Typical Day
Molly Muffins wakes to the shrill cock-a-doodle-doo of a rooster. It's still so weird that I own a rooster, she thinks as she stumbles out of bed. She and her husband Marvin were lifelong Manhattanites until they ditched their stressful Wall Street jobs and bought The Sleepy Grove, a historic inn tucked into the Catskills.
"Wake up, Marvin," she says, poking her husband's big belly.
"I'm awake," Marvin groans, but Molly doesn't buy it. She knows the only way to make sure her husband is down to help her make breakfast for their guests is to get him standing on two feet.
"Marvin, don't make me get the hose."
"Yeah, yeah..." Marvin slumps out of bed and splashes water on his face as the rooster gives another raucous crow.
"How about fried rooster for breakfast?" suggests Marvin, as he and Molly creak down the old wooden stairs.
Before long, the kitchen is filled with the smell of coffee, bacon, eggs, and the fresh bread that Marvin's become so obsessed with making. As Molly fills an omelet with fresh chopped red peppers that she grew in her garden, she thinks, Wow, and we used to order everything from Seamless.
In a few minutes, Molly's backing her way out the kitchen door and striding quickly through the dining room to serve Mrs. Zelda Bandersnatch. Molly knows Mrs. Bandersnatch all too well; the elderly woman is a regular fixture at The Sleepy Grove.
The inn had been running for years before Molly and Marvin bought it, so it came with a good reputation and several regulars. This was great on the one hand, because the Muffins had a solid business right from the get-go; but on the flip side, they had to deal with certain expectations.
"What is this omelet made of?" asks Mrs. Bandersnatch with a frown on her prune-y face.
"Uh, eggs," says Molly, a little confused by the question.
"And where do eggs come from?"
"Well, chickens, last I heard."
"I prefer to think of them as feathered prisoners of war," sneers Mrs. Bandersnatch. "How dare you serve me food procured through the misery of our feathered friends?"
"These are from the chickens in my yard. They seem pretty happy to me." Molly feels herself beginning to lose her cool. Mrs. Bandersnatch casts a cold look out the window at the chickens pecking freely around the yard. "They look miserable," observes Mrs. Bandersnatch, turning her nose up away from the omelet.
Molly takes a deep, long breath. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Bandersnatch. But if I recall, last month you were on that all-egg diet plan."
"I've had an awakening."
Oh joy, glad to hear it, Molly thinks. She has a secret suspicion that Mrs. Bandersnatch only has "awakenings" so she can find new things to take issue with.
"Is there anything I can get you in lieu of the omelet, then?"
"Only bread and water, I suppose," says Mrs. Bandersnatch.
Molly breathes a sigh of relief and goes to fetch the lady's order, actually a little bitter that Mrs. Bandersnatch will get a piece of Marvin's oven-fresh bread.
When she gets back to the kitchen, Molly's happy to see that Marvin has whipped up a little breakfast for them to share. Molly knows they'll have at least an hour or so to enjoy it before the young couple staying in room four comes down. She'd heard them laughing as they came up the stairs at about 2:00AM, so Molly has a good feeling that they'll want to sleep in.
The couple stumbles into the dining room, bleary-eyed, at about 11:30AM. Despite the fact that they aren't quite ready to face the day, they're super friendly and love Molly's omelet-making skills. They also can't get over Marvin's bread and demand to meet the baker in person. Before long, Molly, Marvin, and the couple are laughing on the front porch as Marvin recounts the time Molly almost jumped off the mountain when she saw a snake.
Molly doesn't find the story all that funny, but she's a good sport and laughs along anyway.
Marvin sends the couple off with directions to the best nearby hiking trails, and he and Molly get started on all their chores for the day. Today is Molly's turn to do the dishes, but she doesn't mind because that means that Marvin will have to tidy the rooms.
Molly remembers what horrendous havoc Mrs. Bandersnatch unleashed upon the toilet during her last stay, and she's glad she doesn't have to deal with it. When she hears Marvin's strangled cry a few minutes later, she's sure she's come out on the good end of the deal.
"We're going to need a new plunger," Marvin says, as he comes down the stairs with a queasy look on his face.
Soon, the chores are done, and Molly and Marvin enjoy a quiet afternoon to themselves. Mrs. Bandersnatch has nodded off in her rocker, as usual. Hope she's not dead, thinks Molly. That'd seriously ruin the afternoon. After checking the old lady's breath with a mirror, Molly spends some time on the novel she's been working on while Marvin heads to the kitchen to experiment with some new bread recipes.