CHAPTER 1
Evie took a deep breath, then reached for the plate of cherry pie. This is it. Can Wonder Waitress do the triple table drop-off without spilling anything and take the gold in the Super-Server Olympics? She slid the plate of pie carefully under her thumb and little finger on her left hand. Then she added a plate of peanut butter brownie bites, which she balanced on the wrist of the same hand. Lastly, she picked up a bowl of Happily Ever Ice Cream, her brand-new recipe invention, and held it tightly in her right hand. She glanced up at her stepmom, Hannah. “Does this look okay?”
“Perfect!” Hannah smiled. “Now keep your head up, walk straight, and take it nice and slow.”
Evie grinned and resisted the urge to give her stepmom a thumbs-up. Okay, table eight, here I come!
With a few waitressing tips from her stepmom and A LOT of practice that morning, she was starting to get the hang of it … I’ve only had two minor slippages today, Evie thought as she set off across the room, carefully balancing the plates. And neither of them was more than a 3 on the OMG Accident Scale! But don’t be overconfident, she reminded herself. Because that’s when it all goes— “Whoa!” she breathed as she nearly tripped over a purse one of the diners had left by their table. Focus, Wonder Waitress! She glanced back over her shoulder and gave Hannah a reassuring smile, then set off again—
—And nearly walked smack bang into a customer who was standing up to take off his jacket. Wowzers, that was close, Evie thought, ducking under his long, outstretched arms. Not far now … only three more tables to get past …
But just when she was starting to pick up speed, a lady suddenly leaned back in her chair …
“Whaaa!” Evie gasped as she did an emergency stop, narrowly avoiding a crash. Her plates wobbled wildly but didn’t fall. Breathe, Wonder Waitress! Come on, you’re so close now …
Evie continued on her way, carefully stepping over lumps of squishy fries that a toddler was lobbing off his plate and avoiding a leaking ketchup packet that had fallen off a table. But her arms were getting achy now, and her hands were beginning to shake with the weight of the plates. She gritted her teeth. Nearly there, just a few more steps … can Wonder Waitress make it over the line …
—YES SHE CAN! And she takes the gold! “Hi there!” she said as she reached table eight. “Here’s your order. I hope you enjoy it.” She laid the plates down with a bit of a bump, but no spillages, then glanced across the room to Hannah and gave her a triumphant smile.
Her stepmom beamed back and mouthed, “Well done!”
HOW TO BE A SUPER SERVER BY EVIE BROWN
Waiting tables takes loads of practice and a whole lot of skills. But my stepmom, Hannah, gave me a few tips that really help. She says the best way to remember them is by spelling out her most important rule of all … SMILE!
Evie felt her chest puff up with pride. Could this day get any better? She turned to check the nearby tables to see if there were any dirty dishes to clear, just as her stepmom always did, and considered how awesome this Saturday was shaping up to be. First, Hannah had agreed to let her help out in the family diner all day. Then her dad had suggested they put Evie’s new ice cream recipe as the top item on their daily specials board. And as if that wasn’t enough, there was Fudge … Evie smiled dreamily at the thought of the shaggy, stray pup. He’d unexpectedly appeared the day before, thanks to the Agents of H.E.A.R.T.: a team of rescue princesses that had popped out of a magical book and turned her life upside down.
Evie glanced at the clock on the diner wall. Just ten more minutes, then I’ll take my break and go wake Fudge. She felt a warm glow inside as she pictured the pup upstairs, curled up peacefully in his box in the Browns’ apartment above the diner. Except Fudge wasn’t curled up peacefully in his box.
Evie heard a sudden scrabbling of paws as a blur of brown fur streaked across the floor, along with the loudest Hi-Evie-I-was-getting-a-little-bored-and-lonely-upstairs-so-I’ve-come-to-find-you sort of a bark, as Fudge dived through the diner and threw himself into her arms.
“Oh my goodness,” Evie gasped as the pup licked her face from top to bottom and then back again, wagging his tail and woofing with joy. “Um—hi, Fudge! How did you get in here?”
All around the room, people were looking and staring and grumbling …
Evie gulped. Quick, Wonder Waitress, Apologize and Explain. That was what Hannah said to do when things went wrong. “I’m so sorry…,” she told the customers. “This is Fudge. And he’s absolutely, definitely NOT allowed in here!” She glanced across the room at her stepmom and felt her tummy flip-flop. Uh-oh, that is not a Happy Hannah face!
When rescue princess Agent B had brought her Fudge, the fluffiest of fluffy puppies, it was love at first sight for Evie. But her stepmom had been reluctant to let him stay, because “Dogs aren’t allowed in the diner.”
But Evie was doing her best to change her stepmom’s mind. And this really isn’t helping, Evie thought. But maybe the Apologize and Explain strategy could still work? Evie smiled at the customers. “See, I promised Fudge a walk in ten minutes, only I don’t think he’s learned to tell the time yet. But I’m going to take him right out of here, so please carry on like you never saw him, like he was never here. Thank you very much.”
She hugged the squirming pup closer, gave her stepmom a reassuring nod, and set off across the diner, her head held high, as though she was a waitress who was in charge of everything that happened, and nothing—not even the wriggliest, jiggliest puppy on the planet—was going to put her off.
But as Evie passed one of the tables, Fudge got a sniff of something tasty on a diner’s plate, and with a sudden lunge, he shot out of her arms like a slippery bar of soap and landed heavily on the shocked customer’s lap.
“Fudge! NO!” Evie cried.
But it was too late. The pup had already helped himself to the lady’s hot dog, and in one quick gulp, it was gone.
For a second, the whole room seemed to stop. Every head, every face had turned to stare at the mega disaster that was unfolding at table three.
Okay, so this is actually a 10 on the OMG Accident Scale. And I’m really not sure “Apologize and Explain” is going to be quite enough this time. There was only one solution: EVACUATE!
Evie grabbed Fudge off the lady’s lap. “I am so sorry!” she said, not even starting on the “explain” part of the strategy, and raced for the front door of the diner, which by some miracle actually opened in front of her.
“Hey, Evie!” Her friend Iris stood in the doorway with Iris’s cousin Zak just behind. “We’ve got the most exciting news ever!”
Text copyright © 2022 by Sam Hay. Illustrations copyright © 2022 by Genevieve Kote.
