If Mama Ain't Happy...

Posted on Fri Feb 22nd, 2019 @ 6:18pm by Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Corvus

Mission: A Brand New Day
Location: Dining Facility, Cheyenne Mountain Complex
Timeline: Current

Jeremy glanced over his shoulder then back and looked down at his now empty tray. He did another quick glance then back.

“What’s the problem, Sergeant?” Arcadia asked, noticing the very suspicious behavior of the airman.

“That woman over there,” Jeremy said, with a flick of his head. Very helpful considering there were three women behind the serving line. “She keeps watching me.”

Arcadia glanced over. “Which one.”

“Which one what?” Jeremy asked.

Arcadia wanted to smack him at the moment. “Which woman? There’s three of them and they’re all looking at you because you keep making it obvious that you’re looking at them!”

“The older one,” Jeremy whispered. Most of the dining facility was cleared out now but there were still enough new arrivals after Arcadia and Jeremy to keep the place sounding busy.

Arcadia glanced at the trio, reminded only a little bit of the Fates from Macbeth. The ‘older’ one as Jeremy called her was a short, thick hipped black lady with iron silver hair drawn away from her head into a bun, then further hidden with a cap. She had deep chocolate skin and eyes so brown they might have been the night sky. Her lips were painted a vivid shade of red, one that on any lighter skinned woman would look ghastly, but was perfectly at home on her face.

“Did you ever stop to think, Corvus,” Arcadia said, “that she’s staring at you because you keep glaring over your shoulder at her?”

“No,” Jeremy answered, honestly and without a thought. “And I’m not glaring at her.”

“Looks like you’re glaring,”

“No, I’m not,” Jeremy said, facing Arcadia. Over lunch Arcadia continued giving Jeremy information, mostly about the surrounding town and things to do. Arcadia, too, enjoyed the outdoors, was even in a weekly running club with some of the townies. He told Jeremy about the biking, hiking, camping, kayaking and skiing opportunities. A person who enjoyed getting out and doing things would not find a shortage of activities around Cheyenne Mountain Complex.

“You’re not constantly glaring at her? Because, I gotta say, you are.”

“No, I’m not glaring,” Jeremy said, glancing again. She was still there.

She was still watching him.

“Okay, then maybe you call it something else in your world, but here, it’s glaring. Like she’s done something wrong.”

“No,” Jeremy protested as he looked straight ahead again. “I’m not glaring at her, I’m waiting for her to leave.”

“Leave?” Arcadia asked, “That’s Mama Edith, head of the kitchen. She doesn’t leave while meal service is in effect.”

“Oh,” Jeremy said, sighing as he sat back in his chair.

“Why would she have to leave?” Arcadia asked, clearly amused at this point.

“Cause she watched me when I went through the chow line. Made me feel like I was doing something wrong,” the younger airman answered.

“She wasn’t there when we got through the first time, I would have remembered.”

“No, not when we came in,” Jeremy said, trying to see if he could watch he without her noticing. His leg started to bounce with nervousness.

“Oh, when you went back through,” Arcadia said. Then, he chuckled as he sat back in his chair. “Are you wanting to go through again? For a third time?”

“I’m hungry,” Jeremy said. “It was a near day flight from Afghanistan and they didn’t serve anything for meals but those tiny little dinner things. I’d come back from a patrol right before. I haven’t really eaten in more than a day.” He stared at his empty tray. “And this is good. Then yesterday it was all go go go and I barely got time to chow down what little I got at chow.” He didn’t mention that he had to get up early to get a workout session in because he still had to clear Shae if she were good to go, meet with Andrews for lessons and he had an alert that the Major called a meeting for after that. It was beginning to look like lunch might just be another sandwich and packet of chips eaten on the fly.

“Then go get more,” Arcadia said. “I mean, it’s not like there isn’t enough or anything.”

“Yeah, but,” Jeremy said, resisting the urge to look again. “She gave me a look last time, like I broke some rules or something. If I go again then-”

“Are you afraid of her?” Arcadia asked, laughing. “One older, black lady and you’re afraid of her?”

“You didn’t see the way she looked at me!” Jeremy hissed as he leaned in toward Arcadia. “Like she was going to drag the Major down here and chew me out in front of everyone!”

“Mama Edith?” Arcadia said, almost outright laughing. “Alright, this should be good, c’mon, Staff Sergeant.” He stood and indicated Jeremy should follow. “All that training, all the reputation of SpecOps and here you are, cowering in fear of one old woman.” When he saw that Jeremy wasn’t following, he turned back and grabbed the bigger man by the arm. “C’mon.”

Jeremy didn’t want to cause a scene but he was afraid one was about to happen anyway. But, dutifully, he followed behind the other Staff Sergeant, even though they were headed directly to a confrontation.

“Hey there, Mama,” Arcadia said from several steps away.

“Creighton,” Mama Edith said, her face brightening into a large grin. Those dark eyes of hers were lit as she looked from Arcadia to Jeremy. Without missing a beat she looked at Jeremy and asked, “You finally decided if ya wanted more?” She spoke with the barest hint of a Southern Alabama accent, indicating her origins but not where she spent most of her life.

Jeremy nodded and meekly answered “Yes, ma’am.”

“Well, then tell me what ya want and we’ll get ya fixed right up. Big boy like you, it’s good to see a man actually eat around here. None of this vegan, gluten free, cruelty free, no soy crap either! I see ya eyin that bacon and you take much as ya want, Mama Edith always has more!” She laughed with mirth as she picked up a tray and started loading it again. “More of the eggs?”

“Oh, yes, ma’am!” Jeremy blurted out. He wasn’t sure why, they were just the typical scrambled eggs, but they had a nice seasoning to them with bits of peppers and onions. “And you have more of that white stuff? Like porridge?”

“Those are my grits!” Mama said, “I always got plenty of grits!” She pushed back a cover from a dish and put up a heaping spoon of the gritty white substance. “Now, ya know how you properly eat grits cause I saw you before puttin butter and sugar on’em!” Before he could say anything about it, she was adding bacon crumbles and shredded cheddar on top of the grits. “Now you just give it a moment to let that cheese get nice and soft then you mix it all together, you won’t regret it!” Biscuits were split and covered with a thick sausage gravy.

“Here ya go, and iffin you wan’ more, then you just come on back,” Mama Edith said, “any of my kids here will get ya fixed right up.”

“Oh, no, ma’am, I think this will be enough,” Jeremy said, hoping it’d be enough. He had weight standards to maintain but there was a promise of physical testing and enough physical activity in the area that he was sure finding ways to burn off the calories wasn’t going to be a problem.

“Good, good, I always take care of our boys in service,” she said, the vernacular coming out that she would apply the term to anyone in a uniform. “‘Specially round here. I don’t know exactly what y’all do here, but if it’s top secret it means ya gotta be well fed do do your jobs.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jeremy said, taking the laden tray and realizing that maybe she’d given him too much but he was sure he wouldn’t be hungry again before lunch came rolling around.

“And you tell us if you need something special, we’ll see what we can do,” Mama said, then her smile faded as she held up a finger, somehow the five foot five woman seemed to be in Jeremy’s face,”but don’t be getting crazy with what you ask for, this isn’t a Burger King, you want it all your way, you go on over to Burger King and suffer for it.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jeremy said, feeling as if he’d been chided but wasn’t sure what he did.

“You have anymore of that espresso you made up this morning?” Arcadia asked, picking up one of the larger mugs from the tray line.

“Mayhap I do, maybe I don’t, but right now I’m thinking it’s maybe more I don’t since you’re asking, Creighton. Maybe if you learn how to be nicer to people, the answer becomes maybe yes I do.”

“What?” Arcadia asked, glancing around. “I’ve been nice. Today. Mostly. I mean, no one’s complained yet, have they?” Wasn’t that the way with cooks, they always knew everything as soon as it happened. Food and gossip were the two outputs from any kitchen.

“Don’t think I didn’t see you over there letting this boy suffer, trying to decide if he could have more.” Mama Edith glared at Arcadia, her hands on her hips and her lips pursed. “Now you know what you’re doin’ round here and this boy just got here, he don’t know better. I have half a mind to make sure we run out of them season fries you like so much come round lunch time.”

“What? Wait...no!” Arcadia sputtered. “I didn’t stop him! When he said what was going on I brought him over, Mama!”

“Hmmm hmmm,” was Mama’s only reply, that with a look that she didn’t believe him.

“That’s true, ma’am,” Jeremy said around a mouthful of the grits. She was right, they were GREAT like this as well...though he still liked the butter and sugar he put on them before.

“Child, don’t you talk with your mouth full! Maybe your own momma raised you that it was okay, but I ain’t havin none of that in my dining room, hear?”

Jeremy swallowed quickly, “Yes, ma’am.”

“And I don’t put up with no foolishness in here neither. You make a mess, you’d better be cleanin’ it up. Food is for eating, not throwing. An’ you disrespect any of my people, you’d better hope Domino’s knows how to deliver cause you ain’t eatin nothin’ comin’ outta my kitchen til the General tells me you’ve learned your lesson, hear me?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jeremy said. He started to think it was a mistake trying to support his comrade in service at the moment. He had his mission objective and perhaps it was time to do a tactical withdrawal and regroup at the table. Where he had a better chance of not having his tray taken away from him and sent to the General’s office for detention.

“Alright then, if you say he didn’t know til now, then I’ll accept your word. You look like a honest boy.” She smiled again and made shooing motions with her hands. “Y’all go on and sit now, finish your breakfast before you have your busy day doing whatever secret things y’all do. I’ll bring you over some more of my special espresso, Creighton, an’ you remember your place in the future or maybe there ain’t gonna be no more espresso ever again.”

“Yes, Mama,” Creighton said, smiling as he followed Jeremy back to the table. Once he sat again, waiting for another cup of the espresso, he turned to Jeremy. “One thing you want to remember,” he started, then watching Jeremy shovel food into his mouth like the zombie apocalypse was about to hit them he amended himself, “two things you want to remember. You don’t ever want to piss off Mama Edith. Bellows upset her a few weeks back and he’s still getting the burnt bits of bacon and the runny, powder eggs. I heard even General Wolf started sending out for coffee cause his was coming up weak or bitter. She runs this Dining Facility and she’s not shy about letting anyone know. One of the senators overseeing this program came in one day and made some sort of comment that Mama took offense to and she refused to give him anything but a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and even then she said she wasn’t going to use the good jelly.”

“Really?” Jeremy said, swallowing fast so that there was no chance Mama would catch him talking with his mouth full.

“That’s what I heard anyway,” Arcadia answered. “It’s true about Bellows. He’s almost close to breaking down and asking for forgiveness. It’ll cost him though.”

“What’s the second thing?” Jeremy asked before scraping up the last of the grits and licking the spoon clean.

“Even when you’re eating, you gotta come up for air, sheesh.” Creighton shook his head, but then smiled as he saw Mama heading toward them, a large insulated mug in her hands.

“This is the last of it til this evenin, better make it last if you can,” she said as she set the mug on the table. “And don’t think I don’t know who I give my cups out to, so you’d best bring this back.”

“Anything you need for later?” she asked, placing her hand on Jeremy’s shoulder.

“Some Pepsi?” he asked, hopeful it wasn’t pushing too much. “Cold Pepsi? Really cold Pepsi?”

Mama Edith laughed, “That’s all? I got some in the back, you just come by when you ready for it and it’ll be nice and cold. Now, you finish up your breakfast and don’t you forget about leaving your area clean, now. You don’t want to miss out on lunch, Mama’s makin her meatloaf burgers.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jeremy said, already looking to see if he could find ways to increase his appetite between then and lunch.