the boss agreement

i had one agreement with omar, and it was that he would take the bread rack after close. this counted as one agreement because i said it once and he nodded once. i wrote his name on the prep sheet anyway, because paper has less mercy than a person.

at 9:42, the rack was still beside the oven. omar was standing by it with both hands in his pockets, watching the top shelf. he said, "i thought you meant the other rack." there is one rack. the other one is a cart with a wheel that has been making a court case out of every turn.

i pulled the rack toward the dish pit. the top shelf caught on the door frame and dropped three trays of rolls onto the floor. none of them were burned. this made the accident more expensive. i counted the rolls before i moved them, because the floor was clean enough to lie about it. there were fifty-eight.

omar said the agreement was probably implied. i said an implied agreement is a rumor wearing an apron. then i put the rolls in the waste bin, wiped the floor, and found the paper where i had written his name. the ink had run through from the sanitizer bottle. it looked like omar had been assigned to a small flood.

he offered to help after i finished. i gave him the broom. he swept the same place three times and left the dirt in a neat line beside the wall. i moved the line into the pan.

now the bread rack is blocking the back door, and i have to drag it through the dining room before morning.