//------------------------------// // Worried Friends // Story: In Need of A Hand // by armid //------------------------------// After school, I headed to the mall.  I hoped my sprained wrist wouldn’t cause me much trouble. I knew Salty Sushi would have fired me if I made another mistake. She was on the lookout for me ever since that one time I messed up the orders and gave the wrong type of sushi to the wrong guy. In my defense, it’s very hard to tell the sushis apart. There might be slight differences in the middle part but other than that, they are all made out of the same fish. Or at least the ones I got wrong were like that. Now that I think about it though, there was also that creepy guy who was harassing me and not letting me work and made me feel uneasy so I karate kicked his face. But in Salty’s eyes, “The customers are always right!” Salty Sushi already makes me do every menial job in her restaurant. Mopping the floor at the end of every night, taking out the bones and guts of the fishes she drops in the kitchen, washing dishes, taking orders, serving the orders and so on. When all she does is standing behind her table, chopping fishes head and making the sushis.  Granted, I don’t know how to make sushis but I doubt it can be that hard. And even if it is, why is she paying me so little for all the things I do in her shop? Yes, I only work there four days a week and the rest of the time she has her son help her. But even then, the salary’s too low. It is enough to buy me some food and help me pay the rent, sure. But if I was working like this anywhere else in that mall, I would have made much more. Sadly, she was the only one who was hiring. I did see some other shops look for staff but, every time I go and try to see what the requirements are, I fear she sees or hears and takes away what little money she gives me too. She already thinks she is doing me a favour letting me work in her shop. And that I should be thankful for what she is giving me. Just thinking of all that before stepping into the shop, I wish I had karate kicked her old butt like that other guy. The bell rang as I opened the door and walked into the shop. “About time you showed!” Salty looked at me through the small window to the kitchen with a frown. “Hurry up and get dressed. Got a lot of work to do missy!” I walked to the back room and changed into my outfit real quick. As long as I was gentle, doing my hair with my sprained hand wasn’t that hard. Though, I wish I could have said the same about the rest of the day. As soon as I stepped out, Salty Sushi handed me plates of food. “Here, take these to table 4 and table 7.” After taking a look at the plates on the counter and my bandaged hand, I decided it was safer to carry the plates one by one instead of trying to pick them both. “Hurry! Table three. Table five.” Slaty said as she dropped two more plates on the counter, soon as I came back. When I picked only one of the plates her eyes widened.. “What are you doing?” “Working?” I asked sarcastically. She frowned and almost shoved the other plate into my face. “C’mon, pick them both up.” I raised my bandaged hand and showed it to her. “I can’t!’ “I don’t care what act you are putting up,” She put the plate back down on the counter and pointed at me, “I pay you to work, so you better work just as much as you did with a hand now that you don’t have a hand.” She chopped the fish’s head off and threw it into the pile so hard that I heard the clank of the hatchet hit the wood and grind off of it. I rolled my eyes and served the plates one by one, making sure I didn’t mix them up. I served the plates and came back to clean the other tables up. But soon I realised I won’t be able to pick the tray with one hand. So I stood in front of the table, rubbing my chin and trying to figure out how to  pick the tray up. “What are you waiting for missy!” Salty shouted at me once more. “Hurry up. You have to take care of other customers too!” “You nagging hag.” I whispered to myself. I held one side of the tray with one hand and then I put my right arm under the tray and used my wrist and forearm  to bring up the tray. Picking it up like that was easier than I’d thought. Keeping it balanced however, was a bit more tricky. If I was not careful and tried to rush to the kitchen, the plates would definitely fall and break. But if I walked too slowly, that old hag was going to nag again.  It felt as If I was walking on a tightrope, trying to hold my balance while keeping a reasonable speed Still, I managed to deliver the tray with the plates safe and sound to the kitchen, but Salty was giving me a glare from the corner of her eyes as she was preparing the next order. And As I was going to head back and attend to the customers again, she called me. “Hey, take this these and take them outside.” She demanded pointing at the leftovers of the bones and various guts of the fishes scattered on her butchering table. The smell is one of the things I hate the most, Especially when she leaves them for a while and they start to rot . With absolute disgust, I collected all the fish viscera into the bag, and dragged it of out the back door, all the way to the employee section and threw it into the trash can. After that I gave myself a moment to breathe fresh air or else I would be throwing up my guts into that trash can too. “Sunset?” I heard a familiar voice. I opened my eyes and turned my head to see Applejack and Pinkie Pie standing in front of me. “Hiiiiiii Sunset!” Pinkie waved her hand and gave me a big smile. Applejack stepped forward to speak up but before she could say anything, Pinkie jumped in front. “Applejack said that we should come check on you to see if everything is ok and you are fine!” “Oh, well, thank you guys for stopping by bu-” “Pffft!’” Pinkie looked away, “Stopping by? We were following you the whole time!” “Wait. What?” I tilted my head in confusion. “Yeah, Appleja-” Before Pinkie could continue anymore, Applejack covered her mouth. Yet she continued even with her voice muffled. Shaking her head in an attempt to free her mouth again. She shook her head and stepped forward. “Look, sugarcube” She rubbed her neck, “Ah know you didn’t want us to interfere with what you were doing and how your hand got like that but.” Her green eyes dead focused on mine. “I couldn’t help not to worry. Are ya alright?” My heart felt warm hearing that she cared so much for me, but I couldn’t bring them into this. Not to mention I had to get back to work. “Yes, I-I’m fine.” I crossed my arms and looked away. Now, excuse me, but I have to get back to work.” I started walking away, trying my best to not make eye contact with them. “Hey, wait up!” Pinkie ran and caught up with me. “Just give us a second!” Applejack put her hand on my shoulder and stopped me. “Sorry, but I really gotta head back to work.” I turned back and faced them. As I was slowly walking back I made some distance. “I...uh, talk to you guys later. Bye!” After waving my left hand at them, I ran back to the shop and closed the backdoor behind me. Hopefully, now I didn’t have to be confronted by them again. As much as I appreciate how much they care for me, this isn’t their issue! “What took you so long?” I was pulled out from thinking over what just happened by Salty’s question. “Uhm...nothing.” I shook my head and head back to tend to the customers. Table six had finished their food, but before I could head there, I had to take the order of the new customers of table two. “Hello, may I take your order?” “Yeah, I want a big ice-cream with a lot of cream on it!” “Sorry, but we do-” as I lowered my notepad I recognized the customers occupying table 2. “PINKIE? APPLEJACK?!” “Hi again, Sunset!” Pinkie gave me a smile from ear to ear and waved. “What are you doing here?” “Ya didn’t let us finish talking with ya,” Applejack said. I took a look at Salty from the corner of my eyes. She was giving me a glare too, probably wondering what I was doing again. “Sorry, I wish I could stay a bit longer, but it seems you haven't decided what you want.” I left them and walked to table six to clean up. I should have been able to do it just like last time By using my arm to hold the tray from underneath, but this time there were five plates rather than three -- I had to be a lot more careful. And hope Salty doesn’t comment on how I work. When I was just one row away from the window, the top plate slid out and fell.  Time slowed down as my eyes widened in shock.  Letting out a gasp, I closed my eyes, waiting to hear the sound of the plate cracking on the floor, followed by Slaty Sushi screaming her throat off at me for breaking her precious plates. And so I waited, my eyes closed, anticipating for all that to happen. But then --  nothing. And nothing again.I slowly opened one of my eyes and looked around. Everything seemed fine. I couldn’t tilt my head to look whether the plate broke or not but my eyes caught the sight of the plates on the tray. Five. Five plates. I could swear that I just  saw one slide off and drop down. But it didn’t take long before my confusion got answered. “Psst”  I looked at Applejack, winking at me. “Thought ya could use a hand.” She whispered. I wanted to smile, but I had to keep it in. They had nothing to do with this. They shouldn’t have been bothered  because of me. “Thanks, but I don’t need a hand.” I whispered back and walked away. Only a few seconds later I came back to talk to them again, pretending that I was taking their order. “So, have you decided on your order yet?” I peeked at Salty from the corner of my eye and mouthed “What’s the deal?”. “You might have turned down our offer to help but we will HELP ANYWAY!” Pinkie shouted. Gathering the attention of everyone in the restaurant including Salty. I couldn’t see her. But I knew she was glaring at me. “Two sets of uramaki it is then!” I said out loud, trying to cover up everything. And as soon as I turned back to hand over the order, Salty was looking at me. Moving her jaw around in disgust. Trying my best to ignore Pinkie sticking the chopsticks into her nose every time I crossed their table, I served the other orders and cleaned up another table. I picked up the plates like last time and thankfully this time it was just two. No problem there. But before I headed back to table 6, I gave the two sets of uramakis of Pinkie and Applejack. “Guys, just eat your food and leave. I can handle stuff on my own. Don’t worry about me.” “Look,” Applejack took my other hand before I could go and made me stay. “Ah know you can take care of yourself, but don’t expect me to just sit around and not do anything when I don’t know what in tarnation has happened to that hand of yours.” She frowned and pointed at my face. She let go of my hand afterwards. I said nothing and walked away. However I could still hear Pinkie “blech” the sushi out. I think she may not be fond of raw fish. “Hey, Sunset! Psst!” Pinkie Pie whispered to me as I was passing.. “I think the chef forgot to cook our food!” “Pinkie. This is a sushi restaurant. Everything here is served raw.” Pinkie’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth for a big gasp and shout but thankfully, she was stopped by Applejack before she could. Ignoring them, I walked back and put the other order notes on the shelf. But before attending to the other customers, two men were at the cash register to pay for the food. “I hope you have enjoyed your meal sir.” I gave a half bow. “Oh we have. Also...” He then put his hand in his pocket and handed me another few bits. “Here is your tip. You deserve it.” I took the money and thanked him,.but as I wanted to put the money in my own pocket, a voice stopped me. “Don’t even think about it. Put that in the cash register right now.” Salty demanded. I sighed and put the tip I got in the cash register. When I closed the cash register and it let out a “ring”, Salty smiled. “Now go. Continue your work!” She instructed. But as soon as I turned back to head to table three for the clean up, I could hear her whisper to herself. “Pesky little brat.” To which I too whispered to myself. “Old, greedy hag.” Once I got to table 3, I was stunned -- there were no plates! I could have sworn that those two men were sitting there and I even delivered their orders to them. I was confused and lost as to where the plates had just vanished. But once again, I wasn’t left wondering for too long. “Hey,!” Applejack whispered. She then pointed  at the window with a little tilt of her head. The plates were there. And Salty just took them. As I looked at the girls again, Pinkie winked at me with a smile and Applejack tipped her hat. I was really happy that they were helping me out but I couldn’t let them get into this. This was my issue to deal with. Not theirs. I had to go through this. Not them. I picked table six’s plate and served it. Before heading back though, I gave a half bow to the woman and walked back to get the girls to leave. “Applejack. Pinkie,” I said, as I glared at them both. “Girls, don’t you have other stuff to do? Pinkie, don’t you think you should head to the Sugarcube Corner and start your own shift?” “Oh… heh. Now that you mention it…” “And you, Applejack-- don’t you think it’s a bit irresponsible to leave all the work to Granny Smith and Big Mac? I thought today was the day you all gathered the good apples for apple cider.” “I...well...eh.” She was sweating now,and tried to look away. “Girls.” I take a deep breath and continue. “I’m fine. I can deal with my own issues. You shouldn't have to worry about my problems.” They both looked at each other, clearly wanting to say something but I beat them to it. “How about I wait a bit longer here at night so you two can come check up on me and see that I’m doing fine? Huh?” They both look down and think about it for a while. While I checked up on Salty and made sure she was not watching me again. “Alright,” Applejack stood up. “But ya gotta promise that ye’ll wait!” She put her hand on my shoulder. “Pinkie promise!” Pinkie Pie jumped from her seat too. “Ok, ok...I promise.” After giving Pinke a look I continued. “Pinkie Promise.” Applejack took one last look at me before they started walking to the exit. “Take care of yourself, sugarcube!” As they were walking to the door, I took a look at Salty from the corner of my eyes and remembered. “Uhm...sorry! But you forgot to pay for your meal!” They came back and emptied out their pockets to pay for the food they couldn't even swallow. I attended to the customers, took out the fish leftovers of the sushis so that Salty wouldn’t feel bad while she prepared the food, cleaned up tables and greeted new customers inside. Just another afternoon-till-night workday. Except this time, I had only one hand. Yes ,working was difficult. But I managed to deal with it. Until I didn’t. My hand was getting a bit sore, because of all the weight I kept putting on it, when another table had five customers and they ordered six plates of food. I knew I shouldn’t have tried to pick them all in one go but, Salty had already nagged several times about my speed and threatened to dock my pay if I didn't speed up.  Soon after I grabbed the tray like last time, my hand started to tremble. I could barely  feel my hand from the elbow below. Before I could reach row three, my hand let out. I tried to hold on to the tray with one hand but, without any support it slid away from my grasp.and  the tray dropped with all six plates. Each hitting the floor and shattering to pieces one after the other.  My eyes were closed, as I heard the customers gasp and Salty screaming her throat out. “OH YOU CLUMSY, STUPID BRAT!” She stepped out of the kitchen to come check on the plates. Only to see her precious plates turned into unsalvageable bits. Just hearing that, I knew I was done for.