<HTML>A Servant's Heart Part One By  Heartshot Foxley "May I take your order?"  Shelley Otter exasperated as she stood by the seat of a customer who had just walked into the small diner.  It was a beautiful sunny day by the beach in Nag's Head, and Shelley so desperately wanted to be outside with her friends!  It was only the beginning of the lunch rush, and the musteline's patience was already wearing thin.  She watched the elderly pelican slowly read the menu.  'This will take all day,' Shelley thought as she rolled her eyes impatiently and looked towards the ceiling. "Hey Miss," a young red wolf waved from a few tables down, breaking Shelley's contemplation.  "Where's my order?" "Let me go and check.  It should have been ready by now," Shelley called back.  The sea otter left the pelican's table, and headed towards the kitchen when she was stopped by another patron holding a coffee cup. "Excuse me, Miss.  I need more coffee." "Just a minute Sir," Shelley replied as she walked towards the back of the diner.  Again, the musteline waitress was stopped by yet another customer. "Miss.  Hello, Miss!"  A bear woman and her four playful cubs were standing by a table that had been freshly cleared of dirty dishes. "Can you wipe down this table?" A wet bar towel had been left sitting on the table.  'Why don't you clean it yourself,' the musteline thought.  Obviously the other waitress cleaning the table hadn't finished the job.  She was probably pulled from her duty to handle these annoying customers as well.  The otter looked at the smiling ursine family and growled underneath her breath. "Sure," Shelley said through gritted teeth.  Oh how she hated waiting on tables and cleaning up the mess these troublesome customers made!  Ohhhh!  If only Greta Octopus, the head waitress, hadn't sprained one of her tentacles in her tennis match yesterday, the musteline would be out having fun instead of being cooped up in the dingy old diner!  It just wasn't fair!  Why did Daddy have to go into the restaurant business anyways?  Shelley's father, the sole owner of Pegleg Pete's Diner, depended on her greatly when one of the other waitresses could not come into work.  Before Shelley was born, Pete Otter had served in the Navy as a cook, and had lost the bottom half of his leg during a military operation in the Atlantic.  The poor mustelid had been on the top deck of a battleship when he was struck in the leg by a large piece of shrapnel, searing his leg in half.  The poor otter now sported a half wooden peg, attatched to his thigh, thus earning him the name, "Pegleg Pete". Shelley picked up the bar  towel and quickly wiped down the table.  The cheerful bear family sat down and picked up their menus.  'Huh!  Must be nice not having anything to do on a day like this,' Shelley thought to herself as she watched the family for a moment. "Could I have a booster seat for the little one?" The ursine woman kindly asked, pointing to her youngest cub.  The cub's eyes were barely seen above the table. Charmed and yet frustrated at the same time, the otter answered in the affirmative and went to fetch the blessed item. "Ehhhh...I'm ready to order now Miss," the elderly pelican said as Shelley passed by his table. "Miss," the rufine impatiently asked again.  "My order?" Agitation quickly filled the musteline's soul.  Palms becoming sweaty, Shelley could feel her heart begin to race in anger. "Well, if I didn't have anything to do I'd have your order, Sir.  But as you can see, I'm very busy right now!"  The otter blurted out uncontrollabley. Hearing the jingle of the doorbell, the frazzled otter turned towards the door to see her friends, Travis Ashenfox and Heartshot Foxley enter the diner, chuckling.  Shelley felt someone tap her shoulder and turned to see the curious face of the second patron, inches away from her own face. "Can I have my coffee now, Miss?" Nerves frayed, Shelley rushed towards the back of the restaurant and through the double doors of the kitchen! "Shelley!  What's wrong?  Where are you going?"  Asked Chelsey Redtail, a hawk waitress carrying a trayful of food. "I'm taking a break!" Shelley huffed as she ran through the kitchen, and nearly collided with Mark Cheetah, the assistant cook. Heartshot Foxley =^.^=</HTML>