The next morning, Lily woke up bright and early.

  It was going to be the first day her second location was open!

  She said some quick morning prayers, and fed Mr. Cat some breakfast, and then they were off!

  She met Hazel at the butcher’s shop like normal, but this morning Becky and Zoey were there, too!

  Lily gave Hazel a key to the restaurant, and explained how things would go in the mornings from now on.

  Instead of picking up ingredients from all over in the mornings, ingredients and supplies would be stored in the City Square Location, and Hazel and Zoey would pick them up from there in the morning, noting how much they took. Then at the end of the day, they’d bring whatever they didn’t use back to the City Square Location, and those ingredients would be used first in the evening.

  “You got it, Boss!”

  For Zoey’s first day, and Hazel’s first day as a supervisor, Lily and Becky watched over them to make sure things went smoothly.

  Becky had some things she wanted to change about the ledger they used, and Lily let her!

  Lily had been winging it!

  Becky’s way was probably better!

  “The important thing is that you have records. Consistency is important, too, but as long as you have something, you can figure things out…” Rich said.

  Ghostly Ray Croc was looking at the accounting system Becky was teaching her daughter and Zoey. “This will be fine, it’s just a little more detailed than how Lily was doing it.”

  The ghosts were keeping a close eye on things for Lily and Lord Hades!

  Zoey made her first Lilyburgers and fries, and Mr. Cat taste tested a french fry…

  “Meow… Hazel’s french fries are better!”

  He purred and rubbed up against Hazel’s leg.

  Zoey…

  Got really competitive!

  “Is that so, Mr. Cat? Just you wait and see! I’ll become the Queen of French Fries!”

  Hazel folded her arms smugly.

  “Oh? I’d like to see you try, Zoey!”

  They had a friendly rivalry!

  “Bet!”

  ...And then they lapsed into their weird code talk.

  Becky clapped her hands.

  “Good luck today, girls. Miss Lily and I will be at the City Square Location if you need us.”

  “Okay!”

  The girls got back to cooking!

  Lily and Becky walked back to the village and got things ready. They picked up their first batch of ingredients, and sorted them and figured out where to put them.

  And, at precisely ten in the morning, Eric showed up!

  They could see the time on the big clock on the town hall!

  “Good morning!” he said energetically.

  “Good morning!” Lily replied.

  Becky…

  Was in full work mode!

  “Good morning, Eric. Let me explain the organization back here, and then we need to get started cooking…”

  Becky showed Eric where the ingredients were, and then Lily taught them both the method for making Lilyburgers and fries!

  They were a little slow, since it was only their first day, but Lily was there too, so they made a good amount of burgers and fries!

  And, just as the clock showed eleven…

  They opened!

  They had a big pitcher of lemonade, and stacks of cups and Lilyburgers, and french fries!

  The city square was at its busiest!

  And, suddenly…

  Lily got worried!

  She had put a lot of time and money into this new restaurant…

  What if nobody here in the village wanted to buy her burgers and fries?

  What if the miners only bought her food because there were no other options?

  They were a bit of a captive market, after all.

  Here in the village, people could just buy their own ingredients and cook at home.

  That was what everyone already did!

  Would they really want to spend two dollars on a Lilyburger set…?

  They opened, and Becky and Eric stood at the service window, ready to trade food for cash.

  Lily stepped outside.

  And, the very first thing…

  The mayor and his wife were walking over!

  Everyone knew the mayor and his wife, and it was a bit surprising to see the mayor’s wife out on a Tuesday!

  They were catching everyone’s eye as they walked…

  Straight to the old cobbler’s shop!

  And, now that people were paying attention…

  Something smelled really good!

  George walked up with a tight smile on his face.

  “Good morning, Lily,” he said politely.

  “Good morning, George!” Lily replied brightly.

  The mayor gestured to his wife. “This is my wife, Elizabeth. She’s, er, quite excited to check out Lilyburgers…”

  Elizabeth was a regal looking woman with bright silver hair, and she was wearing a glasses with a silver chain on them so they wouldn’t fall off, and she was wearing an understated yet quite fancy business dress!

  “Good morning, Miss Lily. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

  She spoke with impeccable manners!

  However!

  “Although I wouldn’t say I’m ‘excited’ to see your restaurant. Rather, I wanted to see just what it was my husband spent our money on without consulting me…”

  All the women in the market narrowed their eyes!

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  All the men in the market started sweating!

  So did the mayor!

  He really should have talked to his wife about a big financial decision first!

  “And, and of course, we wanted to try out the first restaurant in the village,” the mayor added.

  His tummy growled!

  Elizabeth sighed.

  “Yes, and we came to try the food,” she said.

  She didn’t want her husband to go hungry, after all!

  Why, he sounded like he was wasting away…

  She wouldn’t have that!

  And the mayor certainly wasn’t wasting away!

  He probably needed to be a bit more active… even more than just golfing…

  Elizabeth loved her husband very much!

  But, she had to keep a close eye on him!

  And then, something else caught her eye.

  “Oh, Becky, you’re working here? That’s reassuring.”

  “Good morning, Lizzy.”

  Becky and Lizzy were friends!

  Elizabeth introduced herself to Eric, who was thrilled to meet one of the village celebrities, and then she made her order!

  “We’ll take two Lilyburger sets with cheese.”

  “That’ll be four dollars.”

  Elizabeth paid, and then…

  “Oh? The food is already prepared?”

  She had been expecting to sit and wait!

  That was normal in bigger cities!

  Elizabeth had been to restaurants before, so she found this quite surprising.

  Then, she looked around for a table, but…

  There weren’t any?

  At a bit of a loss, she turned to her husband.

  And the mayor…

  Stepped up!

  He took control of the situation!

  “Come, dear, let’s take a seat on the bench over there and enjoy the fresh air by the fountain.”

  They took their large plates of food and their cups of lemonade, and sat by the fountain, side by side.

  They ate, and Lily could hear from all the way across the square how much they liked the food!

  “Delicious!”

  “Marvelous!”

  “So unique!”

  They were even getting lovey-dovey, feeding each other french fries!

  It was drawing a lot of attention, and then…

  Everyone was looking at the old cobbler’s shop!

  If the mayor and his wife liked the food that much…

  They just had to try it themselves!

  The newest Lilyburgers got super busy!

  They had bought enough ingredients to make about a hundred and twenty Lilyburger sets today…

  But the food was flying!

  “Cha-ching!” said Ray, making a sound that didn’t make sense since they didn’t have that kind of cash register!

  But Lily understood what he meant.

  They were making money!

  Lily hurried inside to help Eric cook more. He handled the burgers and preparing the orders, while Lily focused on the fries and making lemonade. Becky handled the front, taking orders and payments and handing out the food.

  They were functioning like a well-oiled machine!

  This was the power of fast food!

  The more people who came and got their food right away, the more people lined up!

  At first, they had seen the line and thought, well, it’s a restaurant, no way we can get food during lunch time with a line that long.

  But the line was moving!

  People ordered, and a minute later they had their food!

  It was like there was an endless supply of hot and ready food in that tiny little shop!

  And the food was delicious!

  Hot, juicy, savory burgers! A blend of bread and meat and cheese and ketchup and the bite of pickle!

  Crunchy, salty fries! Pillowy soft inside!

  Refreshing lemonade that reset the palate!

  It was a cycle of tastes and textures that ended all too soon!

  And it was filling!

  And it was much cheaper than expected!

  Restaurant food was well known to be expensive.

  And eating at a restaurant took a long time!

  But this was fast and relatively cheap!

  Sure, if they bought the ingredients themselves, the people could just make their own food much cheaper…

  But not everyone was a good cook!

  Some people just didn’t like cooking!

  Some people didn’t have time for all that!

  All too soon, lunch time ended, and people had to go back to work.

  But word was spreading about the village’s first restaurant!

  “Phew!”

  Lily and Eric, who had been cooking as fast as they could in the back, breathed a sigh of relief!

  Becky was double checking her ledger and the cash box.

  “Eric, can you check the inventory?”

  “You got it, Miss Rebecca.”

  He stood up straight and got back to work!

  Lily cooked up three more burgers, and another batch of fries for all of them, and then they gathered to go over the results.

  It was a big success!

  “We sold seventy-two full sets, eighteen without cheese. So our revenue for today so far is one hundred and forty-two dollars, and twenty cents.”

  “Wow!”

  That was really good!

  Lily and the ghosts had been planning for average sales of about a hundred and ten sets a day.

  That was about double what the cart at the mine sold, but they were going to be open for two mealtimes, so it felt fair.

  But they had blown past their estimate for lunchtime!

  It was all thanks to the mayor and his wife!

  It was like a celebrity endorsement!

  And, speaking of the mayor and his wife…

  They approached!

  They brought back their cups and plates, and Elizabeth…

  Smiled!

  “Well, it looks like my husband’s talent for seizing opportunities hasn’t failed him yet!” she declared proudly! “The food was delicious, Lily.”

  “Thanks! I’m glad you liked it, Miss Elizabeth!”

  “Please, call me Lizzy.”

  “Okay, Lizzy!”

  “However…”

  Lily gulped.

  What could it be?

  “You don’t have a sign! If you don’t advertise, how will people know what you’re selling!”

  Of course, by now, the rumor was going wild in the small village where everybody knew everybody else’s business.

  “As an investor, I will make you a sign!”

  Elizabeth was an artist!

  And so the mayor and his wife walked away very happy!

  Lily smiled.

  This was great!

  She was making money, and making people happy!

  It was a win-win!

  Eric was sent to go buy more ingredients, and then he cleaned up a bit, and then his shift ended.

  “See ya tomorrow, Miss Rebecca, Miss Lily!”

  “Bye bye!” Lily waved.

  Rebecca gave him his ten dollars, and he walked away smiling!

  And as he left, Alice and Ron arrived, as did Hazel and Zoey!

  Lily showed Alice and Ron the setup, and Becky handled the bookkeeping for the cart.

  “We sold out of everything today!” Hazel declared proudly.

  Zoey handed over the ledger. “We sold forty-five full sets with cheese, and ten sets without.”

  “Hmmm…” Rebecca checked the numbers, and counted up the money. “So revenue of one hundred and nine dollars… We’ll send you with extra ingredients tomorrow, since you can just bring the extras back here from now on.”

  Rebecca paid Hazel twelve dollars, and Zoey ten dollars.

  “Shopping time!” they said in unison, and scampered off giggling and lapsing into their weird way of talking.

  By the time that was all sorted, it was two-thirty in the afternoon. They all got cooking! And, just before the market stalls closed for the day, Elizabeth returned with a big sign.

  She was already done!

  It was a beautiful painted sign, depicting Lily holding a spatula and smiling, with ‘Lilyburgers’ written underneath in beautiful script!

  All the ghosts nodded!

  Even Mr. Cat thought it looked good!

  He had been napping on top of the shop, enjoying the sun!

  Alice proved surprisingly handy, and she and Ron hung up the sign.

  “Good luck, Lily!” Elizabeth said, and then she returned to fetch her husband from his office.

  “Thanks, Lizzy!” Lily called after her.

  And then the clock showed four-thirty.

  The market stalls started to close.

  Tummies rumbled!

  The rumor mill was in full swing!

  It was dinner time!