The rumble of the Hellcat disrupted the syrupy melody of the Total Bitches theme that queued up as the camera panned the length of the street nestled against the I-5 corridor, catching the gray goliath as it drew itself around the curve before coming to a crawl as it reached the parking lot of Landry’s King of the Wing Restaurant. The engine idled for a moment after the vehicle pulled into a parking spot up against the turn-of-the-century brick building before the driver’s side door opened, its crimson haired driver stepping out from behind it as she slipped the straps of her purse over her shoulder, adjusted the sunglasses on her face, and closed the door behind her then locking the car with a quick click of the keyfob. Athena’s face eased into a scowl as her eyes scanned the length of the parking lot, then the street ahead before she sauntered toward the sidewalk with intent. The legend had a point to prove judging by the way she walked and all the camera could do was sit there and watch as she turned the corner of the building and disappeared from view, leaving it to catch the sluggish rotation of the cartoon chicken on the sign that proclaimed the building as the world-famous Landry’s King of the Wing Restaurant.
“Hey, boss?”
The camera shifted from outside to the back of the house, pointed down a short breezeway into the spartan office of Mike Landry, his glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose as he scratched his head and tried to wrap his head around the stack of papers on his desk before shaking his head to bring his focus to the line cook that stood in his door. Mike sat the stack of papers down and readjusted his glasses on his face, looking to the employee that stood in his door.
“I know you’ve got better things to do than stand in my door right now… like prep for the lunch rush or something. I got s**t to d-”
“Figured you should know the wife just walked in.”
Furrowing his brow in confusion, Mike glanced up the hallway into the kitchen before squinting then slowly pushing his chair back from his desk.
“The wife?”
The line cook looked out the corner of his eye at his boss, trying to gauge just how crazy he was before speaking again.
“Yeah, on the tall side, freakishly red hair, don’t talk too much… she’s giving the waitress a real fit sitting there with the menu and not saying nothing.”
The camera shifted just in time to follow Mike as he pushed his way past the cook and strutted up the hallway into the kitchen. He slowed his pace as he came to the prep area, stopping at the same corner of the steel table where Matthias stood wiping his hands clean on his apron, staring perplexed out at the dining area. Parties of two and groups of larger numbers had started filing in, heralding the start of the lunch rush and yet in the midst of it all... Athena sat there nonchalant, reading glasses resting firmly against her face as her eyes slowly scanned each page of the menu as the waitress shifted anxiously from one foot to the other as she held the order pad in her hand. The bottle blonde looked over her shoulder into the kitchen, her face lit up with uncertainty before darting back to the table and awaiting the order of something, anything.
“What’s Mom doing here?”
“Making my s**t-talking pay off.”
“What?”
Matthias stared in confusion at his father before he came out from around the prep table he stood at and joined the gaggle at the wait station.
“Well, your mom tried to make hot wings the other night.”
“She didn’t.”
Matthias turned back to look at Mike in disbelief, a reply just barely forming on his lips before he wordlessly shook his head.
“And?”
“If you have to ask, you’re no son of mine. There’s only one person in this family that has any business cooking wings and the other night proved that person… isn’t her.”
Mike pointed out to the dining room right as Athena looked up from the menu, her eyes narrowing as the corners of her lips curved down into a scowl. She
“My cooking isn’t spicy enough, my a**.”
Mike ducked out of view as his face started to contort in laughter, waiting a moment to compose himself before he felt comfortable enough to come out of hiding.
“Do I even want to know what you did, Dad? Mom looks hellbent on making a point.”
The expression drained from Mike’s face as he shrugged and looked back out to the dining area where Athena had returned to scanning the menu, even though Mike knew good and well what was about to transpire.
“Oh, nothing. I just said the wings were probably mild because she couldn’t handle how I make them.”
Matthias’ shoulders shook with a wave of incredulous laughter before he turned his back on the wait station, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the counter with tickets hanging above his head.
“You do realize how stupidly competitive Mom is, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And it goes without saying that this is all going to go up in smoke.”
“Was… was that a barbecue pun?”
“Dad, focus.”
The restaurant fell quiet in the moments that followed as the staff waited on bated breath for Athena to order. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she traced her finger across each line item, inspecting each description with unnecessary care before she forcefully shut the menu and slammed it down on the table, her smoldering glare aimed to her husband in the back before she finally placed her order.
“I’ll take the Phoenix Wing Challenge.”
The camera cut out to the dining room with its sights set on the back of house, cutting through the crowd to catch the impish grin that inched its way across Mike’s face as Athena defiantly spoke the magic words. Mike and Matthias exchanged a knowing glance as the waitress scrawled her order on a ticket before Mike darted out to the dining room to take it from her hands before staring down his wife at the table before him with that same grin spread across his face. Mike turned on his heels before he strode to the wait station, triumphantly pinning the order to the wheel before darting into the back. He was grabbing an apron off the hook as he heard Matthias pass behind him and round the corner into storage.
“Hey, hey, hey, this is my fight… I’m making the wings, Matt.”
Mike had tied the apron behind his back and had started to pull on a hairnet when Matthias reappeared with a bag of wings in hand. He had sat the wings in a bowl at prep and the sauce on the counter before he joined his father at the wash station.
“I can’t let you have all the fun, Dad.”
“Fun? Who said this was about fun?”
The two exchanged diabolical laughter before they returned to prep with gloved hands and set to making the order: a single wing, drenched in the one-of-a-kind Phoenix Sauce. Mike pulled the order from the deep fryer and turned around to find Matthias with the bottle of blood red sauce in hand. He had begun to open his mouth to stop his progeny from ruining his for him when Matthias raised a gloved hand to silence him, that trademark grin of his splitting his face.
“Hey, an extra drop of capsaicin never hurt anybody.”
“That’s my boy.”
Matthias stepped out of the way as Mike put the finishing touches on the wing, drowning it in sauce before plating it and grabbing a pair of gloves before sauntering out to Athena’s table and personally delivering her plate. She pulled the plate across the table and away from him before glaring up at him, waiting for him to open that fat mouth of his and say something really dumb.
“I warned you. No mercy.”
Mike disappeared from her side before she could fire back, choosing to watch from the safety of the kitchen with his son at his side. The moments that followed seemed to pass in slow motion as Athena put on the pair of plastic gloves and began to nibble at the wing. She placed the bone in the plate before sitting back in her chair, unimpressed at Mike’s attempt to put her in her place.
“And you said I can’t handle heat.”
The words had barely left her lips when a raucous cough slipped through her lips. Athena waved it off as ‘just my allergies’ before another wave of coughing rippled up through her chest, prompting her to take a sip of the drink she had requested before her order. The drink was useless as she began to cough again, this time a curious red hue beginning to tint her face around the edges before it appeared in full force in her cheeks. Athena rushed to get the gloves off her hands as she wiped at her face with a napkin when it hit her just how much she had underestimated the heat of the wing. Tears were starting to run the length of her cheeks as she stumbled to get up from her seat, looking frantically for her purse, her keys… escape from this damned heat. The same waitress that Athena had kept waiting moments earlier had returned to her table with the check and a to-go cup of milk as Athena slammed cash down on the table then found her footing enough to stand and stagger toward the wait station, the coughing making it hard to comfortably breathe with each step. She opened her mouth to speak once, twice, a third time, the air reminding her how much of a mistake she had made each time she tried before she stomped back to the waitress and ripped the cup out of her hand. Athena took a long sip as she gripped at her keys at one hand and stabbed at the air in Mike’s direction at the same time, her cheeks on fire and her eyes red with tears as she stuttered.
Athena took a furious sip at her drink before she stumbled toward the door and out of sight, leaving a stream of curses in her wake. Mike’s amused laughter broke the silence before the camera rejoined him in the kitchen.
“She never learns.”
“Hey, boss?”
The camera shifted from outside to the back of the house, pointed down a short breezeway into the spartan office of Mike Landry, his glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose as he scratched his head and tried to wrap his head around the stack of papers on his desk before shaking his head to bring his focus to the line cook that stood in his door. Mike sat the stack of papers down and readjusted his glasses on his face, looking to the employee that stood in his door.
“I know you’ve got better things to do than stand in my door right now… like prep for the lunch rush or something. I got s**t to d-”
“Figured you should know the wife just walked in.”
Furrowing his brow in confusion, Mike glanced up the hallway into the kitchen before squinting then slowly pushing his chair back from his desk.
“The wife?”
The line cook looked out the corner of his eye at his boss, trying to gauge just how crazy he was before speaking again.
“Yeah, on the tall side, freakishly red hair, don’t talk too much… she’s giving the waitress a real fit sitting there with the menu and not saying nothing.”
The camera shifted just in time to follow Mike as he pushed his way past the cook and strutted up the hallway into the kitchen. He slowed his pace as he came to the prep area, stopping at the same corner of the steel table where Matthias stood wiping his hands clean on his apron, staring perplexed out at the dining area. Parties of two and groups of larger numbers had started filing in, heralding the start of the lunch rush and yet in the midst of it all... Athena sat there nonchalant, reading glasses resting firmly against her face as her eyes slowly scanned each page of the menu as the waitress shifted anxiously from one foot to the other as she held the order pad in her hand. The bottle blonde looked over her shoulder into the kitchen, her face lit up with uncertainty before darting back to the table and awaiting the order of something, anything.
“What’s Mom doing here?”
“Making my s**t-talking pay off.”
“What?”
Matthias stared in confusion at his father before he came out from around the prep table he stood at and joined the gaggle at the wait station.
“Well, your mom tried to make hot wings the other night.”
“She didn’t.”
Matthias turned back to look at Mike in disbelief, a reply just barely forming on his lips before he wordlessly shook his head.
“And?”
“If you have to ask, you’re no son of mine. There’s only one person in this family that has any business cooking wings and the other night proved that person… isn’t her.”
Mike pointed out to the dining room right as Athena looked up from the menu, her eyes narrowing as the corners of her lips curved down into a scowl. She
“My cooking isn’t spicy enough, my a**.”
Mike ducked out of view as his face started to contort in laughter, waiting a moment to compose himself before he felt comfortable enough to come out of hiding.
“Do I even want to know what you did, Dad? Mom looks hellbent on making a point.”
The expression drained from Mike’s face as he shrugged and looked back out to the dining area where Athena had returned to scanning the menu, even though Mike knew good and well what was about to transpire.
“Oh, nothing. I just said the wings were probably mild because she couldn’t handle how I make them.”
Matthias’ shoulders shook with a wave of incredulous laughter before he turned his back on the wait station, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the counter with tickets hanging above his head.
“You do realize how stupidly competitive Mom is, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And it goes without saying that this is all going to go up in smoke.”
“Was… was that a barbecue pun?”
“Dad, focus.”
The restaurant fell quiet in the moments that followed as the staff waited on bated breath for Athena to order. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she traced her finger across each line item, inspecting each description with unnecessary care before she forcefully shut the menu and slammed it down on the table, her smoldering glare aimed to her husband in the back before she finally placed her order.
“I’ll take the Phoenix Wing Challenge.”
The camera cut out to the dining room with its sights set on the back of house, cutting through the crowd to catch the impish grin that inched its way across Mike’s face as Athena defiantly spoke the magic words. Mike and Matthias exchanged a knowing glance as the waitress scrawled her order on a ticket before Mike darted out to the dining room to take it from her hands before staring down his wife at the table before him with that same grin spread across his face. Mike turned on his heels before he strode to the wait station, triumphantly pinning the order to the wheel before darting into the back. He was grabbing an apron off the hook as he heard Matthias pass behind him and round the corner into storage.
“Hey, hey, hey, this is my fight… I’m making the wings, Matt.”
Mike had tied the apron behind his back and had started to pull on a hairnet when Matthias reappeared with a bag of wings in hand. He had sat the wings in a bowl at prep and the sauce on the counter before he joined his father at the wash station.
“I can’t let you have all the fun, Dad.”
“Fun? Who said this was about fun?”
The two exchanged diabolical laughter before they returned to prep with gloved hands and set to making the order: a single wing, drenched in the one-of-a-kind Phoenix Sauce. Mike pulled the order from the deep fryer and turned around to find Matthias with the bottle of blood red sauce in hand. He had begun to open his mouth to stop his progeny from ruining his for him when Matthias raised a gloved hand to silence him, that trademark grin of his splitting his face.
“Hey, an extra drop of capsaicin never hurt anybody.”
“That’s my boy.”
Matthias stepped out of the way as Mike put the finishing touches on the wing, drowning it in sauce before plating it and grabbing a pair of gloves before sauntering out to Athena’s table and personally delivering her plate. She pulled the plate across the table and away from him before glaring up at him, waiting for him to open that fat mouth of his and say something really dumb.
“I warned you. No mercy.”
Mike disappeared from her side before she could fire back, choosing to watch from the safety of the kitchen with his son at his side. The moments that followed seemed to pass in slow motion as Athena put on the pair of plastic gloves and began to nibble at the wing. She placed the bone in the plate before sitting back in her chair, unimpressed at Mike’s attempt to put her in her place.
“And you said I can’t handle heat.”
The words had barely left her lips when a raucous cough slipped through her lips. Athena waved it off as ‘just my allergies’ before another wave of coughing rippled up through her chest, prompting her to take a sip of the drink she had requested before her order. The drink was useless as she began to cough again, this time a curious red hue beginning to tint her face around the edges before it appeared in full force in her cheeks. Athena rushed to get the gloves off her hands as she wiped at her face with a napkin when it hit her just how much she had underestimated the heat of the wing. Tears were starting to run the length of her cheeks as she stumbled to get up from her seat, looking frantically for her purse, her keys… escape from this damned heat. The same waitress that Athena had kept waiting moments earlier had returned to her table with the check and a to-go cup of milk as Athena slammed cash down on the table then found her footing enough to stand and stagger toward the wait station, the coughing making it hard to comfortably breathe with each step. She opened her mouth to speak once, twice, a third time, the air reminding her how much of a mistake she had made each time she tried before she stomped back to the waitress and ripped the cup out of her hand. Athena took a long sip as she gripped at her keys at one hand and stabbed at the air in Mike’s direction at the same time, her cheeks on fire and her eyes red with tears as she stuttered.
Athena took a furious sip at her drink before she stumbled toward the door and out of sight, leaving a stream of curses in her wake. Mike’s amused laughter broke the silence before the camera rejoined him in the kitchen.
“She never learns.”
