Riddle 11

The bell on the entrance jingled as the door flew open. I walked in and took a deep breath of the air I had grown to love over the years. I looked over to the counter to see one of my two favorite people in the world, Robin Gordon, my substitute father figure. Upon my arrival I was greeted by a large shout. A huge smile grew on my face and I ran back behind the counter and was hugged by the gigantic ginger named Robin.



"Where have you been young boy! I haven't seen you for three days! I've been relying on Sara to get
the preparations for the bread done because you and me are the only ones who can work the
register!"

"Sorry, some things have come up, and I haven't had a lot of free time."

He put his arm over my shoulder to shield our conversation from the two wild cards behind me.

"Those two the reason behind that?" he whispered cautiously

I pinched the bridge of my nose so hard that I think I may have broken it.

"Yes... But it is partly my fault." I sighed wearily. " It's a long and complicated story I don't feel like
telling right now, maybe later" I gave him what I hoped was a convincing smile.

He nodded sagely then walked behind the counter.

"The usual?"

"Same deal as always, work for food."

"Good to see that you are still too cheap to pay for your meal, what about the miscreants behind you?"

Since this was the first time he actually called to them by name, they were a little bit surprised. Cheri
was the first one to catch her voice.

"We'll take what ever is the cheapest please."

Robin nodded and moved into the back room, motioning for me to go to the cash register. I walked over
to the machine and started hitting the keys using pure memory.

"Alright that will be $3.57 please."

Cheri had an amused look on her face while she pulled out her wallet and forked over the prerequisite
bills and change. After paying, Cheri and Nazo sat down at the nearest table and started fidgeting. I
gave them a reassuring smile while I began to work the register. A few minutes later Robin burst out of
the room with a booming smile. He tossed a buttered roll at me that I caught with out looking. I
immediately started gouging myself on the role while simultaneously taking the customers orders. To
the uninformed eye this may seem odd but the customers didn't seem to mind at all. In fact they
greeted me with great warmth and familiarity. While I was doing that Robin walked over to Nazo and
Cheri with two extravagant trays and presented them with said trays. He pulled off the covers on the
trays to reveal two pieces of chocolate cake.

"I hope the two of you like chocolate."

Nazo immediately dug in while Cheri looked up at the giant chef calculatingly.

"I highly doubt that this is the cheapest thing on the menu."

"You would be right in saying that young lass, since you guys are friends of Noah, the rest of cost is on
the house."

"Oh, thank you."

Robin burst in a somehow loud smile and gave her a friendly pat on the back. After Cheri lifted her now
cake covered face off the plate. Us boys gave a laugh that ended as soon as we both got a piece of
Cheri's new face mask thrown forcefully in our faces. Robin then walked off to the bathroom with a
parting wave. Once Cheri was done removing her beauty cream, she inquired about what just
happened.

"Why is the main chef of this place using the public bathroom."

"Because he says 'if the bathroom ain't good enough for the employes, then it ain't good enough for
anyone'. Don't ask me why he thinks that."

She nodded acceptably, though she did look a bit troubled. Time passed, though I was kept on task due
to the lunch rush. Eventually the employee doors opened and a young blonde girl passed through.
When she saw me she rushed over and gave me a friendly hug. I returned the hug, though for some
reason I felt a death glare from one Miss Cheri.

"Hey Noah, have you been?"

"Busy with friendly demands, how about you Sara?"

The newly identified Sara smiled and tussled my hair. If anyone else had done that I would have glared
them to submission, even if only jokingly.

"I've been missing you like crazy silly."

A chill ran down my spine, once again courtesy of my master. Sara looked at me with those eyes that
she always seemed to have around me, until she got a look on her face that signified her remembrance
of something she forgot.

"By the way Noah, have you seen Robin? I thought he went to the bathroom, but he hasn't come back
to the kitchen yet, did he go somewhere?

Until that time I had thought that Robin either had just spilled back into the kitchen without me noticing,
or that he just had a stomach ache or something. But then I made the connection. Cheri and my eyes
met halfway on our glances at each other. I abruptly stood up and bolted towards the bathroom at a
speed that a Olympic sprinter would kill for, Cheri right on me heels. When I got into the room I moved
to the only closed stall. I opened the door and my blood just froze. I fell to my knees, not tears
streaming down my eyes. There, lying dead, was my favorite person in the whole world, and my father
figure, Robin Gordon.