The Pit

The Conversation Area was the fancy name given to a lowered pit behind the elevators, toward the front of the atrium. It was a rhombus of gaudy hotel-floral carpet that seemed to get in the way of getting from the restaurant/bar to the pool area. It was also the area where assorted crackers, finger foods, and alcohol were placed in order to deter early wedding from coming in to the banquet hall. Jacob and Tom flanked Steve the banquet manager, towering over him like guards to a child, in the walkway above the pit in front of the Cascade Bar & Grill watching for what snacks were running low as the various guests picked at them like so many seagulls.

Little kids threw coins into the hotel fountain and made wishes, adults drank, teens awkwardly looked around while dressed in clothes that, while looking nice, were a little tight. It was not until Steve looked over at the snack table and noticed the table skirting was moving that he saw the problem. A small child crawled out from the table with a massive grin while a dark fuzzball scurried away from the child at intense speed. He walked to the bar and told Megan to give him two tumbler glasses. The rat had to be removed and discretely. When he returned to his post between Jacob and Tom, he noticed that nobody was screaming or scared. Nobody else had noticed the rat. Everyone had been to busy having a good time to notice anything crawling at their feet. He then recalled the last time rats showed up in the pit and Patricio ended up making a huge scene because he shattered a tumbler glass trying to catch one, missing the rat entirely. Steve set the glasses down on the ledge of the divider wall in front of him. He would wait until the guests were in the banquet hall before he notified Ryan from maintenance to take care of this.

Any names and likenesses in this story are entirely coincidental.