Chapter 15: The Close Call
Week four. The kitchen was mine now. Not officially. Officially I was still the lowest man on the line, the prep cook who cut onions and washed dishes and didn't talk. But the kitchen had a rhythm, and when you found the rhythm, the kitchen became yours the way a river becomes yours when you learn its currents. Eduardo trusted me with the prep station. He trusted me with the knife. He trusted me with the keys to the cooler, which was a trust I hadn't earned in any way except by showing up every day and doing the work and not being stupid, and in a kitchen, not being stupid was the highest qualification there was.
The close call happened on a Wednesday.
