Several of her friends came up to hug and congratulate her. Like Nora, none of them seemed especially shocked at the news, almost as if they had all suspected it was only a matter of time before their pretty colleague ended up on the menu herself. Of course the most excited for her were the two young meat-girls sat at the table with her, asking her lots of questions, including whether she had taken profile pictures like theirs and, if so, could they see them? She had promised that they could, either before the tour or, if there was not time time, before they went home later. Once the initial reaction had died down, everyone went back to their lunches and Mollie felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. It was her work phone so she knew that it was a good idea to take the call, even if she was technically on her lunch break and not on duty.

“This is Mollie at SB catering.” she introduced herself brightly as she answered the phone. “”How can we make your day more delicious?”

“Oh thank goodness!” The woman on the other end of the line did not sound angry, just immensely relieved. “I hoped this was your direct line. My neighbour gave me your card. You catered a party for him on Saturday and you’re cooking his daughter next week?”

“Okay!” Mollie nodded, realising that it must have been Megan’s dad who had passed on her details. She was about to ask again what she could do for the woman but she cut back in, babbling in the way people do when very stressed and trying to juggle a dozen different tasks at once.

“He said I should talk to the redhead with the nice…” she caught herself just in time. “Smile!” she improvised, convincing nobody that that was how she had intended to end the sentence. “Is that you?”

“I like to think so!” Mollie giggled, making a mental note to gently tease her client on Saturday. “I’m certainly the redhead who catered the party on Saturday. What is it I can help you with today?” The sisters had paused their lunches when Mollie had got the call but, once they realised it was just a work conversation, went back to munching on their sandwiches. Mollie grabbed a napkin and began to make notes with a pen she conveniently had in her pocket, trying to connect the dots while the woman told her tale of woe. From what she could piece together, she had an important work event coming up but had been let down by the venue which seemed to have had some kind of health-scare meaning it had shut down, temporarily at least, without notice and all the meat in their inventory was quarantined until further notice. She had managed to find another location at short notice but was in desperate need of two meals for forty people.

“We promised them a cold buffet when they arrive,” she explained, “then a fresh roast after the talks. Is there any way at all you can help me?”

“I’ll do my best.” Mollie assured her in a soothing voice, trying to calm her enough to collect the relevant details. “So, when is the event?”

“That’s the thing!” the woman practically wailed. “It’s tomorrow!” Mollie’s eyes went wide and she gave a low whistle under her breath but managed to maintain her professional demeanour.

“I’m sure I can move some stuff around and make it happen.” She assured the caller. “Of course for a rushed job like this, the price will be a little higher than usual.”

“That’s no problem, really!” The woman practically gushed. “Money really is no object, and I’m not just saying that! This company has deep pockets. The trouble is, they think money can solve every problem and sometimes it just can’t!”

“I hear you!” Mollie chuckled, a plan forming in her head as her eyes fell upon Jessica’s denim-clad rump. “So, forty people you say? A cold buffet followed by a spit-roast?” The woman confirmed this. “So, assuming I can pull this together for you, which I’m sure I can,” she continued with growing confidence, “would a girl who has been oven-roasted then cooled be suitable as the initial centre-piece? Then we can either bring another girl ready-spitted and begin cooking her when your clients get down to business, with her on display before, of course, or we can bring her on the hoof and spit her there?”

“I think ready-spitted would be better, honestly.” the woman admitted. “I’m so grateful to the place we’ve managed to find and they will have a big marquee for the even but space is a little limited. So, yeah, ready-spitted please. She’ll make a nice talking-point I’m sure!”

“I’m sure she will!” Mollie chuckled. “May I pop you on hold for one moment while I make some enquiries?”

“Sure!” The woman exclaimed, her smile of relief audible. “Oh but before you do…” she gabbled just as Mollie was moving the phone away from her ear. “I meant what I said about the price! In fact,” she informed her, “I don’t even want to see a quote beforehand! Just tell me how much deposit you need and then send me an invoice for the rest afterwards and I’ll see that it gets paid!”

“Thank you!” Mollie nodded. “Will do! Now, I just need to check some stock availability.” She pressed the hold button on the call and set the phone down on the table. “Um, girls?” she called for the sisters’ attention. Jessica put down her sandwich and turned to her with a curious smile while Marcia quickly tried to swallow down her mouthful of cake.

“I don’t know how much of that you heard,” she began, “but I’ve just been asked if we can cover an emergency booking tomorrow. One cold meal, one hot, both for forty people. So I’m looking for two piggies… ooh, let’s say a year or two either side of ten, one for the oven and one for the spit. Know anyone that can help out?” It took a moment for her words to sink in but, when they did, the realisation hit both Marcia and Jessica in the same instant and their eyes went wide.

“You mean…” Jessica could hardly contain herself. “Us? Tomorrow?”

“If you’re up for it?” Mollie grinned. “Sounds like you’d really be helping this lady out and I can get your mum premium price for your meat!”

“Tomorrow?” Marcia echoed, but in delight rather than fear. Despite knowing that their mum was going to ask for them to be put at the front or the queue if possible, they had still resigned themselves to waiting a couple of weeks, if not a month, before realising their dream. Now here was the opportunity to be roasted almost right away! “For real?”

“For real!” Mollie chuckled. “If you’re up for it, that is? We’d cook you up in the oven in the morning and let you cool then get you,” she turned to Jessica, “on a spit here and display you on the carving mount until it’s time to get you over the coals. What do you think?” Both girls nodded mutely, overwhelmed and excited, to focussed for the moment on what their new friend was describing to form words. “Great! So I can tell them you’re in? I do need you to actually say!” She prompted with a giggle.

“Yes!” Jessica declared confidently.

“Double yes!” Marcia agreed, her grin so broad it looked as if the top of her head might fall off!

“Hi there,” Mollie resumed the call, “thanks for holding! Yup, I’ve got two very willing, A-grade piggies who will be perfect for your event. Do you have my email on the card?” The woman confirmed that she did. “Great! Pop the address of the venue and your contact details in an email for me and I’ll get back to you this afternoon with their profiles and the invoice for the deposit. It will basically be the up-front purchase price of the ingredients so we can crack on for you and the rest will be our time and staffing costs.”

“That’s no problem at all.” The woman gushed. “I really am so very grateful!”

“Let us know if there’s any dietary requirements too,” Mollie reminded her, “and if you have any requests for the rest of the food. I can’t promise what we’ll be able to get at short notice but we’ll pull out all the stops and make sure your guests don’t go home hungry!” They exchanged a few more conversational pleasantries then the call ended.

“I guess we’d better let your mum know, huh?” Mollie chuckled, setting her phone down on the table. “Do you have your phones on you?” Both girls patted their pockets and realised they did not.

“They must still be in Mum’s handbag!” Jessica exclaimed in frustration.

“No problem!” Mollie smiled, picking her own back up. “What’s her number?” Luckily, both girls had this memorised in case of emergencies and Mollie dialled, holding the phone to her ear and smiling at the excited girl as she waited. When their mum answered the call, she could hear a somewhat anxious tone in her voice, not too different from the woman who had called about the emergency booking. Quickly, she explained the situation, that the girls had already been sold and would need dropping back off early the next morning.

“You know,” the woman replied in a curious tone, “that might actually solve a big problem. Can you put me on speaker so I can talk to the girls too?”

“Sure thing!” Mollie grinned, setting the phone down on the table in the middle of them and activating speaker mode.

“Hi Mum!” the girls gushed excitedly. “Isn’t it cool?”

“It certainly is!” their mum chuckled warmly. “But I’ve had a bit of bad news and I’ve been trying to find someone for you to stay with or a few days so this could be an actual godsend!”

“Oh?” Jessica asked. “What bad news?”

“Your Auntie Julie…”

“That’s Mummy’s sister.” Marcia informed her in a confidential whisper. “She lives by the seaside.”

“She’s been in a car accident. I need to go visit her in her in hospital and help Uncle Mark out with practical things so I’ll be gone for a few days. I really want to get off this afternoon as it’s at least a four hour drive in good traffic! I don’t suppose you have a dormitory or something on site do you?” She asked hopefully, the question clearly directed at Mollie. “Somewhere you can have meat stay before their big day?”

“Well not as such, no.” Mollie admitted before an idea occurred to her. “But what do you say, girls? Sleepover at my place tonight? Pizza, scary movies, girls only, no boys and no pyjamas?” The girls giggled and enthusiastically agreed. “Great! I’ll look after them tonight.” Mollie promised. “And bring them back in the morning. I’ll send you all the details by email and your money will go straight to the account you gave us the details of. Is that okay?”

“More than okay!” the sister’s mum exclaimed. “Now sorry for rushing but I do need to get going. Be good for Mollie, girls! I’ve got to drive past there on my way down anyway. I know you have plans this afternoon but I’ll drop your phones at reception so we can talk a little this evening, okay?” And with that, the deal was done!


To be continued...