Torch Song: A Kickass Heroine, A Post-Apocalyptic World: Book One Of The Blackjack Trilogy Read Online Free PDF

you start now?” It was five o’clock. The place didn’t look busy yet, but dinnertime was fast approaching. Waldo was clearly eager for help.
    An elderly server dressed in black, the only one I saw, hovered at a table nearby where two customers sat studying big menus. He was small, his shirt’s overlong sleeves half covering his hands.
    “Is that what you want me to wear? I don’t have a black shirt.”
    “White’s fine. With black pants. Got some?”
    “Yeah. In the car. I just got here half an hour ago. From the Delta.” No harm in repeating the lie. “Haven’t gone up to my room yet.”
    “Plenty of time for that later. Change in the ladies’. Just outside the door on the left.”
    I hadn’t planned on starting work instantly, but I couldn’t beg off by saying I’d been driving for 10 hours. The Sacramento Delta, and the riverboat I’d supposedly worked for, were no more than a couple of hours away.
    I told the grinning Waldo— well, at least he was cheerful— that I’d get the clothes, change, and be back inside twenty minutes.
    Fifteen minutes later, dressed in white shirt, black pants, and soft, sturdy shoes, I began working the all-but-deserted five-table station at the back of the room.
    The work wasn’t hard. For the first couple of hours, until around eight, only three of my tables were occupied at any given time. Tim, the gray-haired senior waiter, said it would probably pick up later.
    “Sometimes on weekends, it’s really— well, you’ll see. People come from all over. I had someone yesterday who said he came from Northern Redwood, up in Oregon, but I don’t know if I believe that. People will tell you anything.” He sighed, then patted my arm, just the way Gran does. I felt a rush of affection for him, and a touch of homesickness.
    “I have to say I’m sure glad you’re here. After the last one quit I like to worked myself to death, honey, let me tell you!”
    I started to ask him why he or she had quit, but I couldn’t get a word in. Tim rattled on.
    “Oh, my god, what am I thinking of? Here, I’ll carry that.” He reached for the tureen I’d brought out of the kitchen.
    “No, really, Tim, that’s all right.” I held tight to the hot soup.
    He pulled his hands back, but shook his head. “You should let me help.”
    “You’ve done enough, Tim.” He’d helped me set up, made sure the busboy took good care of my tables, told me about the customers he knew, and generally had made a helpful pest of himself. Sweet old guy. About Gran’s age, too. I wondered if they’d like each other.
    “But you look so peaked, honey. First night on the job, I understand how that can be.” Peaked? A little tired, a little hungry, but peaked? Did I look that bad? At that moment my stomach growled loudly enough to startle Tim and remind me that I’d had no dinner. I mentioned the problem to him. He told me to sit down, take a 15-minute meal break, and he’d bring me a sandwich.
    “Then I’ll just get right back to work,” I promised.
    “Well, okay, but I don’t want to lose you.” He glared toward the kitchen. “Just be sure to stay away from Waldo, honey. Okay? I’ll put in that sandwich order for you now.” He swept away to the kitchen. Stay away from Waldo? What did that mean?

Chapter Four
    Stars and Stripes
    Jo spotted Samm out on the floor. He was dealing five card stud at table two. When she walked up, a ten-high straight was taking the hand. The winner, a woman wearing a black jumpsuit with silver bugle beads around the cuffs, wasn’t even smiling. Jo recognized her. Winning, losing, up, down, even, it didn’t seem to matter. Her scarred face was frozen into inscrutability. A regular for the last couple of months. Jo had heard she was a fixer, maybe even that true rarity, a good one. Was it possible to get the elevator running again? And those 60-year-old toilets on the third floor… The woman nodded to her. She nodded back.
    “Come see me when you have some