"Me? No, just finished," she told him, grabbing him an apron and putting it on the counter for him. "I work now, in a shop, and for my mom at events she caters when she needs the help," she told him, checking over the dishes that were ready, and grabbing a stack of bowls to put in place, ready for the serving of the soup. Her mother called out to her in broken English, telling her to go and open the doors and let the people in from the cold. Mel did that, managing to make it back to the kitchen in front of the flood of them who were mainly interested in getting in from the cold wind.

As she hurried back around the counter she distributed the serving utensils into each of the trays in the bain marie, her mother already checking on the next batch of dumplings. WIth barely a glance at Virgil Mel started ladling out the soup, making sure each bowl had at least four of the dumplings, as her mother had told her. She pointed to the other trays and called to Virgil, telling him what to serve up, before turning her attention back to the bowls she was filling, and the hungry faces that were waiting.