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clattered forward. He wished he could shove Martin through the machine instead, let the scalding jets of water burn the creep ' s hide crimson.
    Before long, Martin and Larry emerged from the stockroom. Hurrying back out to the broiler, Martin wished the new employee luck, and Larry went into the locker room to don his uniform.
    Still seething, Dave grabbed an empty bus pan and stomped out to the dining room, as much to get away from his new problem as to clear tables for senior citizens. After a few minutes of racing around, sweeping refuse and dishes into the pan, he barreled back to his nook. Kicking open the swinging door, he let it crack gratifyingly against the wall, then smashed the bus pan down on a counter. Taking out his anger on the dishes, he hurled and slammed them, pitched them willy - nilly over the counter, flung slop everywhere.
    Filling one rack with platters and another with silverware, he drove them both into the machine, then slouched over to the runway on which they emerged. Cursing and grunting, he snatched the platters from the rack in great handfuls and turned to deposit them in the cubic cart.
    It was only then that he noticed that the cart was gone.
    The platter cart had vanished.
    Not only that, but the other cart was gone, too, the long cart.
    Surprised and confused, Dave glanced quickly around the dishroom but could see no sign of either cart. They had been right there by the runway when he'd gone to bus tables, and now they were nowhere to be found.
    Frowning with his hands full of platters, he suddenly realized that other things had changed, as well. He'd been so preoccupied when he'd returned to the dishroom that he hadn ' t noticed, but now he was struck by it all. When he'd stormed out, there had been at least three full racks of dishes on the runway, and now they were gone. There had been eight or nine loaded bus pans on the counter and shelves, and now there were only four. A huge pile of dirty plates and cups had been heaped in one of the basins, and the pile was now missing.
    Still holding the platters, Dave walked across the dishroom and peeked around a corner at the locker room door. It was wide open.
    Larry Smith wasn ' t in there.
    At that moment, the door to the line snapped open, and Dave whirled around. He saw the long cart emerge first, gleaming in the fluorescent dishroom light. The cart was empty.
    Larry Smith was pushing it.
    " Hey, buddy ! " Larry called cheerfully. " How ' s that dining room shaping up? "
    Dave just stood there with his mouth hanging open.
    " One hell of a rush, huh ? " smiled Larry, parking the cart in its proper spot. " We really got swamped, didn ' t we? "
    Gaping with astonishment at the empty cart, Dave spoke slowly. " What did you do while I was gone ? " he asked.
    " Well, " Larry said matter - of - factly, " I cleaned out a couple bus pans and sent some racks through the machine. There were racks of stuff that was already clean, so I unloaded all that and put it on the carts. Then, the carts were full, so I took them out front and got rid of everything. "
    " Geez, " said Dave, shaking his head. " Are you tryi ng to tell me that you did all that in the five minutes I was out in the dining room? "
    " Uh - huh. " Larry nodded pleasantly. " Seeing as how we ' re so busy, I figured I ' d better get right to work. "
    " Where did you put everything ? " wondered Dave, unable to believe the guy ' s accomplishment.
    " Well, I put the salad bowls and plates in the bin by the register, " recounted Larry. " I gave the roll baskets to the assemblers, and those little bowls for the gravy and mushrooms. The cups and coffee mugs I stacked up by the drink station, and I put the silverware in that rack over the trays. I left the platter cart by the broiler, but I still have to bring back the empty one. Does that all sound about right? "
    " Oh, yeah, " said Dave, still amazed. " That ' s right, all right. "
    " Great, " grinned Larry, scratching a spot in his crew - cut