The crowd started to whisper as Mr. Krone suddenly looked uncomfortable, he looked at Virginia for guidance. "What do you want little girl?" Virginia sneered as she looked at Ariana. "Since Mr. Gale went first in the last round, I believe the gentleman thing to do is to allow me to go first in the second round. We don"t have to keep flipping a coin every time and interrupt the compet.i.tion pointless. So let"s rotate and reduce the amount of stress on the judges. So that means Mr. Gale will go first, is this arrangement acceptable to you?" Ariana asked with a respectable tone. Virginia opened her mouth to laugh at Ariana"s request but she heard the crowds whispers, they had already agreed with her request. She froze and didn"t want to lose face to her potential clients. "Why not?" Mr. Klopp replied with an indifferent look.
"Thank you!" Ariana shouted as she bowed to the judges. Virginia started to gnash her teeth. She want to destroy the little girl within the first two rounds. She had instructed all three men to give her son a perfect score in the second round and declare that there was no need to finish the compet.i.tion. However the wretched girl had to mention mannerisms and actually secured the future of the third round.
Ariana rolled the cart forward and placed a plate in front of each judge. She watched the judge"s face carefully and grinned as she stepped back. The judges could not hide their salivating mouths as the eyed the food. "I present a new type of sandwich. I call it crispy chicken BLT on a pretzel bun. I seasoned the chicken, made the dressing called mayonnaise by hand, I added crispy bacon, crisp lettuce, a thick, juicy tomato slices and I baked the pretzel bun fresh. It"s best hot but you can eat it cold too." Ariana said as some people leaned in to take a closer look.
Mr. Krone and Mr. Johnpine hesitated as they stared at the sandwich, the smell made their stomachs growl. While Mr. Klopp couldn"t help himself. He took the sandwich in both hands and took a generous bite. "Oh!" He said loudly as he huffed air. "This is good!" He exclaimed before he swallowed. He took more bites as his face lit up. The other judges gulped as they watched Mr Klopp eat. They then turned to each other and nodded. They took the sandwich in their hands and took a decent sized bite. An explosion of flavour overwhelmed their senses. It took all their will power to not take another bite.
There was no doubt the sandwich was heavenly. Mr. Krone stared at his sandwich as he broke out into a sweat while Mr. Johnpine pushed his plate away. "Can I eat that?" Mr. Klopp asked Mr. Johnpine with greed reflecting in his eyes. Mr. Johnpine jumped at his plate and took the sandwich back. The next thing he knew the sandwich was already in his mouth and he couldn"t stop himself from eating. Virginia cleared her throat as she glared at the judges. "Your score?" Virginia growled.
Mr. Krone shut his eyes tightly and gulped. "6." He said slowly as if his soul was drained with every syllables said.
"You"re insane! 10!" Mr. Johnpine shouted but regretted his words the moment they left his mouth. He wasn"t allowed to give the girl a high mark.
"10." Mr. Klopp said enthusiastically.
"The girl"s score is 26... Giving her a total of 46." Virginia said as she gripped her fan. The young lady who managed the scoreboard trembled as she changed the scores. "Darling it"s your turn." Virginia called out in a shaky voice. Bruno confidently walked up with his food and placed it in front of the judges. "I have made a pan fried steak, medium rare, mashed potatoes and gravy. The gravy is a family recipe pa.s.sed down through generations." Bruno said proudly.
The judges picked up their utensils and took a bite of steak. Their faces didn"t change and Ariana couldn"t help but chuckle. They just tried flavour, real flavour right before they were given slop. She watched with mischievous eyes as they put their knives down and ate the mashed potatoes. "Well judges? What are your thoughts and more importantly your scores?" Virginia sang desperately as she watched their faces. Each judge pushed their plates to the side as they chewed slowly, it was like watching people eat paper instead of food. Dry, flavourless and only if there really was nothing left to eat.
"10." Mr. Krone said unenthusiastically.
"10." Mr. Johnpine said as he gagged.
"0." Mr. Klopp announced. "I"m sorry?!" Virginia shouted. Mr. Klopp turned red and pounded the table. "What did you do to my beautiful meat?! I felt like I was eating an old shoe that was left out in the rain! How can anyone call this food! Bring on the third round! I need something to clean my mouth!" He shouted furiously.
Bruno paled as he looked at his mother. Virginia looked mortified. She couldn"t do a d.a.m.n thing as there was a crowd of people judging and whispering away. "Third round! Start!" Virginia shouted bitterly. The chefs went back and plated their desserts. Virginia watched closes as the did, her son was going first and guaranteed the win but the judges needed to judge the wretched girls dish. They were tied and it would look bad if the compet.i.tion ended abruptly. Virginia needed to think of a way to sabotage the girl"s dessert but how?
Ariana took her place almost right away shocking Virginia. Her dessert was a tiny thing and Virginia couldn"t help but laugh in relief. She was worried for nothing. How satisfying could a tiny golden thing be? When Bruno took his place Virginia beamed with pride. He was serving their signature fruit cake. It was over, the girl was going down. "Mr. Gale." Mr. Krone called out as he looked at the slice of cake. "One second please!" Virginia shouted with a wicked smile. "Please Mrs. Gale, the floor is yours." Mr. Krone said as he gestured Virginia to step forward.
"Little girl why don"t we make this compet.i.tion more interesting?" Virginia said in a very sweet voice.