Frankie's Grillin'

     A long silence hung in the air after I completed my order and I was about to turn the radio back on, when I heard the sort of conversation I’d always dreaded hearing at Frankie’s Grillin’.
     “What do you mean off? Like completely?”
     “Yeah. Middle finger’s down to the nub.”
     “Dude! How?”
     “Jenny wasn’t paying attention when she was choppin’ the steaks and she cut right through the bone.”
     Another voice in the distance chimed in, gradually getting closer to the man with the headset still audible to me.
     “That’s not how it happened.”
     “How would you know?”
     “I was there. Saw the whole thing.”
     “So … ?”
     “It was a challenge, y’know? Jenny was braggin’ on her skills with the knife. Said she’s been practicin’ along with the Iron Chef shows at night. So Donny asked her to demonstrate. Said he was lookin’ forward to seein’ her fail. Then the rest of the guys in the back started eggin’ her on, cheering ‘Jenny! Jenny!’ until she caved in and started dicing onions paper thin. Pretty impressive. Donny dismissed the whole thing, sayin’ that’s amateur stuff. He learned how to do that just by watchin’ his grandma cook. So he sets another knife down on the counter. Says to impress him, she needed to up the ante. Two hands, two knives, y’know? She tried backin’ down, but the chants started up again. I mean she was so good with one knife, really, what’s one more? She gets a hunk o’ steak. Starts to do the whole tartare thing, and she’s doin’ it good, too. So good, that Donny left the back, pissed off. We’re all cheerin’ her on until she finally stopped. She sets down the knife from her left hand, the hand she’s not the best with, and for added flare, she tosses the other knife in the air. Gives us all a wink, and that’s when the blade came right down on her finger. Cut it clean off. She starts screaming until she faints. Joey calls the ambulance over and they just carted her away.”
     “Wow.”
     “Shit, man. They gonna reattach it okay?”
     “Nah. That’s the worst part. They couldn’t find the finger.”
     I pulled up to the window, feeling a little sick to my stomach. The window slid open.
     “Here’s your “Frankie’s Steak Special.”
     Before he could hand the sandwich over, I sped away.