4 All For a Sandwich

"I can't cook," Jacob told the girl. She looked at him, pity in her eyes. Jacob would have felt bad if it weren't for the hunger gnawing at him.

"Can you learn?" she asked after thinking about it for a bit.

"I've been told I'm a fast learner," Jacob replied, garnering a smile from the waitress. She led him behind the bar, taking him to the kitchen and to Rod. The kitchen itself was nothing spectacular. A stove made its residence in the far side of the room, while tables took up the center of the room. Some ovens were randomly placed within the room. It was chaos.

The large man navigated through the tiny room was the avatar of chaos. His hair was disheveled, and he was sweating buckets. "Rod!" the girl called from beside Jacob. The older man looked at her, noticing for the first time their arrival.

"Who's the boy, Angelica?" he asked, nodding towards Jacob.

"He said he could learn to cook. You needed help?"

"I need someone who can cook already. I don't have time to teach kids," the man growled. Jacob nearly took a step back, but he plastered on one of those fake smiles he used when the teachers asked him if he'd done his homework.

"I'll do it for free. I just need room and board," Jacob offered. Safety came first. He didn't really know what he could do with money in this world, but he did know that if he didn't eat and find a good place to rest soon, he'd wind up dead.

Rod stared at Jacob, eyeing the boy up and down. "You've got today to prove to me that you're teachable. You'll get the smallest room we have, but you can have breakfast and dinner. Good?"

"Fantastic, sir," Jacob replied, walking towards the cook. He nodded his thanks to Angelica, who had by now begun returning to the serving room. The next few hours were consumed by Jacob focusing with all his might on the preparation the cook wanted him to complete. By the end of the lunch mealtime, Jacob had learned to prepare most of the vegetables they had on hand. While definitely not a master, he was sure he helped Rod at least a bit. Hopefully enough to earn him some food and some rest.

"You've done well, kid. For someone who hasn't had to cook…" the man mumbled, though a small grin found itself at home on his craggy features. "You'll get that room and board I promised. As a sign-on bonus, I've made you a sandwich for lunch. Don't expect that from me all the time," Rod wagged his finger at Jacob, as if the boy were a scoundrel he was rebuking.

The sandwich was probably the best thing he had ever eaten. It was made of some kind of chilled meat – Jacob guessed pork – and some of the fresh vegetables Jacob had helped prepare. The sandwich didn't last long; Jacob's hunger was simply too great a foe.

From the corner of his vision, he saw Rod placing some meat in a box, slamming the metal lid of the box shut after the meat was safely inside. "How's that going to keep the meat safe to eat?" Jacob asked. He didn't find a single electric appliance in the room, so the box definitely wasn't a refrigerator.

"It's enchanted to keep things cold. Whatever's inside will be frozen solid in a few hours," Rod explained, though Jacob's question did get an eye-raise from the man. "Have you never seen a freezer?"

"Never," Jacob breathed. You could enchant things with magic?