food and the electricity was about to be turned off. The shelter stepped in and helped them out. They paid the electric bill and sent meals down to her uncle. She had learned that he would donate his time and food to the shelter.

“You don’t need to do that, Alissa, but I do appreciate the offer.” Rachel liked Alissa a lot. She wishes that her daughter had turned out like Alissa.

A helper comes out to help Rachel bring everything in. They take everything inside the shelter.

“So, what do you want to do next?”

“What don’t we go to the market and grab some ingredients for dinner tonight. I also want to try and make some of those burgers I suggested yesterday?” Alissa hops in on the passenger side.

“Sounds like a plan.” Gregory gets in and heads towards the outside market.

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

Alissa stretches as she gets out of bed. She stumbles into the bathroom and takes a nice hot shower to wake-up. Today, she was going to go and visit her Uncle’s old BBQ partner. She wants to learn how to make barbecue like her uncle and sell it from her hamburger truck.

Once she is done with her shower. She gets dress in a pair of nice blue jeans, a baby blue blouse, and black ankle boots. She slips her favorite necklace on that has a picture of her uncle and mom in it.

She heads down to the kitchen and makes herself a nice cup of coffee. Just before she leaves the house, she checks on her uncle’s old smoker/cooker. She runs her hand over the surface of the metal and can only imagine her uncle cooking with it.

She grabs her car keys and drives over towards her uncle’s old partners house. She remembers where it was as she pulls up in front an old pale white ranch style house. The front yard was cut, and it looked like someone was preparing the flower beds in front of the house.

She gets out of her company van and walks up to the front door and knocks on it. She looks out towards the neighborhood and remembers the first time her uncle brought her here to the house. She had been out of the hospital for two months and her uncle dragged her out of the house.
She was scared to come out in public after everything that had been done to her.

She knocks one more time on the door. She hopes Alexander will talk with her.

“Who is it?” Alexander normally didn’t get visitors and the ones that did visit him. They always wanted something from him.

“It’s Alissa Spencer, You and my uncle use to cook barbecue together.”

Alexander opens the door when he hears Alissa voice. He looks at the five-foot woman with curly brown hair standing at his front door. The last time he saw her, was the day they buried his best friend.

“Come on in Alissa.” He steps aside to let her in.

“Thank you.” Alissa steps in.

Alexander shuts the front door and escorts Alissa to the kitchen. He was in the process of making his coffee.

“So, how has life been treating you since your uncle died?”

“It’s been alright. I started a catering service and graduated from culinary school. My friend and fellow classmate Gregory Brown is my partner in the catering business.”

“Oh? What type of food do you cater?”

“All sorts. I don’t limit myself to only one style. Plus, I make everything from scratch.”

“Would you like some coffee?” As Alexander steps behind the counter and pour himself a mug.

“No thank you. I already had a cup before coming over here.”

“Well, then you know what my next question is for you then. Why are you here?” Alexander takes a sip of his coffee.

“I was wondering if you could teach me how my uncle made his barbecue so tender? I’m thinking about having a food truck that specializes in
hamburgers and one of those burgers I’m hoping to do is a barbecue burger. Basically, a hamburger with shredded barbecue piled on and top with a vinaigrette coleslaw and hot sauce.”

Alexander loved the idea of the burger. It would be something he would try to do.

“So, what is the problem? Didn’t your school teach you how to do barbecue?”

“Not really. They taught us how to do it in the oven, but I want to do it the way you and my uncle use to do it. I know what spices he used in the rub, but I don’t know how he and you made the meat so tender.”

Alexander looks at Alissa and wonders if he should help her. She was a nice girl and she had such high ideas and hope.

“I can show you, but the best way for you to learn is to enter into a barbecue contest. Do you still have your uncle’s smoker/cooker?”

“Yes sir, I still have it. I’m having the food truck my uncle uses to sell barbecue from, fixed. That way I can use it to sell burgers from.”

“Well, if you’re willing to learn. I think the best way for me to teach you is to enter us into a barbecue contest. That way you can see how it is done. Do you have any others that would be willing to come along?”

“Yes, sir. I have three other people I can call on to help.”

“Good. Do you want to try?”

“Sure, I wouldn’t mind learning by entering in a contest.”

“Good, would you mind if I look at the old smoker/cooker before we go any further?”

“I don’t mind. I’ve been keeping it in storage since Uncle Pemton died.”

“Good. Let me finish my coffee and we can go over to your house and look at it. If its still in good condition, I know of a barbecue contest going on this weekend that we can enter.”

“Okay.”

Twenty minutes later Alissa and Alexander arrive at her place. Alexander stops as they walk up the driveway. Memories of his best friend come flooding back as he recalls the days of them sitting in the driveway on a nice sunny day and drinking beer. Just watching the neighborhood children ride their bicycles and skateboards.

Alissa notices Alexander just standing and looking at the converted garage.

“Is everything okay?”

Alexander recovers and looks towards Alissa.

“Just remembering the days that your uncle and I would just sit out here while the smoker was going. We would drink beer and watch the neighborhood children ride their bicycles and skateboards. Now a day you don’t see that. They are either inside playing their computers games or binge-watching movies on the televisions.

Parents are more concern about making money, so they can brag about having the biggest television or playing games themselves. Instead of getting their butts and children outside to enjoy mother nature.”

“Times are different nowadays, sir. Companies are more concern about business and making a profit, then letting couples enjoy life.” Alissa was glad she worked for herself.

“Not to mention youngsters like yourself feel they are owed things that use to take your parents and grandparents most of their lives to acquire.” Alexanders grandchildren felt that way.

“Not me sir. I value things more than your average person my age. My uncle taught me that if I want something, I need to work for it. I’ll enjoy it more if I earned it.”

Alexander smiles at Alissa. That would be something he would expect his friend to instill in his niece.

“So, where is your uncle’s old smoker/cooker.” He hopes she didn’t leave it out in the yard.

“Right here.” Alissa unlocks the garage door and lifts it up, exposing the smoker/ cooker, along with several other items that her uncle used.

Alexander walks over and looks at the smoker/cooker. It was still in the same condition as the day it was put away.

“I tried to keep it clean. I come in here once a week to dust it and oil the joints.” Alissa walks over and stands next to Alexander.

“I know your uncle would be proud of you.” As he lifts the top and checks inside.

He could still smell the wood smell that clung to the sheet metal. He inhales the familiar smell and just holds it.

“I’ve missed that smell.”

Alissa was just standing back and watching. Alexander reminded her of her uncle when he would just come out to smell the scent of the wood smell from the smoker/cooker.

“Here, let’s pulls this out and take a look at everything.” Alexander starts unlocking the wheels on the smoker and pulls it out into the daylight.

Alissa helps him pull the smoker/cooker out. She was still amazed how easy the wheels moved.

“You’ve kept this in good condition.”

“I figure I might need it one day. So why would I just let it get dusty?”

“Good answer.” Alexander walks around the smoker/cooker inspecting.

“So, what types of meat will we be cooking at this contest?” Pulls out a small notebook to take notes.

“Ribs, Chicken, Brisket, and pork butt which is used for pull pork.” Alexander was satisfied with the condition of the smoker.

He looks over towards Alissa as she wrote everything down. A smile appears on, his face because he realizes she is serious about this.

“You said you remember what your uncle’s rub is? Do you have any of it or will you have to make some?”

“I have a quarter of a container and I can make some more myself. If you don’t mind, I could whip up a sauce for the ribs and chicken I think you’ll like.”

“Make up a small amount and let me taste it. Sometimes judges can be a little picky.”

“Alright. Do the judges provide the meat or do the competitors?”

“You're going to have to buy the meat. I’ll come with you when you go to buy the meat. I know a nice butcher shop I think you’ll like.”

“You don’t like the meat in the store?” Alissa was curious why.

“Nope, I prefer freshly butchered meat. It won’t have any preservatives. Also, we’ll need to pick up some Hickory, Mesquite, and Maple woods. The Hickory has a bacon flavor to it. The Mesquite has a strong flavor to it and the Maple has a light sweet flavor to it. You’ll need the hickory for the brisket. That is one of your uncle’s secret. The maple was used for the ribs and chicken.”

“Could I use them to cook hamburgers and such?” Alissa had an idea.

“Yes, you could cook or smoke your hamburgers.”

“Cool. Hey, Alexander have you ever heard of a person putting cut brisket on top of a hamburger patty and cover it with pepper jack cheese?”

“Not that I know of. You could do a straight Brisket sandwich. That would go over well with your hamburger ideas.”

“I like the idea. So, what else will we need for the competition?”

“Why don’t we put the smoker away and sit down to talk about it.”

“Sounds good. I’ll make lunch for us.”

“I hope you’re a better cook then your aunt was.”

“I am. I learned everything my uncle knew and expanded on it.”

Alissa helps push the smoker/cooker back into the storage area and closes the garage door. Alissa escorts Alexander into the kitchen.

“Are subs alright?”

“Yes. If you have roast beef or corn beef. I could go for one.”

“I have both. I’ll make you a nice corn beef sandwich.”

Alexander sits down at the small kitchen table in the kitchen. He watches as Alissa goes about fixing them lunch.

“I remember when your uncle converted this. I thought he was foolish, but he said he was doing it for you.”

“He knew I wanted to have my own catering business. I had a few jobs while I was in school and I was driving him crazy using the kitchen. So,
he felt I needed my own kitchen to cook in. So, he decided to convert his garage into a kitchen for me.”

“Well, he did a good job. How busy does your catering business get?”

“Some weeks we are so busy, that we sleep in the spare room here. Other weeks we are so slow, that I and my partner go around to some of our former clients to remind them we are still around. We also, try to make new clients as well.”

“So, in other words, Yes?”

“Yes.” Alissa finished making the sandwiches.

“Here you go, enjoy.” Alissa sets the plate with the sandwich down in front of Alexander.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Alissa sits down at the table with her plate.

Alissa and her crew couldn’t believe how many people had shown up for the barbecue contest. There had to be close to a hundred or more.

“I never thought, that there would be this many person here for the competition.”

Alexander just smiles as they pass certain teams and individuals to the spot they had been assigned to set-up shop at. He spots a few people he knew when he and Pemton use to compete. Some members of the teams he knew. While the others he saw were new people. Some of them he could see the family resemblance to people he used to know.

“There’s our spot, right next to the Dancing Pig and across from Devil’s Pit Barbecue.” Gregory had been navigating from the map they had been given when they pulled in and registered.

“We’re competing against these people?”

“Yep, and I'm not worried about it. Alissa is a really good cook and I’m sure she can compete and win.” Jessie knew Alissa had a few secrets of her own that would allow her to beat these people.

“Careful backing up Gregory.” Alissa didn’t want anything to happen to her uncle’s smoker/cooker.

Once Gregory has the smoker/cooker in place. Alexander gets out with Alissa and unhooks it. They maneuver the smoker/cooker to where they want it. Afterward, Bobby and Alissa set-up the canopy and the rest of the work area. Gregory, Alexander, and Jessie get the rest of the equipment and water hose connected.

“Alissa, you might want to start preparing the brisket for cooking. That’s the first item we must turn in tomorrow morning and will take all night to cook.” Alexander was making sure they got everything set right with the smoker/cooker.

“Okay, Alex.” Alissa takes the brisket out that they had bought. She thought she knew meat but was surprised by how Alexander knew the right ratio of meat to fat that the meat should have. That was one of the secrets to the meat.

“Bobby, wash your hands and give me a hand please preparing these meats.” Alissa bought five briskets for the contest.

“Okay.” Bobby washes her hands in the portable sink

“Here’s the mixture I am going to use. I need the whole brisket covered, please.” Alissa hands her the container she had filled up with her uncle’s mixture. She made a fresh batch and had Alexander taste it to make sure it was right.

The next thirty minutes, Alissa and Bobby work preparing five briskets and three pork butts. Alissa was trimming the fat that they didn’t need off it.

“Hey Alexander, you got a minute?”

Alexander looks over towards Alissa. He was showing the guys how to stack the wood in the smoker and cooker part. How to make sure everything had the proper heat settings. Where to put the water pans and drip pans.

“Coming. Do you guys think you have this?” Alexander looks towards Gregory and Jessie.

“Yes sir, we have it.” The guys watch as Alexander walk over towards the makeshift kitchen.

Alexander looks at the meats that Alissa had trimmed the fat off of.

“You did good kid.” Alexander was impressed with the fat that Alissa had cut off. She didn’t take any meat off.

“Thanks.” Alissa goes back to work on the other meats and trims the fat off.

While Alissa was trimming the meat off, Bobby was covering the whole brisket in the spices Alissa had put together. She made sure every aspect of the meat was covered. Once the briskets were covered, she places them on wax paper on a tray.

“Okay, they are ready to be moved into the smoker,” Bobby calls out to her cousin.

Jessie walks over towards Bobby and get the tray and carry it back over to the smoker. Gregory under Alexanders guidance places the meat on the racks in the smoker. He explains why they were doing it that way.

Bobby and Alissa prepare the chicken and ribs for cooking tomorrow. Alissa was going to make a special sauce to cover the ribs and to put on the pulled pork. While the guys watched the meats, her and Bobby start working on the sauce. She was using a smaller barbecue grill to grill Mexican Chile’s and peppers on.

She uses the blender to mix them when they are finished being grilled and skinned. She works on the sauce and when she thinks she has it.

“Hey guys, can you come over and taste this, please?” Alissa gives each of them a small cup of sauce.

Alexander tries it first “Wow, that’s some strong sauce.”

Jessie and Gregory try the sauce “man this stuff is hot and sweet.”

Bobby sticks her pinky in her cup and tries it. She wasn’t much for hot sauce. She tastes it and wasn’t taken back with it. She loved the smoky flavor it had.

“You have a winner here. I would put this on my barbecue sandwiches.” Bobby cleans her pinky finger.

“Hell, I would put this on the sandwiches I get from Arby’s. this is a good sauce.” Gregory and Jessie liked it.

“What do you think Alexander? Should I enter this in along with our meats?” Alissa looks at Alexander since he was more familiar with how the judges, judge.

“I think you should. I would also add that sauce to your ribs as well.”

“Sounds like a plan. Since we're going to be up all night. Why don’t I go ahead and start making us some burgers for dinner?”

“I’ll help you, Alissa.” Bobby stands up and grabs a Pepsi from the cooler.

“While you are cooking dinner, I think I’m going to see who is still around that I know.” Alexander leaves their area and starts walking around. He was looking around for people he once knew and visiting some of the competitors he once knew.

“So, what else are we having to go along with the burgers?” Gregory walks over to where Alissa was working on making the patties.

“Well, if you want. We can have french fries or homemade onion rings.” Alissa brought both with them. She also brought the ingredients for the side dishes they needed to turn in.

“Onion rings sound good.”

“Okay, can you get the deep fryer and heat some oil up please?” Alissa goes over to the cooler and pulls out everything she needs to make the onion rings.

“What type of burgers are we having?” Gregory had seen Alissa adding, green peppers, red peppers, onions and yellow peppers to the hamburger meat.

“A pepper burger. I thought I would add the sauce I just made on top with lettuce and tomatoes.”

“Sounds good.” Gregory sets the deep fryer up and gets the hot right.

Alissa was cutting up a large yellow onion and separating the rings. She dredges the onion rings through the beer flavor batter. Once she has a large amount did. She takes the cookie tray she was cooking the burgers on and put it in the smoker/cooker to cook the burgers in there.

While the burgers are cooking. Alissa cooks the onion rings. She spotted Bobby checking on the burgers and flipping them.

“If you want too, you can put the buns in there and toast them.” Alissa takes a package of buns out to Bobby to toast.

By the time food was ready, everyone was back and sitting around out by the smoker/cooker. Gregory, Alexander, and Jessie were drinking beer, while Bobby and Alissa were drinking soda.

“Did you run into any people you know Alexander?” Alissa looks over towards him.

“Yes, I ran into four people I knew. They were surprised to see me, and it was nice seeing them again.” As Alexander takes a bite of his burger.

“Well, I hope your willing to help out. I don’t know if I can cook the barbeque and run the burger truck.” Alissa was thinking about letting Alexander be her pitmaster.

Alexander looks at Alissa and thinks about what she was suggesting. He loved the smell of the smoke and always liked cooking.

“Let me think about it, Alissa.” He’ll have to give it some thought.

“Okay.” Alissa finishes her burgers and onion rings.

Alissa watches as everyone starts to fall asleep. She was going to stay awake making sure all the meat she was cooking got cooked properly.
She watches as Alexander slowly dozed off. She walks over to her catering van and pulls out a blanket she had brought with them. She covers him up and starts a fresh pot of coffee.

“Are you planning to stay awake all night?” Joe had spotted a newcomer and watched as she and her friends worked on their meat. He also remembered Alexander from when he uses to come to the cookoffs.

Alissa nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a deep southern sound voice come from behind her. She turns around to see who it was.

“Someone has too. If you don’t mind me asking, who are you?”

“I’m Joe Berkley, I’m the owner of The Pork Shack.”

Alissa looked at the man. He had to be 6’5” or so and very muscular. He reminded her of the signed picture her uncle had of the footballer
player William Perry. He looked like he could be related to him.

“It’s nice meeting you, Mr. Berkley. I’m Alissa Spencer the owner of Skyvue Catering Service.” Alissa shakes Joe’s hand.

“So, what got you interested in competition barbecuing?”

“Would you like to sit down?” Motions to one of the folding chairs they had brought.

“Thank you.” Joe sits in the nearest empty chair.

“Would you like some coffee?” Alissa was pouring herself a cup.

“Please.” Joe was wondering if she was stalling.

“To answer your question. I’m going to operate a food truck that will sell burgers and I wanted to sell one that was a barbecue burger. My grandfather uses to do competition barbecuing before he died and I wanted to have his style of barbecue in the burger.” She carries the cup of coffee over to him.

“Thank you.” Joe accepts the coffee. He inhales the scent of it and notices it was a dark roast blend.

“You’re welcome.” Alissa takes her coffee and sits down in her lawn chair.

“So, you figure you would enter a barbecue contest?”

“Well, my uncle’s partner felt I would learn better if I did.” Alissa points towards Alexander who was sound asleep in the van.

“Your uncle was Alexander’s partner?”

“Yes sir.”

A smile appears on his face. He remembers meeting Pemton when he was just twelve years old. He gave him a lunch box filled with barbeque.

“I met your uncle once. He was a nice guy. How is he, now a day?”

“He died a year ago. He did a lot for me.” Alissa tries to hold back the tears as she thinks about her uncle.

“Sorry to hear that. That burger you were talking about sounded interesting. What other burgers were you thinking about serving?”

“A Hawaiian, Hot Wing, Vegan, Macburger, Bison and a few others.” Alissa still had a few more burgers she was thinking about.

“You have an interesting selection of burgers.”

“I know, but I figure people will like them. How busy does your place get?”

“We stay steady. My barbecue draws a lot of customers. Are you entering into all the categories?”

“Yes, sir. Alexander thought we might win a few.”

“Well, I hope you do.”

“Thanks, me too.”

Alissa and Joe talk for a while. Joe leaves to tend to his cooker. Alissa checks hers. She takes the briskets and wrap them in foil and add some apple juice with beef broth added to it. She pokes holes in the foil to let it steam while it cooked. The pork butt, she spreads her sauce on it.
She hopes it penetrates the meat and soaks in.

“Alissa, wake-up.” Gregory lightly shakes Alissa’s shoulder.

Alissa wakes-up and looks up at Gregory. She was still a little out of it. “Did I fall asleep?”

A smile appears on Gregory’s face “I wouldn’t be wakening you if you hadn’t.”

“How’s the meat?” Alissa stands up out of her lawn chair as she walks over towards the smoker to check on everything.

“Everything is fine. You need to get the brisket ready to turn in first.” Bobby walks over with a cup of coffee she made for everyone. She hands the cup of coffee to Alissa.

“Thanks, Bobby.” She takes a sip of it and moans as it slides down her throat. It tasted and felt so nice.

Alissa pulls the brisket out and starts cutting it up. She slices them thin and cut the brunt ends into nicely shaped cubes. She puts exactly eight slices in the box and arranges it, so it looks pretty.

“Okay, these are ready to go Bobby.” Alissa closes the box and hands it off to Bobby.

Bobby picks it up and carries it to the judges to turn in. Bobby carefully carries the box to the turn in table. She was behind several other people that had been rushing to finish and get in line.

Alissa turns to Alexander “what is next?”

“Pull pork and finally, the chicken.” Alexander comes over towards Alissa and put a set of gloves on. He shows her how to pull it apart and show her what needs to be turned in.

She adds the sauce she made for it and mix it in with the meat.

“Alexander, try a piece and tell me what you think?” Alissa hands him a small plate of barbecue.

Alexander tries it and loved what he was tasting. The meat was properly cooked, and you could taste what type of wood they used. You could taste the spices Alissa used to cook the meat and the sauce balanced everything out.

“If you don’t win first place with this, then the judges taste buds are dead. This is better than your uncles and my barbecue.” He had to admit, the girl had some cooking skills.

“Here you go, Bobby.” Alissa hands her the BBQ box.

“Boy, you get a workout delivering food to the judges.” Bobby accepts the box and heads back to the Judges.

“Now, time to cook the chicken.” Alissa already had the chicken prepared to go into the smoker. She prepped it last night while she was waiting
on brisket and pulled pork. She checks the ribs and they were almost ready. She lays down more sauce on them to keep them juicy and moist.

“Don’t forget about your sides.” Alexander almost forgot about that one.

“Thanks, Alexander.” Alissa looks over towards Gregory.

“I’m on it.” Gregory and Jessie head over and start on the sides. They were making coleslaw and potato salad.

It doesn’t take them long to get the sides ready. Gregory follows Alissa’s recipe for coleslaw and her famous sweet potato salad. Once the sides are done “Bobby, was ready.”

Bobby puts her soda down and runs over to carry the sides to the judges. She walks off with the sides. When she comes back, she notices that Alissa was watching the chicken.

“How much longer?” Bobby walks over and stands next to Alissa.

“Not much longer.” She offers Bobby some bacon she cooked.

“Thanks.” Bobby takes a few slices and munches on them.

A while later Bobby and Jessie are running towards the turn in the table with the ribs and chicken. Alissa watches as they dodge other contestants heading that way. She looks at the food she has left over. “Well, we have lunch and dinner here.”

Everyone fixes themselves a plate of leftover meat and chicken. They also try the sides Gregory and Jessie made. Everyone enjoys their lunch.

“You should think about selling your barbecue other than on your burgers, Alissa.” Alexander loved everything she cooked. He loved the homemade sauce she came up with and put on the ribs. It infused with the meat nicely.

“Will all contestants please report to the stage area?”

Alissa was feeling nervous. This will tell her and everyone in her group how well they did. She really wanted to make her uncle and his partner proud of her.

Alexander could see how nervous Alissa was “you did good Alissa. I know your uncle would be proud of you.”

“I hope so Alexander.” She follows behind Gregory towards the stage.

Chuck Steward looks out at all the contestants as they gathered before the stage. He couldn’t believe how many entries’s they had to try. It was a hard choice, but they had whittled down several entries. They had a tie for 4th and 3rd place in ribs and briskets.

Alissa watches the middle age man as he stood in front of all of them. She hopes she ranks, even if it very low. She takes a deep breath and holds it.

“It was a difficult choice from so many entries, but we selected the best brisket. First place goes to Skyvue catering service.”

Alissa looks up when she hears her teams name. She let the breath she has been holding out and a big smile appears on her face.

“Go on up and get your reward money.” Alexander nudges Alissa to go up and get her check and award.

Chuck hands the check and award to the young looking teenage girl. She holds it up for Gregory to snap a picture of her and the speaker.
Once he had the picture, she heads back to her friends.

“Sixth place for barbecue chicken, goes to Skyvue catering.” Alissa couldn’t believe they came in sixth place for barbecue chicken. She gets a
check for $100.00 dollars, where she got a check for $500.00 for first place.

First place for the best barbecue chicken went to the Chicken Shack. Second place for the brisket went to Oinkers Barbecue. Fifth place for barbecue chicken went to The Roaster King.

“Third place for Ribs is a tie. Skyvue Catering and the Flaming Pig.” Alissa couldn’t believe they tied with another team. She gets a check for $200.00 hundred dollars. She had to split the award money with Flaming Pig. She would have gotten $400.00, but she tied and ended up with $200.00.

“First place for pork butt/ pulled pork goes to Skyvue Catering.” Chuck looks over towards the young girl as she comes up to claim her check.

Alissa couldn’t believe she won first place. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She hopes her uncle was watching her. She receives
another $500.00-dollar check. Her sides come in second place and her sauce, comes in first place for the best exotic sauce.

Alexander looks down at Alissa and could tell she had been crying “you have done your uncle and me proud today.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you, Alexander.” She gives him a hug.

Alexander just holds her and was glad to help his best friend niece. She had his spirit and adventurous nature. After a while, he lets go of her.
It only takes them a half an hour to clean their cooking site and making sure all the coals were out of the smoker/cooker. All their trash and used coals are taken care of. They had some wood left that was going with them along with the food they had left over, which was put properly away.

In the overall championship, she came in second place. The team who took first place was Southern Hog Barbecue. If she was going to stay and compete, she would do good at it. The money she won, paid for the cuts of meat she bought and gave her a nice little profit, which she split with her friends and Alexander.

They head home after they were satisfied that their spot was completely clean. Alexander gets dropped off first with a huge box of everything they cooked.

“I won’t have to cook dinner for the next few days.” A smile appears on his face.

“I couldn’t have done it without you, Alexander.” Alissa was very happy he had agreed to help and teach her.

“Maybe, we can do another one?”

“Maybe, it depends on how busy I get.” Alissa wouldn’t mind doing another competition.

“You never know.” Alexander walks into his house with his treasures.

Alissa seats back and closes her eyes. She couldn’t believe she won first place three times. Her sauce was inspired and some of the others pitmasters there. They gave her a bottle or two of theirs. She was going to try them out and see which ones she was going to use on her truck.
Gregory could tell Alissa was tired. He backs the company van into the driveway and parks.

Alissa opens her eyes when she feels the van stop.

“Go inside and rest Alissa. I’ll unload everything.”

“Are you sure?” She covers up a yawn.

“Yes, I got some sleep last night. You go in and get ready for bed. I’ll handle everything.”

Alissa leans over and gives him a kiss as she heads inside the house. She starts stripping out of her clothes and takes a quick shower.

Gregory puts away everything they took with them and unloaded the smoker/cooker. He takes the leftovers into the house with him and put them away.

Alissa comes out of the shower and dries her hair, before laying down. Once her head hit the pillow, she was gone.

Gregory comes upstairs and head into Alissa’s bedroom and find out her out for the count. A smile appears on, his face, as he undresses and climbs in next to her.

“Sweet dreams.” He places a kiss on her cheek. He lays down and falls asleep himself.

Alissa couldn’t believe she finally got her food truck. She walks around examining and testing everything out. She couldn’t believed how clean it was and that everything was working. She looks over towards Jimmy as he stood by and watched her.

Alissa exists the truck and walks over towards Jimmy and gives him a big hug. Tears were coming down her face. The truck was completely done. Bobby did the artwork on the truck and it had turned out beautiful.

She even did the menu. She had tricked Alissa in telling her what the burgers were going to be and how much she was charging for each burger, sides, and drinks. A facebook page had been created and a twitter account had been set-up as well.

“Jimmy, you did an amazing job on the truck.” She releases him and steps back.

“I’m glad you like it. Because I have another surprise for you. I managed to save you some money. All the repairs and items came to
$35,000.00. So, here is a check for $15,000.00.” Jimmy hands the check to Alissa.

“Thank you, Jimmy.” Alissa tucks the check into her pants pocket.

“You’re welcome, Alissa. So, what is the next step?”

“I have to get it inspected by the health department. All who are working on it need to have their food handler cards.” Alissa was dreading the health inspection.

If it wasn’t for the mayor helping that once, she would have lost her license. The inspector she had last time had tried to blackmail her for more money. Hopefully, this time around she’ll get an honest inspector.

“Well, since the truck is ready. Let me treat you and your guys to a huge lunch.” Alissa heads towards her catering truck and starts setting up the grill she brought with her.

While she handles the grill, Gregory pulls everything else out that she had prepared. He sets the food up, while she cooks. He also breaks out the keg of beer she promised them for doing the job.

The whole entire evening her and Gregory feed Jimmy and his crew. Jimmy’s crew had invited their family to come up and partake in the food. Alissa had done a big spread for them. They had everything from hamburgers and hot dogs, to hot wings, ribs, and barbecue.

She watches as the crew and their family enjoys the food. Gregory makes sure only the adults get the beer. He checks anyone he has doubts about. When people start leaving, Alissa and Gregory start packing up everything. Any leftovers they have, they’ll take down to the shelter tomorrow morning.

“Gregory, I want to drive the truck home. Can you drive the van?” Alissa couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel of the truck.

“Okay, be careful.” Gregory gets in the van and leads the way.

Alissa couldn’t how well it responded to her. She carefully drove the truck back to her place and backed it up into the driveway near the garage. She was going to load it up with the spices and everything she’ll need.

“So, how did it handle?” Gregory comes walking around to her.

“It drove fantastically. I didn’t know it could run so well.” Alissa had known her uncle always had problems starting it.

Now all she had to do was just turn the key and it fired right on over. She runs her hand along the surface of the truck. Bobby did one hell of a job painting what she wanted on it.

“Come on, help me load the leftovers into the walk in.” Gregory carries a tray into the garage.

Alissa picks up a tray and carries it into the walk in. She notices they had six trays and several containers of sides left. She sets aside some wings to have later.

“Hey, what do we do with eh rest of the beer?” Gregory felt the keg is about a quarter full.

“Well, we can either finish it off or turn it in like it is.” Alissa has already paid for it.

“I think I’ll invite some of the guys over tomorrow and finish it off.” Gregory figures a good poker game would be fun.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Alissa finishes putting everything away, except the wings she set aside for herself.

“What would you like for the poker game tomorrow?” As Alissa heads towards the house.

“Well, how many wings do we have left?” Gregory figures, wings, subs, pizza.

“How about wings, four different type of subs and a few pizzas?” He looks at Alissa to see what she thought.

Alissa thinks about it “that does sound like a good idea. I’ll make some appetizers for everyone to munch on.”

Alissa fixes them a light dinner. She reheated her wings for herself and make some mini-tacos for Gregory. He likes her mini-tacos. Once she had their dinner ready, they select a movie to watch.

Alissa cuddles up to Gregory after she finishes eating. She doesn’t know what she would do without him by her side. He has helped make her dream come true.

Next Day:
Alissa wakes to her alarm on her phone going off. She stretches as she gets out of bed. Gregory was still asleep next to her. She heads towards the bathroom and does her business. She grabs her robe and put it on as she heads towards the kitchen and brews some coffee.

As she is waiting for the coffee to brew, she goes over what she needs to do today. She needs to get the truck set-up with supplies. She needed to take the leftovers she has down to the shelter and set-up for the poker game tonight.

Alissa feels a set of strong arms wrap around her waist and a kiss on her cheek. She returns the kiss and smile at Gregory.

“What were you thinking about?” As Gregory holds Alissa’s waist.

“What needs to be done today.” Alissa leans against Gregory.

“Well, we can set the truck up tomorrow. Because you won’t get an inspector out here over the weekend.”

“I know. Tomorrow, I don’t have any catering work. So, it would be a good time setting the truck up.” Alissa leans forwards and pours her coffee.

Gregory lets go of Alissa’s waist as he waits for her to fix her coffee. Once she was done, he fixes himself a cup. After the two of them finishes their coffee and get dress. They load the van up with the leftovers and take them down to the shelter. After visiting the shelter, they go and do some grocery shopping.

Gregory and Alissa had called people they knew for the poker game tonight at Alissa’s house. Bobby was coming over to help serve the food. She didn’t like gambling, so didn’t mind helping to serve the food and drinks.

Their friends show up at 7:00 p.m. Bobby and Alissa start setting out the food. As Alissa heading back to the house kitchen.

“Bobby, you did an amazing job with the paint and menu on the truck.”

“Thanks, Alissa. I was wondering if your offer still stands to work with you on it?” Bobby found out she needed more money to see her psychiatrist.

“Yep, my offer still stands. You always have a job with me. There is one thing we must do though. I need for you to get a food handler license.
I’ll pay for it, for you.” Alissa was going to make sure to cover all her bases.

“Thanks again.” Bobby liked that Alissa was a good friend and was willing to help her out.

“Any time. Now, let’s feed our hungry poker players.” Alissa grabs a tray loaded with several types of subs and carry them into the living room, where the poker game was going on.

Alissa stood nearby as the Food Inspector went over her truck. The guy was the same one that gave her a hard time before. She watches as he went over every inch of her truck. He already chewed her ass out for putting items on her truck. He said before he would continue his inspection she would have to remove everything she loaded the truck up with.

He stood nearby and watched her as she took everything she had inside the truck out. Once the truck was unloaded. He went inside and started inspecting the truck. Inspector Donald goes over every inch of the truck. He dislikes the fact that a freak like Alissa Spencer was in the food business. He knew she was one of those filthy, pedophile transgender people. People that say they were born in the wrong bodies. His belief on that BS is that they should either be put in a mental hospital or just put out of their misery.

He couldn’t find anything wrong with the truck at all. Everything he came across was brand new inside the truck and outside as well. He looks at Alissa as she stood nearby “Here’s your permit.” He reluctantly gives her the permit. After handing her the permit “people like you should be placed in a mental hospital.”

Alissa was taken back by that statement “what are you referring too?”

“Boys pretending to be girls. You should be placed in a mental hospital or locked up.” Donald just looks right into her eyes with a smirk on his face.

Alissa wanted to smack that smirk off his face. She didn’t, because this guy would take her to court to take her money and have her business license taken away.

“Well, its too bad the Health Department doesn’t have a better hiring policy. Because small minded people like you don’t deserve to work for them.” Alissa was glad she had the permit already in her hand and on her truck.

“I hope your business fails, freak.” Donald starts walking towards his car.

He gets in and drives off towards his next inspection.

Alissa watches as the prick leaves. She hates bigots like him. She starts reloading the truck and head into the garage to start making the
burgers she was going to sell. She turns the volume up on her stereo as she works.

Bobby was going to be joining her tomorrow as they try out a few places. Tomorrow, was a test run to see how well they would be welcome among the food truck crowd. She dances to the music as she hand makes every patty and dates them. Once they are made, she sticks them into the walk-in freezer.

Gregory had to go to the garage earlier, so he wasn’t around to help her. Bobby was doing a hand-painted sign for the new bakery that opened in town. The owners were a young couple that just moved to Memphis. So, she wasn’t available to help her either. It takes her most of the afternoon to get everything ready for the test run tomorrow.

She makes sure the change box has $75.00 in change. She checks the fries, drinks, and chips she was offering. The fries were going to be homemade. After checking over everything and had her list hanging by the door. She cleans the kitchen up and heads inside.

Just as she walks into the house, the sky opens, and rain starts pouring from the sky. She stands on the porch and watches as the rain comes down. She could already smell the difference in the air. Alissa inhales the air and just close her eyes as she enjoys the clean smell of the air.
When she opens her eyes, she exhales the air she was holding. She turns around and heads into the house. She knew Georgy was coming over, so she heads into the kitchen and starts on dinner.

Georgy comes walking into the house and spot Alissa swings her butt back and forth the music she was listening. Her back was to him and she was busy stirring some noodles on the stove top. He walks over and wraps his arms around her while kissing her neck.

Alissa almost jumped when she felt arms around her waist. She was going to whack the person with the wooden spoon she was stirring the noodles with. Then she felt the light kisses to her neck and the nibble to her right earlobe. She knew right away on who it was. She wiggles her butt against his crotch.

Georgy felt Alissa wiggle against his crotch area. He tightens his hold on her.

“How did the inspection go today?” Georgy releases her waist.

“The inspector was an ass. He gave me a hard time because I had already loaded the truck up and then saying people like me should be put
in a mental hospital.” Tears were threatening to leak from her eyes. She was getting tired of being harass and being reminded of what was done to her.

Georgy could tell how upset Alissa was and kisses her cheek. He knew she hated being reminded of what happened to her and how many times people who knew about her, harassed her. It was one of the reasons she started her own business. No one would hire her because of her past.

“You’ll be okay sweetie. You shouldn’t allow small minded people to affect you.” He just holds her to his body and places a kiss on her cheek.

Alissa wipes the tears that had form away and kiss him. She really does love him and maybe they could get married one day. She knew he wanted to for a long time.

He steps back to allow her to finish fixing dinner. While she was working on dinner, he set the small dining room table. He grabs a beer for himself and fill a glass with ice and pour sweet tea in it for Alissa.

Alissa finishes fixing everything and takes it over to the table, after pouring the noodles into a serving bowl. Another large bowl with a ladle was set next to it. That bowl held the homemade spaghetti sauce with ground beef.

“I hope you don’t mind spaghetti tonight?” Alissa looks over towards Georgy as he sits down at the table.

“As long as you made garlic toast to go with it.” Georgy didn’t mind the food.

“Of course, I would make garlic toast.” Alissa goes back over to the stove and pulls the bread out.

As they sat and ate “have you laid out your route for tomorrow?”

“Yep, I have already determined which route I am going to take.” Alissa had mapped it out and drove the route herself. There were plenty of
places she could set-up and sell burgers.

“Good, I hope your FaceBook and Twitter accounts are set-ups, so people can track you.” Georgy knew this was something new for Alissa.

“Yep, did it last night, before our little bed wrestling activity.” Alissa wanted to make sure everything was set-up last night.

Afterwards, her and Georgy had a little wrestling match and he won. Well, she won as well. He brought her to heights that she never felt before. Her vagina opening wasn’t very big, but she enjoyed what she had and what he did.

Georgy helps clean the kitchen and fixes a plate to take to work with him tomorrow. He wanted to go with Alissa, but he was needed at the garage again. He does pop Alissa on the butt with a towel.

“Owe!” As she tries to snap her towel at him.

He sticks his tongue out at her “you miss little girl.” As he pops her again on her thigh.

They continue to try popping each other with the towel. Georgy gets in a few good licks.

“I surrender.” Alissa rubs a spot on her butt where Georgy got her good .

“Good, I’m going to claim my prize.” As he leads Alissa upstairs to her bedroom

Bobby shows up early the next morning all dress and ready to go. Alissa had gotten up early and came out to start loading the food truck with everything she already pre-made.

“I brought coffee, Alissa.” Bobby comes walking into the food truck with two cups in her hands.

“Oh, thank you, Bobby.” As Alissa accepts the coffee cup.

“You’re welcome, so where is our first stop?” Bobby takes a sip of her coffee and watches Alissa as she double checks everything.

“Downtown near the park.” Alissa moves to the driver seat and sits down.

“Onward!” Bobby sits down in the passenger seat as they start moving

After twenty minutes, they arrive at their first stop and set-up shop. Alissa gets the grill ready and get a few orders right away. Alissa cooks and prepares, while Bobby takes the orders and handle the transactions.

Several guys order her suicide chicken burgers and regret it right away. Bobby warned them that it was extremely hot. Bobby took pictures with her cell phone of them eating the burgers and chasing down the bites afterward.

A few cops come by to check their license and food handling card. Which Alissa shows them and gives them a twenty percent discount on the cost of the food. One cop orders a Hawaiian burger, and his partner orders her pull pork barbeque sandwich with her homemade sauce to go on it.

Word spreads as she moves on to her next stop. She sets up there and within twenty minutes after setting up, she is swamped. Bobby and she stay very busy.

The kids love her macaroni and cheeseburgers. She gets a few special requests and prepares them for the customers. Her Angus steak burgers are a hit with a lot of men. They also liked her buffalo burgers.

Her vegan burgers were popular with the vegan crowd that came by her truck. One woman orders five burgers to take with her. There is a little break between orders as the crowd dies down some.

Alissa wasn’t going to have a tip jar out originally, but people kept on insisting on leaving tips. So, she put a plastic container out for tips. She’ll give all of them to Bobby.

“Wow, your burgers are going over well with the crowd.” Bobby turns around to look at Alissa.

“This is only the first day. We’ll see how the week goes. I’m fixing myself a barbeque sandwich. What would you like?” Alissa was steaming a bun for her sandwich.

“I’ll have the mushroom filled burger.” Bobby grabs a patty out and put it on the grill as Alissa does.

She had watched Alissa as she cooked the burgers. She wanted to help Alissa out more. So, she cooks her own burger and does the fixings herself.

Alissa watches Bobby as she cooks her burger. Bobby was doing fine as she watches her flip it.

“You are doing a wonderful job, Bobby.” Alissa was proud of her.

“Thanks, I’ve been watching you.” Bobby serves up her burger and put the fixings on it.

They eat their lunch in peace. Another police patrol stops and checks their business license, health card, and food handler cards. Alissa gives the police the same discount she gave the first set of police. One officer orders her buffalo wing burger. She does warn him about the sauce he picked.

He assures her that he could handle it.

“Famous last words.” Bobby just shakes her head as she prepares the burger.

He regrets it after the first bite. His partner teases him about it.

“We warned you officer.” Bobby and Alissa had a humorous smile on their face.

A couple of firefighters were walking by “what’s wrong? Too hot for you flat feet?”

Gary looks at the police officer with an amused look on his face.

“Let’s see if you can eat this burger.” Officer Markus looks towards Alissa.

“One hot wing burger please and fix it just the way you did before.” Officer Markus wanted to see if Gary could eat the burger.

Alissa fixes it just likes she normally does.

“Here you go, Officer Markus.” As she hands the tray to Officer Markus.

He accepts it “let’s see if you can survive this.” As he hands the burger to Gary.

“Thanks.” Gary accepts it and takes a bite.

Bobby and Alissa watch as he takes a bite and then another. They could see sweat beading on his forehead.

“I don’t think he can take it either.” Both she and Bobby had a smile on their faces.

Even Gary’s friend could see the sweat beading on his forehead. Gary holds his hand out for a bottled water.

Bobby hands him one “it won’t help.”

Gary accepts it and drinks it down. He looks towards Alissa and Bobby “do you carry milk?”

“Yes, sir.” Bobby gives him a bottle of milk.

A few people had gathered around to watch the antics going on. Bobby looks at Alissa “maybe you should make the sauce a little milder.”

“I think you are right.” Alissa makes a note to cut back on the sauce and make it milder.

By four in the afternoon, she heads back to her house. As she is backing the food truck up in the driveway, Gregory was pulling in as well.

“How did you girls do today?” Gregory carries a few empty containers from the truck.

“We sold out on almost everything. We need to cut the sauce on the buffalo chicken burgers. They are too hot for some of our customers.”
Bobby couldn’t wait to show Gregory the pictures she took of people eating those burgers.

Gregory fixes them some dinner from the supplies they had in the catering walk-in. Alissa grabs the second set of containers she filled and prepare those for tomorrow. Bobby helps her with those containers. By the time the dinner Gregory made was ready. Bobby and Alissa were prepared for tomorrow.

After dinner, Alissa counted how much they made and set aside the pay for Bobby. Alissa hopes tomorrow is as profitable as their first day.

The next few days they are busy at the various locations they stop at. They had a huge following on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The local newspaper does a piece on them and their food. A few of their people had stopped by them and bought some of their food.

The Barbeque sandwiches with its homemade coleslaw was a big hit. The vegan burgers were selling well. The Hawaiian burgers were her biggest hit, and so were the chicken wing burgers.

Word had gotten around at the local police precinct about the discount she gives police officers and the food she served.

The fire stations around town also searched her out and wanted to try the chicken wing burger. She had made the sauce milder, but still a little
stronger than normal. Bobby got a lot of compliments for her artwork on the truck when asked who the artist was.

When she and Bobby got home each day, they restocked the food truck and replenish their supplies of burgers and fixings that went on them.
The suppliers she used for the catering business, supplied her with what she needed for the food truck.

A few jobs have come in for the catering business, so what her and Gregory decided to do. He couldn’t get away from the garage. So, they needed to hire additional people. Bobby suggested a person she knew from the local LGBT center that was having a hard time finding a job.

“Bring them in and I’ll interview them.” Alissa trusted Bobby’s judgment.

“Thanks, Alissa. You don’t know what this will mean to them.” Bobby could now help her friends that needed it.

Especially, Carol who was working a job where she got bullied and picked on. Carol bared the abuse because she needed the job. Even when they cut her hours down to six hours a week. She got another one cleaning toilets at a gym and an office.

Alissa looks at the two girls and one guy standing before her. They were friends of Bobby’s and had answered the ad she had up at the LGBTQ center. Bobby had vouched for all three of them and they had done well on their interview.

She was feeling under the weather, so Meisa, Bobby, and Jessie were going to handle the food truck while she was sick. Carol, Gregory, and Ryan were going to handle all the catering jobs that have come in. Some of them wanted Alissa’s famous burgers and barbeque meats she has been selling from her truck.

Carol, Meisa and Ryan were her newest hires. Carol and Meisa were transwomen and Ryan was a transmen. She had to send Meisa and Jessie through a food handler course for them to work on the truck. Since, Bobby already had hers and has been working with Alissa, she was the cook on the truck.

Gregory was handling the catering business, while she was sick. She had caught a cold and was too sick to be around food. Especially, till she overcame the cold she caught. She went to her doctor and she informed Alissa that she had an upper respiratory infection. Which meant she couldn’t be around serving food or prepping food.

She could supervise as she watches Gregory and Bobby prepare the truck. She bought customs t-shirts for the truck crew and the catering crew she got the white dress shirts, black vest, and black slacks for them to wear.

“You need to be inside in bed, Alissa.” Gregory spotted Alissa watching them in her house robe.

“I wanted to make sure everything went off without a problem.” Alissa pulls some tissue out of her robe’s pocket and blows her nose.

“That’s it, your going back to bed.” Gregory escorts Alissa out of the caring kitchen and up to her bedroom. He tucks her into bed and kisses her forehead.

Alissa hated being sick. Her nose was running, and she had a nasty cough. She made some homemade chicken soup last night. She still had some left over.

Alissa takes two shots of some cold medicine and slowly fall asleep. She hated having a cold.

Food Truck:
Jessie couldn’t believe the people that lined up at their first stop. He and Meisa were taking the orders. While Bobby was cooking, she instructed them how to make the different types of burgers after the meat was cooked.

When she could, she helps. She reminds her cousin that firefighters and police officers get a ten percent discount on their meals. When there is a break in customer traffic. Jessie looks at his cousin as she cleans the grill.

“Are you guys always this busy?” He couldn’t believe how much they sold.

“You should have seen us last week. Once word got out about us. We would be busy from the time we got here, till we left.” Bobby was
enjoying the food truck business.

“You mean you’re always this busy?” Meisa was surprised by Bobby’s statement.

“Yep, we stay busy all day long.” Bobby looks over towards Meisa.

Meisa just came out to her family a few months ago and they weren’t very accepting of her choice. She came from a traditional Japanese
family and her parents couldn’t accept her decision. So, Meisa was forced to move out. She was staying with Carol and between the four jobs they had. They could barely afford their apartment and their hormone pills.

They move to another location and sell burgers. Meisa watched Bobby and learned how to cook the different burgers and barbecue they had.
She wonders how Jessie got roped into working on the truck.

While they are taking a break, before moving on to their next location. Jessie was making himself a buffalo chicken wing sandwich.

“You need to be careful, cousin.” Bobby had watched Jessie make the sandwich.

“Why do you say that?” He was looking at his sandwich.

“That sauce is milder than the original one we had on that sandwich but is just as hot.” Bobby had watched Alissa make the new sauce.

Meisa was eating a barbecue sandwich with the sauce she was told went with the sandwich. She loved how the sauce went with the barbecue meat.

“What do you think of the meat, Meisa?” Bobby had watched as Meisa made herself a sandwich.

“It’s tasty, I love the sauce that was supposed to be used on it.” Meisa takes another bite and wonders where the sauce came from.

“Alissa made the sauce when we competed in a barbecue cook-off. The barbecue came in first place, just like the sauce had as well. We have
one more stop for the day.” Bobby starts securing everything before they leave.

Catering Service:
Ryan and Carol couldn’t believe the event they had been hired to cater. The first one they went to, was a breakfast catering jobs for a women’s business conference. The second one, was for a retirement party. The next one was for another party. This one all they had to do was set up everything and the people who hired them would take care of it.

Gregory saw how helpful Carol and Ryan were. Carol, he knew needed a nice job. Ryan, he didn’t know much about, except that he was Carol’s roommate. He picked that up from their conversion. When they didn’t think he was listening.

When they get back to the house, Carol and Ryan help clean-up the dirty dishes and put everything away. Gregory checks the fax machine and two orders for Friday had come in. One was for a Southwest meal and the other was for a party of twenty. They were going to need the staff there to help serve and seat everyone. Which meant he was going to need the food truck crew that night.

By the time all the dishes are cleaned and put away. The food truck backs into the driveway. Bobby and Meisa come walking with all the empty containers that needed to be washed and reloaded. Carol and Ryan give them a hand cleaning out the food truck.

“Gregory, why don’t I and Carol get started on reloading the food truck up. Ryan, Meisa and Jessie can help you reload the burger containers.” Bobby helped Alissa when she came home and cleaned all the containers.

Gregory looks at everyone standing around “Bobby since you work with Alissa the most on the truck. You handle getting it ready for tomorrow.”

“Carol, Ryan and Meisa if you would like to stay on with us, we could use your help. Sometimes you’ll be working on the truck and sometimes you’ll be doing catering service.” Gregory knew Alissa had hired Carol to work for them.

“I thought we were already hired?” Ryan looks at Gregory.

“You were, but I wanted to still give you an option to back out if you don’t want to do catering. I could use someone down at the garage if you know something about cars.” Gregory figures Alissa wouldn’t mind poaching a person or two from her. After all, they were business partners.

“I think all of us are going to stay with Alissa. However, if you really do have an opening at your garage. I know a person who is good with cars and would be a good fit. His name is Darrel and I can give you his number.” Ryan knew Darrel would be a good fit for Gregory. Alissa made it known that none of the people she works with are bigots.

A smile appears on Gregory’s face “good. Let’s get the truck prep for tomorrow and see what other catering jobs we have on our schedule for the rest of the week.”

A few hours later, Gregory heads into the house and check on Alissa. She was still curled up under her blankets and sound asleep. He notices she took some shots from the Nyquil bottle sitting on her nightstand.

He has never seen her sick before. She has always been an upbeat person. Just as he is about to walk out of the bedroom.

“How did we do today?” Alissa’s voice sounded hoarse as she looks towards Gregory.

“I haven’t counted the money yet. I wanted to check on you, first.” Gregory walks back into the bedroom and over towards Alissa.

“I’m not going anywhere. This infection is kicking my ass.” Alissa starts coughing to clear her sore throat.

Gregory just smiles at her comment. He could see she was still tired.

“Do you want anything?”

“Juice, please.” Alissa had a craving for a glass of mango and orange juice.

“Alright.” Gregory picks Alissa thermal cup up and heads down to the kitchen.

He pours her some juice in her cup, after washing it first. He grabs some aspirins and takes them up to her bedroom.

“Here’s is your juice, my lady and some aspirins for your sore joints.” As he hands the aspirins to Alissa.

“Thank you.” She accepts the aspirins and pop them in her mouth and swallow some juice to chase them down her sore throat.

“You’re welcome. Now, get back in bed and rest.” Gregory walks over and tucks Alissa back into bed.

Alissa just smiles at him and closes her eyes.

“We’re about out of these new cookies and energy bars you made.” Bobby looks over towards Alissa as she made a salad for one of their customers.

“I thought they would. The recipe I used, to make them came from one of my cookbooks.” Alissa glances over towards Bobby.

Bobby and Meisa were working with her on the truck today. Carol, Gregory, and Ryan were handling the catering business. They had a huge luncheon they were responsible for.

Alissa had thought about it and figured since she normally stopped near the public parks and such. Selling energy bars and cookies would be a great addition to her menu. So, she went through some of her cookbooks and found a few recipes from the colonial days that she could modify for the modern day.

The burger sales had decline some, but they were still going strong. The Hawaiian burgers and BBQ burgers were the most requested burgers. The kids loved the macaroni burgers.

Alexander and one of his grandchildren borrowed the barbecue cooker and were competing in a cook-off. She let Alexander buy the meat under her company name and was sponsoring him and his grandson. She sent a few bottles of her homemade sauce with them.

The catering business was getting a lot of request for Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. They had twenty-five orders for Thanksgiving and fifteen for Christmas. For New Year Eve they had a few orders.

The relationship between her and Gregory was getting serious. They had talked about him moving in with her. They were already spending all their time with each other.

The rest of the day they stay busy. Around 4:00 pm. Alissa heads back to her house and on the way home. The front of the food truck gets smashed in by a speeding armor car. It spins the food truck around. There are a loud crash and explosion from the propane tank exploding.

Alissa was driving, and Bobby was sitting in the passenger seat. Both are knocked unconscious and Meisa is knocked unconscious from a metal mixing bowl hitting her head.

The paramedics, police, and fire department show up. The food truck was on fire. The firefighters managed to pull all three girls out of the truck and over to the paramedics. All three were unconscious and bleeding.

Alissa had been slammed against the driver door and hit her head on the glass. Bobby had been thrown out of her seat and hit Alissa. Her left arm was broken, along with her hip. Meisa was hit in the head and knocked unconscious. She dislocated her left shoulder on the small counter in the back.

Gregory was at Alissa’s place along with Ryan and Carol when a patrol car pulls up. Officer Kirkland walks up the driveway to the black catering van.

“Can I help you, officer?” Carol had come out of the garage to grab the tea urns they had used.

“Yes, I’m here to see Mr. Gregory Miller.” Officer Kirkland had been informed that in case of emergency to contact Gregory Miller.

He had gone to his apartment and Gregory’s next-door neighbor informed him that he worked for Alissa Spencer. Officer Kirkland had her address and headed over there and was surprised to find a catering van in the driveway with its doors open.

“He’s inside Officer.” Carol escorts Officer Kirkland into the garage.

When Officer Kirkland walks inside the garage. He was surprised to find it set-up like a restaurant’s kitchen. It had stainless steel appliances and a huge stainless-steel table in the middle of it.

“Gregory, there’s a police officer, here to see you.” Carol escort Officer Kirkland over to Gregory.

Gregory turns around to face Carol and the police officer. He wonders why the officer wanted to see him.

“What can I do for you officer?” Gregory was feeling a little nervous.

Officer Kirkland looks at Gregory “do you know an Alissa Spencer?”

“Yes, I know her. Is everything okay?” Gregory wonders if something was wrong with Alissa.

“She and several others that were with her, have been in an accident and are currently at Medical of Hope hospital in critical condition.” Officer Kirkland had been told to let Mr. Miller know.

“How did it happen?” Gregory couldn’t believe that Alissa, Bobby, and Meisa were in the hospital.

“A stolen armor car slammed into the food truck they were in during a high-speed chase. We managed to capture the robber, but not until he
had hit the food truck.” Officer Kirkland hadn’t been there, but people he knew had.

“Can I go and see her?” Gregory tosses the towel he had in his hands on the counter.

“Yes.” Officer Kirkland had two more stops to make.

“Go on, Gregory. I and Ryan will clean the dishes and take care of everything.” Carol saw the concern look in Gregory’s face.

Gregory hurries out of the garage and heads towards the hospital. He calls Jessie to inform him that Bobby was in the hospital as well. He figures Carol or Ryan knew who to call for Meisa.

He arrives at the hospital and is told that Alissa, Bobby, and Meisa were still in the operating room and that afterward they were going to be transferred to ICU because of their injuries. Gregory waits for the doctors to tell him about Alissa conditions. Jessie, Ryan and a person
Gregory doesn’t know show up. Jessie spots Gregory sitting in the waiting room.

“How are they?” Jessie was concerned about Bobby.

Ryan and the other person that came with her was concerned as well. The other person was Meisa friend Chuck. He looked after Meisa because he liked her and knew she was a good person.

“Nothing yet. They are still being operated on.” Gregory was worried that their injuries were serious.

Hours go by and finally, the doctor comes out. He spots Gregory and heads over towards him.

“All three girls have pulled through. Unfortunately, they are still unconscious.” Dr. Crooker did an MRI on each girl. The blow to their head wasn’t too serious, but they did bruise their brains some.

“How long do you think they will be unconscious?” Chuck wanted to know.

“I don’t know. We will watch them as the swelling in their brains go down.” Dr. Crooker wasn’t sure how long they might be in the coma.

Everyone presents look at each other. Gregory was concerned because the food truck was going to have to be replaced. Then there were the medical bills and such that their insurance was going to have to pay. He’ll have to get the police report from the police.

A Week Later:
Bobby, Alissa, and Meisa had spent several days in ICU and moved to private rooms. Alexander and his grandson had won first place in several categories at the BBQ contest. When Alexander heard what happened to Alissa, he came down to the hospital. He has been spending time watching over her. Gregory informed Ryan and Carol about the others. Carol and Ryan told Gregory that they would handle the catering service.

Jessie, Chuck, and Gregory spend every day down at the hospital. They wanted to be there when the girls open their eyes. Carol and Ryan worked hard to keep the catering business going. A new food truck was on order for the company. What equipment that was in the old truck had been salvaged.

To keep the food truck burger service going, they applied for permits to set-up food carts at different locations. Jessie worked one location, while Carol and Ryan worked other locations when they weren't doing catering jobs.

Their insurance was covering everything. The armor car company that owned the armored car, were covering the medical bills and lost revenue. They didn’t have too since the armored car was stolen, but they felt responsible for what happened to the catering service.

Alissa walks around the new food truck Gregory had bought with the insurance money from the accident. It needed Bobby’s special touch, to make it look like the old one. She was going to miss her old food truck because it held memories she had of her uncle.

“Well, what do you think, Alissa? It’s a little bit roomier and is equipped with everything you had in the old one.” Gregory loved the new truck.

“It’s nice Gregory, but it's not my uncle’s.” As tears slide down her cheeks.

Gregory walks over to her and wraps his arm around her shoulder. He holds her as she cries. He knew the old truck meant a lot to Alissa. He just holds her, till she stops.

“The food inspector is coming over this afternoon, to inspect the truck. Also, Bobby said she could have the new truck painted this weekend.”
Gregory knew Bobby was still recovering from the accident as well.

To help her overcome what happened to her and Meisa. Bobby wanted to get back to work right away. She already started on several paintings that reflected how she felt.

Meisa, on the other hand, was slowly recovering from her ordeal. She, just like Alissa was a little jumpy when riding in cars. The two of them still felt uneasy about riding in cars or sudden stops.

Gregory escorts Alissa towards the garage where he knew she would want to be. Cooking was one of the things that relax her and helped her feel better.

“I thought you might like to peddle around in the kitchen for a while.” Gregory sits Alissa in one of the chairs.

“Your right.” Alissa looks over towards their whiteboard and at all the catering jobs they have lined up.

The catering jobs themselves were going to make up some of the business and expenses they lost when the food truck was damaged beyond repair. The food carts that Gregory bought were already at the locations they were covering. They were doing alright, and sales were still good.
Alissa gets up and heads towards the walk-in freezer and grab the ingredients she was going to need to make replacement burgers for the carts. She watches as Gregory walks outside to await the food inspector.

Inspector Donald couldn’t believe he had been assigned to go to Skyvue Catering Service. The business that was own by the filthy transgender person. This time he planned on being a royal pain to her and drag out the inspection.

He pulls up to the location and as he gets out to head towards the converted garage. He is met by someone different. A young man with dark hair, wearing a Black t-shirt with the catering name on the right-hand side of it, faded blue jeans and a pair of light brown cowboy boots. He spots a brand new food truck sitting in the driveway.

“Hi, I’m Gregory Brown, one of the owners of Burger Queen.” Gregory sticks his hand out to shake the inspector’s hand.

“Inspector Donald Stone, so, you are partners with Alissa Spencer?” As he shakes Gregory’s hand.

“Yes, I’m her partner.” Gregory wonders if this is the asshole Alissa told him about.

“Well, then. Let’s see what I can find in this truck.” As he takes a pair of gloves out.

“You shouldn’t find anything. It’s a brand-new truck.” Gregory follows behind the inspector as he goes aboard the truck.

Inspector Stone turns around to face Gregory “I can do this myself. I don’t need you to accompany me.”

“True, but I’m going to keep you honest.” Gregory just smiles at him.

“If you don’t leave Mr. Brown, I won’t continue my inspection.” Donald puts his pen away.

“Well, I guess we are at an impasse then, because for you to get off the truck, you have to get past me. I’m not moving till you do.” Gregory wasn’t going to play this inspectors game.

The inspector looks at Gregory and could see that he couldn’t intimidate this fellow. He didn’t look like the type of person to back down. The other owner, on the other hand, was different. She would back down.

“Fine!” Donald goes about inspecting the truck.

By the time he finished with the inspection. He couldn’t find anything wrong with the food truck.

“You passed your inspection.” Donald writes the permit and gives it to Gregory.

“Thank you so much and have a nice day.” Gregory had a pleasant smile on his face.

He watches as Inspector Stone walks back to his vehicle. Once stone drives off, he heads back into the kitchen. He notices Alissa making hamburger patties and chicken patties to replace the ones they sold.

Alissa looks up when she notices Gregory walk-in “did we pass?”

“Yep, we passed. The new truck is ready to go back out on the road.” Gregory saw a smile appear on Alissa’s face.

“I thought that would make you happy.” As he walks over and gives her a kiss.

“It has, thank you.” She returns the kiss.

Afterward, Gregory sits down at the work table and finish helping her get things ready for tomorrow. Once, they have gotten all the vegetables and sauces ready. They start working on loading the truck for tomorrow.

They were still going to use the food carts but at different locations. The crew on the truck will stop by to check on them and refresh anything they need. That way they will have three locations.

Once everyone arrives back to the garage for the night. They all gather in Alissa’s house, while she fixes dinner for them.

“The new food truck has been given a full bill of health. We’re also going to keep the food carts as well. So, I was wondering who would like to remain with the food carts and who wants to be on the truck?” Gregory looks around.

“I think I would prefer to stay with the food cart.” Meisa looks at Gregory when she speaks.

“Well, I’m staying with the truck and Alissa.” Bobby still fit uncomfortable from the accident, but she was ready to go back on it.

Marylin looks at Gregory and in a soft voice “I would like to keep running my cart. The customers know me and like how I prepare the burgers.”

Gregory looks at Marylin. She was hired on while Alissa, Bobby, and Meisa were in the hospital. She was transgender and saw the advertisement Alissa had posted at the center before her accident.

“Alright, Meisa you can handle food cart number 1, Marylin you can handle food cart number 2 and Alissa, Bobby and Lucas can handle the truck.” Gregory looks over towards Lucas, he was another new hire and had a degree in the culinary arts like himself and Alissa.

He was also a female to male transgender. He just had his final operation to have a penis and testes.

“Will I have time to paint this truck, like we did the last one?” Bobby looks over towards Gregory since he seems to be in charge right now.

“Can you do it over the weekend?” Gregory looks at Bobby. She could do it at the garage like last time.

“If I’m not interrupted, yes.” Bobby knew she could do it in two days.

“Alright, I’ll take the truck over to the garage tonight and get it prepped for you.”

“Thank you.” Bobby still had the paints from the first time she did the job.

The rest of the hour they the group enjoys their dinner. There is small talk about the upcoming catering jobs they have been hired for. They also had a few Christmas parties they had been hired for.

When everyone leaves or the night, Gregory and Alissa heads towards her bedroom and lay down together. All Alissa wants is for Gregory to just hold her. No sex or anything. She just wanted to be held in his arms as they slept.

“Thank you for calling Skyvue Catering Service, Bobby speaking. How can I help you?” Bobby grabs the pad they kept near the phone.

“Are you still taking orders for Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas dinners?”

“Yes ma’am, we are still taking orders for both dinners.” Bobby flips to a clean page on the pad.

“I like to place an order for twenty people.”

Bobby explains what the dinner consists of and give the caller options. This was their fourth order today she has taken.

“Your order comes to, $225.00 and it will be delivered to you, ma’am.” Bobby hangs the phone up after the person ends it.

“Another order for Thanksgiving dinner?” Lucas looks over towards Bobby.

“Yep, they want the deep-fried Turkey dinner.” Bobby counts how many dinners they had to prepare for Thanksgiving.

“And we have the shelter Thanksgiving dinner to cater as well?” Lucas knew Alissa always did what she could for the shelter.

“Yep, we have forty Thanksgiving dinners to do and several catering jobs.” Bobby grabs another tray of burgers to take out to the truck. She was almost done with loading the truck up.

Lucas washes his hands and grabs the rest of the items they needed for the truck. He was driving the truck and it was going to be him and Alissa on the truck today. Alissa and Gregory were out shopping for all the items they were going to need for the pre-order dinners.

Meisa and Marylin were still handling their food carts. Lucas sits in the driver seat, as Bobby takes the passenger seat. They head towards their first stop for the lunch crowd.

Food Market:
Alissa and Gregory walk through the marketplace visiting some of her favorite stalls. As she is passing one stall that was new in the market.
She noticed it wasn’t very busy and had some interesting produce. There was a young woman running the stall.

They stop at the stall and look at the vegetables on display. They were big and fresh. Alissa looks around for the merchant and spots her packing up a box of vegetables.

“Hi, I love your stall and all the fresh vegetables you have for sale.” Alissa was looking at a huge tomato

Heather looks over towards the woman that just spoke to her “thank you.”

Heather walks over towards Alissa and Gregory. She has seen them a few times visiting the market. According to what she found out about them, they owned a catering service and a food truck. They only bought from the market and they had a few merchants they normally bought their supplies from.

Alissa looks over the tomatoes, onions, and heads of lettuce. Gregory was busy looking over a few other items they needed for the Thanksgiving dinners they had to prepare. He turns around and looks at Alissa and Heather.

“How much for three boxes of carrots, celery, potatoes, onions, and tomatoes?” Gregory was handling the money.

“Three hundred total for all of them.” Heather couldn’t believe they were only buying three boxes.

Alissa walks over to look at some apples and peaches she could make a few pies and cobbler from. She already had the flour and everything else she needed. She still needed to stop at the bakery for the buns and bread to make stuffing from.

“I would like to add in three boxes of apples and peaches as well.” Alissa direct her gazes towards Heather.

“That will be another hundred dollars.” Heather had a smile on her face.

Alissa could see she was making Heather’s day with her purchases. To bad, she didn’t sell spices and herbs.

“Here you go. I want to add two boxes of spinach as well.” Gregory hands her five hundred dollars.

“No problem.” Heather gives him a discount for what they purchase.

“Thank you.” Alissa looks at all the stuff they must transport back to the van.

Gregory spot Alissa looking at all the boxes they had purchased “go ahead and get the spices and herbs you need. I’ll go and get the cart.”

“Thanks, Gregory.” She looks towards Heather “thank you as well.”

“You’re welcome. I hope you come back and shop with me again.” Heather would love to have them as steady customers.

“We’ll see.” Alissa gives her a friendly smile as she walks down to the vendor, she gets her herbs and spice from.

Gregory shows back up with a cart to transport their purchases back to their van. He loads the cart with help from Heather.

“Thanks for helping me.” Gregory smiles at Heather.

“You’re welcome. Hope to see you again.” Heather watches as Gregory heads back to their van with the load.

Alissa buys all the herbs and spices to replenish what she has used. She buys a little extra because of all the orders she had coming in. She
picks out a few extra spices and herbs for a few special dishes she was going to make for the shelter.

Once Alissa was done with her shopping. She starts back towards the van with her purchases. She spots Gregory on his way back to her “all loaded up?”

“Yep, all loaded up.” Gregory had an apple in his hand, as he takes a bite out of it.

“Good.” Alissa gets in on the passenger side.

Gregory gets behind the driver seat and puts on his seat belt. He knew Alissa still felt uncomfortable about riding in a vehicle, because of the accident she was in.

“Did you get everything you needed?” Gregory glances towards Alissa.

“Yep, and I also got a few extra things I want to make for the shelter.” Alissa knew Rachel will love what she got planned.

“Rachel will love you for that.” Gregory knew how much Alissa respected Rachel for everything she has done.

“I’m just surprised that Rachel has managed to run the shelter as long as she has, on a shoestring budget.” Alissa knew it isn’t easy running
the shelter and helping as many people that she does.

Gregory takes them by the first food cart to see how it was doing. They spot Meisa with a line at the chart and a young man helping her. They have never seen the teenage boy before.

Food Cart One:
“I wonder who that is?” as Gregory parks the catering van nearby.

Gregory and Alissa get out and walk over to the food cart. They noticed that a teenage boy was helping Meisa by fixing the burgers and collecting the money as the customer paid for their meal. They stop a few feet away and just watch Meisa and the young man.

Meisa was doing the cooking and the young man put the burger altogether and rung the customer up. He was good at putting the burgers
together and greeted the customers in a friendly matter. Gregory and Alissa were impressed as Meisa and the young man worked together.

Once the line was down, Gregory and Alissa approached the food cart. The boy spotted them and pulled on Meisa’s shirt sleeve.

“That’s a good helper you have there, Meisa.” Gregory looks towards Meisa, while Alissa was watching the young man.

Meisa was startled when she heard Gregory’s voice. She turns to face Gregory and Alissa.

“He’s a good kid. He was helping me to pay me back for buying him lunch last week.” Meisa knew Peter didn’t have any money to buy lunch, because he was paying for his mother’s medical bills.

Alissa looks at the young man as he stood nearby. He looked tired and worried about Meisa.

“Well, we can’t have him helping you without the proper attire, now can we?” Alissa smiles over towards the young man.

“I have to agree with Alissa, Meisa. So, tomorrow when you come to work. Bring the young man with, so we can outfit him properly and fill his paperwork out.” Gregory went along with Alissa’s assessment.

Meisa smiles because Alissa just basically was giving the okay to hire Peter. She looks towards Peter and winks.

“I’ll make sure Peter is there, Alissa.” Meisa will have to explain Peter’s situation to her.

“Sounds good. Do you need anything?”

“No, but could you take the deposit with you?” Meisa hands a clear bag to Alissa with a deposit slip and money in it.

Alissa takes the bag and hands it to Gregory. She looks back towards Meisa.

“Okay, Bobby and Lucas should be here soon. Just let them know we have the deposit.” Alissa double checks her wristwatch for the time.

“I will, boss.” Meisa just smile as she watches Alissa and Gregory walk off.

Peter approaches Meisa “did I get you in trouble?”

“No, you didn’t kid. Alissa was genuine in her offer for you to work for her.” Meisa just smiles.

Meisa and Peter go back to work, as Gregory and Alissa drive off. She serves up a customer that had approached her cart.

“Why did you hire that boy?” Gregory was curious.

“The look in his eyes. He’s got a lot on his plate.” Alissa had seen that look before.

Thanksgiving and Christmas have the catering business busy. Some days and night Alissa, Gregory, Bobby, Lucas, Meisa, and Peter would work all night getting everything ready. They would use the oven in the house and the barbecue cooker to cook turkeys, duck, chicken, and ham.

They had a few orders that the clients wanted Turducken. Which was a deboned turkey, stuff with a deboned duck, which was stuff with a deboned chicken. Those took time to prepare and cook. She made a few for the shelter and offer them as prizes with dinners to help raise money for the shelter.

All the food carts and the food truck sold apple chips and a hot apple style drink. It wasn’t a cider, but more like apple wine and punch which could be sold cold or hot. All proceeds from the sale went towards the shelter. She and some of her staff donated their time to help prepare and cook the Thanksgiving meals for the shelter.

When Christmas came around Alissa and Bobby came up with another drink. It was made of 2-part hard apple cider with slices of apple and oranges mixed with 1-part Ginger Beer. She only sold it from the food truck. Proceeds from those sales and what they made during the week went to the shelter as well.

When the weather started to turn cold and such, the food carts were put away and the staff would work on the food truck. Alissa and Gregory had talked about it and decided to offer fresh soups with the burgers. They also added fresh potato skins dishes to their menu as snacks or with certain burgers.

During the Christmas season, Alissa and Gregory through a huge Christmas bash for all the staff from the catering business and the garage that did the work on the food trucks and food carts. The two of them wanted to thank everyone that helped them out getting the business going and for their friendship. Barbecued cooked by Alexander and his grandson was served and the guys loved the ribs they did as well. The barbecue business that Alexander and his grandson had started was a welcome addition to her catering business.

Instead of serving barbecue from a food truck like she was doing for the burgers and such. They bought a restaurant that specialized in barbecue, ribs, and steaks that was going out of business and turned it around. They were selling her sauce she made for the contest there and any barbecue catering jobs she got, they handled for her.

Alexander and his grandson still did the barbecue the old fashion way with a smoker and wood burner. They took the one the business they bought had and fixed it. Also, they asked Alissa to make some unique side dishes to serve with the barbeque.

The reason the business that they had bought had gone out of business in the first place, was the quality of the food. The fact they were serving store-bought sides wasn’t helping the business either. Alexander’s Grandson Tony knew that people wanted homemade sides, but he wasn’t sure how to make them.

So, they partner up with Alissa and she helped them out. She taught Tony and his staff how to make the sides they wanted to sell. In return, he would handle her barbecue catering. When Tony needed help, Alissa or some members of her staff would help.

During the busy holidays, they would hire extra help to work part-time. Alissa always tried to hire people from either the shelter or the local LGBTQ center. She knew a few transgender or gays would lose their jobs when their employers found out. So, she would give them a chance to work for her or Tony. Even Gregory took a few on at his garage and his cousins’ garage if they were mechanically talented.

Alissa had to hire an accountant to handle all the taxes and money they were making from all the businesses they either owned or were part owners of. They had several suppliers where they bought fresh produce, including the food stalled owned by Heather. Between the barbecue business, the catering and the food truck. They needed more suppliers.

The apple drinks they sold were becoming popular as well. Especially, the old-style hard apple cider with Ginger beer. It was a popular drink on the food truck and barbecue restaurant.

Tony inquired about selling it at the barbecue restaurant like a normal item. It was selling extremely well there, and he could donate half of the proceeds to the shelter.

Like Alissa, he was already sending barbecue and sides to them twice a week. When he found out that Alissa helped supported the shelter in his grandfather’s neighborhood. He wanted to help as well.

He bought new uniforms and equipment for the neighborhood little league. His sons were on the team and he wanted their team to be the best. So, he donated money from the barbecue business or gave the prize money he won at the contest he entered with his grandfather.

Once New Year was over Alissa and the barbecue restaurant slowed down some. The barbecue business was still doing better than the catering business. The food truck was doing better than most of the other trucks because they added soups to their menu.

The apple cider drinks were something that needed all their attention because people that came to the restaurant and the food truck loved them. A meeting was called at Alissa’s place between her, Gregory, Alexander and Tony.

“What do you guys think we should do?” Alissa was looking at all the men sitting around the table.

“We could start bottling it and selling it.” Tony was looking at his partners.

“True, but how much are we looking at investing into a microbrewery company or brewing it ourselves?” Alissa was curious.

“To do it ourselves, we are looking at anywhere from $100,000 to 1 million dollars. That’s just for the equipment. If we invested into a
microbrewery, it would be less for us.” Gregory knew how much money they had, it wasn’t enough o start a brewery with.

“I think it might be best if we invested into a microbrewery. That way we can cut some of the cost.” Tony might know someone that could be just the people they needed.

“But what about quality control? Will the hard apple cider, people like to be the same?” Alissa was worried about the quality.

“You could always go by and check or have them send you a sample of the produce.” Tony understood what Alissa was getting at.

The barbecue business he bought with his grandfather had turned around from failing to prospering. They put a lot of hard work into getting its reputation back up with Alissa’s help. She came up with old style southern sides that went well with the barbecue and ribs they served.

He was getting his cuts of meat from the same butcher shop Alissa got her meats from. His grandfather had suggested it after buying there a second time. The owner of the shop recognized him from the first time he came into the place with Alissa.

Alissa was one of his favorite customers. She catered a Hungarian meal for him and his family one time. It tasted just like it had when his mother and aunts made it. So, he always gave her a discount on whatever she wanted.

When he saw Alexander and his grandson come in and started buying meats for cookoffs and barbecue contest, he gave them the same
discount as he gave Alissa. Now that they owned their own restaurant, he tries to get the best meats for them to use at it. He had offered them his homemade brats and sausages he made to see if they would be willing to sell them.

“Alright, let’s see if we can find a microbrewery that could use an investor. Also, do we just want to make the one hard apple cider, or do we
want to expand to others?” Alissa has been going through an old cookbook she picked up from a used book sale.

There was a recipe in it that was handwritten that was called *Rattle-Skull. She made it and boy, did it hit her. It was a mixture of dark beer, rum, lime juice, and nutmeg. It called for three to four ounces of hard liquor (usually an equal split between rum and brandy) are dropped into a pint of strong porter, tarted up with the juice of half a lime and then showered with shaved nutmeg.

The drink went straight to her head. Alissa was wondering if they could make a modern-day version of it.

She’ll talk with whoever they decide to invest with about maybe adding it to their drinks. She also figures they should come up with some other drinks that weren’t alcoholic to serve or sell. Once the meeting is over and its just Gregory and Alissa in the house. She fixes them a light dinner and enjoys snuggling up on the sofa for the rest of the night.

*The recipe for Red Skull can be found here: https://drinks.seriouseats.com/2014/04/colonial-era-drinks-c...

Alissa, Gregory, and Tony walk with the owner of Flying Monkey Brewery. Devon White was happy that the owners of Burger Queen and Pit Pig Barbecue wanted to invest in his company microbrewery and in return, brew drinks just for their business. They were also willing to sell his brand at their businesses.

Alissa looks at the setup Mr. White had so far. All the equipment looked brand new and the way the warehouse was set-up. They could move kegs around without any problems.

“Mr. White, who regulates or inspects your facilities?” Alissa was curious.

“We are regulated by the FDA which follows the rules and regulation of the FSMA.” Devon knew the restaurants were regulated by the health department.

“So, you’re not regulated or inspected by the health department?”

“If we served food, we would be regulated by the health department. Since we only brew beers and such. We fall under the FDA.” Devon was glad they didn’t serve food.

He heard the food inspectors around Memphis were hard asses. Some of them required you to pay them or they wouldn’t clear you.

“That’s good to hear. If we decide to invest in your brewery. We would like to test the product to make sure it met our standards. Also, we will set up suppliers for the ingredients for the beers.” Alissa had come up with three other beers to go along with the apple one. One was a Peach beer and the other was a mango beer. She was experimenting with a chocolate coconut beer.

“I don’t see why you can’t taste test a run before we begin or send us your ingredients for your beers. How many beers are you thinking about?” Devon was curious as he looked towards Alissa.

“I was thinking about five of ours. One is a very special drink that will only be served at the barbecue restaurant.” Alissa was thinking about the Rattle-Skull drink.

“A special drink? What is so special about it?” Devon was curious.

“It involves ingredients from hard liquors.” Alissa figures the Rattle-Skull drink should be popular among the patrons of the barbecue restaurant.

“I would like to taste it, once we start production of it.” Devon was intrigued.

“That’s fine.” Alissa didn’t mind if he did.

Once the tour was over with and was sitting in Devon’s office. He looks at Alissa, Gregory, and Tony.

“So, what do you guys and gals think? Do we have a partnership?” Devon could really use the money in getting his brewery going.

Alissa looks at Gregory and Tony. It was going to take her life savings and money from the catering business to buy in. She wonders what the guys thought.

Tony was adding money from his saving towards the operation. He knew Alissa was putting in a large amount. He looks towards Gregory to see what he thought.

Gregory had been quietly thinking about his decision. He was investing his share of the catering business into the deal. They have been doing good with all the businesses they had going. The garage was even making a profit from the repairs and body work they had been doing. Gregory gives a little head shake to Alissa.

“Let’s go ahead and draw up the paperwork and I’ll have a check for $60,000.00 for you.” Alissa hopes their investment pays off. She was taking out some of her emergency money.

“How about we close this deal in two days?” Devon couldn’t wait to get started producing their product.

“That sounds fine.” Alissa had a catering job tomorrow.

After they finish business, the three of them head back to the Pig Pit Barbecue for lunch. Alissa orders the sampler plate which has a little of everything the restaurant served on it. She added the apple cobbler and Amish potatoes salad.

Gregory had their fiery hot barbecue made from the same sauce that they put on the wings. He also ordered onion rings to go with the sandwich.

“You are not kissing me after eating that sandwich.” Alissa knew how hot the sauce was and didn’t want to taste it second hand.

Tony just smiles as he bites into his sandwich. He ordered a mega beef barbecue sandwich. Tony not only did pork barbecue but beef as well.

“I can’t wait till; the beers are produced. How is your recipe coming for the chocolate coconut beer coming?” Tony looks over towards Alissa.

“I almost have the recipe done. So, far it has been a lot of trial and error.” Alissa hopes she has the recipe down.

After lunch, Gregory and Alissa head back to the garage to work on the meal for tomorrow’s catering job. They had to prepare for an Italian catering job for tomorrow. They stop at their favorite butcher shop to pick up the fresh veal they were going to use.

“Hi, Alissa and Gregory. What can I do for you two today?”

“We would like fifty veal cutlets. Do you have any in stock?” Alissa was hoping he did.

“Yep, I have them. What else do you need?”

“At least forty-pound beef chuck, forty pounds of pork and forty pounds of veal.” Alissa knew that was all she needed.

“Okay, give me a few minutes while I get your order ready.”

“Thanks, Taavi.” Alissa watches as he goes about getting her orders together.

Alissa looks at the other meat on display. She wanted to make something special for dinner.

“Hey Gregory, what do you think about a stew tonight for dinner or chicken and dumplings?” Alissa looks over towards Gregory.

“I figure we would just fix ourselves some from the meal we are cooking tonight?”

“We can do that.” Alissa walks over to the counter to pay for their purchases.

They head back to the van and back to the garage to start on the catering job. They work throughout the night getting everything cooked and place to be reheated later. Once the kitchen is cleaned and everything is put away, they head inside the house and up to the bedroom.

Three Days Later:
Alissa, Gregory, and Tony are in Devon White’s office. They all read over the contract and NDA agreement that their lawyer had drawn up. It needed all four of their signatures. Alissa signs first and then Gregory, Tony and finally Devon White signs it. He had already read the contract.

“Here you go, Mr. White, a $60,000.00-dollar check made out to Flying Monkey Brewery.” Alissa hands the bank check to Devon.

Devon accepts it and couldn’t believe he could finally get everything up and running. After he was done with this meeting he was going to the bank and deposit it.

“Thank you. I took the liberty to brew a big batch of our house beer for you.” As he hands over several cases of house beer.

“Thank you.” Gregory wonders if this beer taste as nice as the sample he gave them three days ago.

After the meeting, Devon heads towards the bank, while Gregory and Alissa go to check on the food truck.

Alissa looks at herself in the full-length mirror in her bedroom. Gregory had called from the garage and suggested they go out to Philly’s on a date tonight. She had finished all the paperwork she had piled up on her desk and paid all the bills. She missed just being a cook.

The specialty beer they were producing, and selling was doing well. The cider was selling off the truck, faster then they could stock it. The beer was doing extremely well at the barbecue restaurant.

She gathers her purse, after taking one more look in the mirror and head down to the catering van. Since Easter was approaching, they have been getting orders in to cater to several Easter dinners. So, far the catering business was breaking even. The food trucks and carts were making a profit and her share of the Barbecue restaurant was doing fine. She reinvested the money back into the restaurant.

She heads down to the catering van and drives over to Philly’s. It felt nice not to have to cook for herself. She pulls the catering van into an empty parking space. She spots Gregory’s shop truck. He bought the truck at an auto auction. When he got it back to the shop, he discovered why it had gone for as little as it did. It took him a few months to straighten the truck out and replace the engine and transmission.

Alissa walks into the restaurant and has to wait for a hostess to show up. The place looked busy and all the waiter/waitresses were busy helping customers. A young hostess with short light brown hair approaches the hostess podium. Alissa figures she must be 18yr. old or so.

“Welcome to Philly’s how many in your party?” Alice was happy that today was busy. She hopes she gets a decent tip.

“I’m meeting someone who is already here.” Alissa had glanced around for Gregory.

“Ah, yes. If you’ll follow me, please.” Alice escorts Alissa to a table in the back, where she couldn’t see.

“Your waitress will be with you in a few minutes.” Alice hands Alissa her menu

Gregory smiles at Alissa as she sat down. He loved how she looked.

“You look nice tonight.”

“Thank you. How was your day today?” Alissa takes a sip of her ice water.

“Busy, all the bays were full, and we still have cars we are waiting for parts for.” Gregory couldn’t believe how busy they got.

Their waitress shows up and takes their drink and food order. After she leaves, Gregory reaches into his pants pocket and pull out the wedding ring that use to belong to his grandmother. He holds it in front of him towards Alissa “Alissa, will you marry me?”

Alissa couldn’t believe that Gregory proposed to her in a restaurant, but it did make sense. Also, they have known each other for a long time and have recently been spending time together in bed.

“Yes, I’ll marry you.” Alissa holds her hand out, so Gregory could slide the ring onto her finger.

People around them clap and congratulated them as well.

Alissa blushes from embarrassment. She loved that Gregory proposed to her, but she never liked the spotlight. Now, she was in it. She looks
towards Gregory and could tell he enjoyed the attention they were getting.

The dinner arrives along with a bottle of champagne. Gregory was surprised when the bottle arrived. When he looks at the waitress to say
something.

“It’s compliments from the management.” Their waitress had a big ole smile on her face.

“Thank you.” Alissa couldn’t believe that the management gave them a bottle of champagne.

They enjoy their meal and the champagne the management gave them. The manager also paid for their dinner that night. Gregory followed Alissa back to her place, where they celebrated the proposal most of the night.

When morning comes, Alissa was nice and comfortable snuggled against Gregory. She was pleased and happy. She just laid there happy.

Gregory glances down at Alissa and was happy she said yes to marrying him. He has known her since they attended the same culinary school. He slowly slides out of bed, so not to disturb her. He had to open the garage this morning.

He walks over to Alissa dresser and pulls out a change of clothes. He keeps a spare set of clothes at Alissa’s house, should he spend the night. He grabs them and heads into the master bathroom and takes a shower. Once he is done, he gets dress and places a kiss on Alissa’s cheek.

Several hours later, Alissa wakes-up and rushes to the bathroom. Her bladder was ready to empty itself. While she is sitting on the toilet, she holds her hand out in front of her and admires the engagement ring Gregory gave her last night.

Once she is done doing her business, she takes a shower and gets dress afterward. Alissa heads down to the catering kitchen to see if any orders had come in. As she walks out of the main house, she spots the inspector that hates her waiting for her.

“Good morning Inspector, what can I do for you?” Alissa was surprised because she hasn't expected him today.

“I’m here to do your yearly inspection or have you forgotten about that?” David didn’t like this woman.

“I’m not due for another month or so inspector.” Alissa knew she was due for her yearly inspection.

“Well, since I’m here. I might as well get it over with.” He starts walking towards the catering door kitchen door.

“Fine.” Alissa opens the door to the kitchen and steps aside while the inspector walks past her and into the kitchen.

Donald walks into the kitchen and starts looking at the thing. Everything he looks at so far is up today. He checks her walk-in freezer to check the expiration date of the items in there. Alissa watches him so he doesn’t try anything.

Donald glances back over his shoulder and notices that the owner was watching him. There was nothing he could do to sabotage the inspection. Her and the other person he had watching him when he came to inspect the food truck.

He gives her a B rating. She didn’t have anything out of place or wrong, but he didn’t like her.

“Here is your renewal. You passed.” As he hands her the rating.

Alissa looks at it and notices her had given her a B rating. It was the same thing she got last time. She looks at the report to see what caused her to lose points on the inspection.

“Have a nice day.” David walks out of the kitchen and towards his car.

Alissa goes inside and checks the items he marked and notices there wasn’t anything wrong with them. She takes a picture of the items and of the checklist he gave her. A B rating wasn’t bad, but she shouldn’t have gotten it. She had gotten an A rating.

She walks back to the house and to the security monitor. She reviews the video and watches as he goes about checking the items he marked off. There wasn’t anything wrong with the items. She burns a copy of the inspection and put everything together for her lawyer to handle the problem. She sends her an email and the evidence.

Once that was done, she checks her fax machine and notices an order had come in. It was a hundred wing count platter and they had already broken down how many of each type they wanted. The order wasn’t till this weekend and it was already paid for in full.

She marks her calendar and wonders how sales were going with the charts and truck out. Alissa loads the catering van up with stock and drives to each location. The first cart was doing okay and only needed a little bit of replenishment.

Alissa collects what they have made and replenish their change money. She moves onto the food truck and does the same thing. They, however, needed a major replenishment. They were almost out of everything. The last food cart was like the first cart. She replenishes the last cart, which only left a little bit left in the catering van.

She heads towards the bank to make the bank deposits. While in the bank she runs into a few old high school friends. They talk for a while, while she is in line waiting. The friend she was talking too, has been married for several years and had three children. They were in school right now.

By the time it was her turn at the counter, her old high school friend had finished her business and left. When she is done at the bank, she heads back to the catering kitchen to fix dinner for herself and Gregory.

During the week, the food truck and the food carts stayed busy. Alissa did an Easter dinner for the homeless shelter and Tony did a barbecue fundraiser for the little league football team help support. All the money from the fundraiser went towards new equipment and uniforms for the team. He donated some of the funds to the cheerleading squad that supported the team during the game.

The catering business was still breaking even. Which sort of bothered Alissa, because it was one of their main income bringers. However, the money the food truck and food carts brought in, was making up the difference.

She had her lawyer working on a lawsuit against the health inspector that always gave her a hard time. Along with that, she has been looking at wedding dresses for her wedding. Her and Gregory had talked about it and decided to get married next year. They were looking for a Spring wedding. She already decided that Tony was going to cater the reception. They haven’t decided where they were going to have the reception, but where ever it was going to be, would have to be outside.

Later in the evening, she and Gregory are watching the evening news and the food truck, along with the food charts appear on the screen. The newscaster was showing pictures of the food truck and the food carts. The newscaster gave a glowing review of the food truck and food carts.
How the food was as delicious as the service. How the people that worked at the truck and cart made you feel like you were getting the best.

They treated you better than any service you got at most high-end restaurants.

“I can’t believe.” Alissa was amazed that their food truck and carts had been filmed.

“You’re telling me.” Gregory was amazed as well.

“This is going to increase the business at the truck and carts a lot.” Alissa couldn’t believe the newscaster gave them such a glowing review.

The following day, the food truck crew ended up calling Alissa for more supplies. She packs the catering van up with the items set aside for the next day’s run and takes it to them. She wonders how busy they were.

When she pulls up where the food truck was, she couldn’t believe how busy they were. She pulls the catering van as close as possible.

“Thank god you got my text, Alissa. We are almost out of everything.” Bobby was so happy Alissa showed up with more food.

Alissa couldn’t believe how long the line was. She had never seen the line so long before. Even after her first time out with the food truck.

“Well, after that news report last night. I didn’t figure you would get this busy.” Alissa couldn’t believe how busy they got.

Between Bobby and Alissa they get the food truck loaded with new supplies. Alissa sticks around and helps the truck staff out and refill the
carts as well. She takes the empty trays and containers and put them in the catering van.

Once the truck and carts are resupplied. She heads back home to clean and make new product to go out tomorrow. The rest of the afternoon she keeps busy in the catering kitchen.

The Following Weeks:
For the next three weeks, the food trucks and cart stay extremely busy. Alissa’s Lawyer calls her and informs Alissa. The health inspector supervisor had been informed and he was fired from the health department.

She wasn’t the only one that complained. There had been several other restaurants and businesses that had been targeted by the inspector.
That made Alissa and Gregory happy. The supervisor of the health department said they would send another person to reinspect the facilities if she would like them too. Gregory and Alissa talked about it and agreed.

The new inspector was coming in a few days to inspect the catering kitchen. Alissa didn’t know if she should have kept the old rating. However, she was confident that her place was in order.

For the next few days, the truck stays busy and Alissa has to make trips out to resupply them. When she came back on the second day, the inspector was waiting for her.

“Hello, is there anything I can do for you?” Alissa was surprised that the inspector was there already.

“I’m here to do a reinspect, Mrs. Spencer. My name is Larry Cable.”

“Oh, okay. Well, let me show you in.” Alissa takes her keys and opens the door.

Larry could tell Mrs. Spencer was nervous. Before he walks into the catering kitchen. He stops next to her “you have nothing to fear Mrs.
Spencer. I’ve eaten at your food truck and carts and saw how conscious your people are.” He gives her a reassuring smile as he walks into the kitchen.

Alissa stands outside and watches from the doorway as the Inspector went about examining the kitchen. He takes longer then the other inspector did. He finally finishes and walks over to Alissa.

“Congratulations Mrs. Spencer, you have a very neat place.” He removes her old rating and put the new one up.

“Thank you.” Alissa lets a sigh escape as a smile appears on her face.

Cable saw the relief in Mrs. Spencer’s face and smile. He closes his clipboard. Just as he is walking back to his car. He stops and looks at her
“Mrs. Spencer, I have a question for you. How do you get the chicken so tender on the Hawaiin Chicken sandwich?”

“I steam it when I cook it. I try to make it so tender, that if a person has false teeth. They can enjoy it.” Alissa looks at the inspector.

“Well, I would love to learn how to cook some of your sandwiches.” He has tried some of the hamburgers and loved them.

“If I tell you all my secrets, I’ll be out of business.” Alissa wasn’t going to reveal her secrets.

“Well, you can’t blame me for trying.” He smiles at her as he walks to his car.

“Thank you, Mr. Cable.” Alissa watches as he drives off.

Alissa was sweating like a pig as she stood next to the barbeque grill. The humidity was high, and she was working at the grill. They got a catering job that wanted six briskets and twelve beef and pork ribs. Since she won first place at the barbecue contest a few months ago. They wanted to see how her briskets were. Her ribs did well when she got judged on those.

She could have let the barbecue restaurant handle the job, but they were to busy to take it. So, she and Gregory were handling it. Gregory was gone picking up some more spices for her. She already put two layers of spices on the brisket and ribs. She was going to lay a third layer down of just pure honey to glaze the meats.

Alissa glances up at the sky and notices dark clouds moving in. She sets up a portable tent to provide shelter for her. She was set up out in her driveway outside her catering kitchen. She takes a sip of her lemonade after setting the tent up.

She watches her neighbors. Most of them were inside their homes getting out of the heat. Some of them were either washing and detailing their cars or working on their lawns, making it look good. She looks at hers and it looked normal, nothing too fancy. There were a few flowers and animal decoration that was placed around her lawn.

As she continues to wait for the ribs and brisket to cook, it starts getting darker and darker. She heard thunder off in the distance. She figures the storm was at least twenty miles away.

The smell coming from the cooker was unbelievable. She spots Gregory’s truck coming up the road towards her house. She watches as it parks next to the curb since the driveway was taken up by the tent and barbecue unit.

Gregory saw that Alissa had erected the port canopy unit. He had gone through a downpour on his way back from the farmers market with the honey Alissa wanted. The type he got for her was the Blackberry honey. He also picked up a jar of coffee honey as well. He thought Alissa might want to try it.

He parks next to the curb in front of her house. He’s been thinking lately of moving in with Alissa full time now. Since he asked her to marry him. He knew she wanted to get the final operation before she did anything.

“Hello, stranger.” Alissa steps up and places a kiss on Gregory’s lips.

“Hello to you as well.” As he returns the kiss.

“So, what did you bring me?” Alissa looks down into the box he was carrying.

“I got you the blackberry honey you wanted and a new type you might want to try, called coffee honey.” Gregory pulls the jar of coffee honey out.

Alissa looks surprised. She has never seen or tasted coffee honey before. She wonders who sold it to Gregory.

“Hum, I wonder what it tastes like?” She looks at the color of the honey.

“Well, let's make sure we open it for a good reason.” He takes inside the kitchen.

Alissa walks over to the portable card table and grabs a bowl. She empties two of the jars of honey and drips her paintbrush into the honey.
She carries the honey over to the barbecue smoker and brushes on the honey. She lays it down thick on the ribs. Once the ribs are coated and placed back in the smoker. She prepares the trays to place them in.

She glances at her clock and she still had a few more hours before the clients showed up. She cuts the ribs up once the glaze was the way she was looking for.

“So, I take it that everything is ready?” Gregory picks up a spare rib she cooked for them.

“Yep, I’m just waiting on the brisket to finish. I would give it another twenty minutes.” Alissa removes her gloves and tries one of the ribs.

“These came out better, then I thought they would.” Alissa was going to have to use the same recipe again.

“I agree. I’m glad you made some for us.” Gregory grabs a second one.

Twenty minutes later, the client shows up for the order. Alissa had just put the finishing touches on the last brisket and brunt ends. Once the orders were picked up. She seats down in the lawn chair and has a little picnic with Gregory.

As they are enjoying the meal, the rain starts to come down. A smile appears on her face as she and Gregory enjoy the downpour and the food.

“You know, there are times when you are cooking that it's nice to just sit and watch the rain.”

“I know what you mean.” Alissa just enjoys the rain as it comes down.

After Alissa and Gregory finish eating. They clean up outside and put the tent away. The rain had changed to the misty type.

“I’m taking a bath. Do you want to join me?” Alissa just looks over her shoulder towards Gregory.

A smile appears on his face as he follows her upstairs.

Several Months Later:
“Owe!” As Alissa moves around.

She had the operation finally to correct her plumbing. She couldn’t wait for her and Gregory to have normal sex now. She walks over to her favorite chair and sits down.

Gregory looks at Alissa “how are you feeling?”

“Sorry as hell. It hurts to move around.” Alissa puts her donut cushion under her.

“Poor baby.” Gregory leans down and kisses Alissa.

“But I’m your poor baby.” As Alissa returns the kiss.

They had a simple wedding with a few of their friends present. Afterward, Gregory took Alissa to have her operation. The catering business was being handled by Bobby and Lucas. If need be, she could help out in the kitchen, but she was under doctor’s orders not too. She was just happy that she was finally a full-fledged woman.

All the businesses she owned or were part of were doing good. The ribs and brisket catering job she did work out nicely. It helped her catering business, once word about her ribs got around.

All she to do now, was concentrate on healing and being the best wife she could be to Gregory..