The Five-Minute Butler

As he looked in the rearview mirror, Daryl saw that his bow-tie was crooked. He quickly fixed it, and when he saw that the rest of his appearance was satisfactory, Daryl nodded before he left his car. This was his first shift after all. He had to make a great impression.

He couldn’t afford to get fired on the spot.

As Daryl walked, he noticed that the manor’s lights were bright enough to blot out the stars, but not enough to dim the light of the moon. It was rather pretty.

But if things went to Plan C, then that moon could be a problem.

Then again, if Daryl had to resort to Plan C, the moon wouldn’t be his only problem.

Daryl looked away from the moon and turned his gaze to the mansion he was heading towards, where his new job was. Well, mansion was almost an understatement. It was absolutely gigantic, being at least five stories, having a heck ton of windows, and being just as wide as Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice. The only reason why Daryl hesitated to call it a castle was that the mansion didn’t have any towers.

Or a moat. And a drawbridge. Every castle should have those.

Well, either way, Daryl didn’t have time to admire the building as he headed to the back, where he was told to go.

Made sense that the servants’ quarters would be in the back.

A few minutes later, he was in front of a dark blue door, just like what the guy on the phone described. Several seconds after he knocked, the door opened to reveal a woman in a traditional maid’s outfit that was slightly wrinkled.

“Ah, you must be the fresh meat,” she said. When Daryl widened his eyes, she sighed.

“Trust me, a few hours of working here and you'll wish you weren’t so desperate for money,” she added before turning around and motioning for him to follow her. “C’mon, I’ll take you to Derrick.”

Daryl wordlessly followed her while she continued.

“He’s the assistant butler, and he’s going to be training you. And if you are humble enough to take a veteran’s advice, do not ask him questions.”

She stopped in her tracks to look right into his eyes.

“He’s the type to think that an honest question about your job means that you are stupid. Or that you are talking back. He has a giant ego. And he's super insecure. On that note, if you are desperate to keep your job, don’t do your job super well. He will just take credit for it before yelling at you for ‘trying to upstage him.’ And he has a super annoying voice, especially when he yells, so please...try not to make him angry.”

She sounded so tired that Daryl couldn’t help but feel sorry for her, so he quickly nodded.

He wasn’t planning to keep this job anyway.

Just for the night.

“A quiet one, huh? Yeah, that will serve you well here,” the maid said as she continued to walk through the rooms and halls, a route that Daryl was doing his best to memorize. “Especially since the Blacktrees are-”

“A wonderful, prestigious family that anyone with any semblance of a brain would be honored to work for.” Stopping at the new voice, a man in a sleek black suit exited a room nearby and walked up to them. He looked Daryl up and down with a disgusted look. “Don’t tell me he’s the new hire?”

“He is, Derrick,” the maid said, somehow sounding even more tired than before.

“Ugh...oh well, good help is hard to find these days. At least he looks better than the last guy. May this new hire last longer than he did. A mere five days...so pathetic. Anyway, you can go now,” said Derrick. When the maid left without so much as a nod, he turned his beady eyes to Daryl. “Come, let’s get you out of those...rags. We can’t have you putting shame on the good Blacktree name.”

Derrick then walked away at a fast pace, making Daryl rush to catch up. Even as he did, he kept an eye on his surroundings, noting every turn, every expensive-looking vase, and every painting. Along their way to the servants’ dressing room or wherever his uniform was, Derrick rambled about the glory of the Blacktrees.

He lectured about how the Blacktrees had been in America since the Mayflower and have been gaining prosperity and influence ever since. Anybody who is actually a somebody knows the Blacktree family personally, and if the Blacktrees decide not to go to an elite’s party, then the host gets shunned and blacklisted by the other elites like they deserve.

Derrick’s words, not Daryl’s.

His would-be trainer rambled on more about the importance of the Blacktrees, but it just went in one ear and out the other. Daryl was too focused on memorizing his surroundings to care about taking this in.

It wasn’t like he was going to work for the Blacktrees long anyway.

Finally, Derrick led him to a room with tall, fancy lockers.

“Here,” Derrick said shortly as he roughly gave Daryl a key with the number 13 on it. “Your uniform is in that locker. I hope you didn’t lie about your size on your application because you aren’t getting another one. Meet me in the dining room in ten...no, five minutes. If you are even a second late, you will be fired on the spot. The Blacktrees have a very important dinner with a prominent Italian businessman soon. If their youngest daughter doesn’t become engaged to him by the end of it because of you, then getting fired would be the least of your concerns.”

With that warning, Derrick left Daryl alone in the changing room. With no instructions on how to get to the dining room to help prepare for dinner. Even though it was after nine. A time that no sane person would choose to eat dinner at. Unless they just arrived from the airport after a long trip. Or they banked on eating dinner at a wedding, only for there to be no food. Daryl looked at the key and chuckled as he gripped it tightly.

Well, it didn't matter. He wasn’t heading there anyway.

Daryl flipped the key in the air as he headed to locker 13. Feeling quite excited now, he quickly opened it and got dressed. When he looked every bit the perfect lowly butler, Daryl grinned before he left the changing room.

With the important item in his pocket, of course.

After a few turns and walking like he was supposed to be there, Daryl found an elevator. Because, of course, a mansion this big needed an elevator. Daryl snorted as he entered the elevator and hit the 5 button.

This was almost too easy.

Then the elevator stopped on the third floor.

“If she had been on the fifth floor this entire time, then why send me on a wild goose chase?! Butt-kissing...” a guy holding a tray with a tea kettle and a cup mumbled to himself as he got on the elevator and went to push the 5 button. He stopped when he saw it had already been pushed. He looked at Daryl, and when the elevator doors started to close, he put his hand to stop them.

“Hey, you’re heading to the fifth floor, right? Do you mind taking this to Ms. Hannah’s room? She’s nervous and apparently, tea is the only cure. Well, that from I heard, blankets. Anyway, can you do me a favor and take it to her? I was supposed to do it, but I’m falling behind on my other tasks.”

Daryl just grinned widely as he held out his hands.

“Yes, thank you! I owe you one!” cried the other servant as he handed Daryl the tea kettle set and immediately ran away. Soon after, the elevator closed and continued its way to the fifth floor. Daryl gripped the tray tightly, his heart beating quickly in excitement.

This was going even better than he had expected.

It made him wonder why-

The elevator stopped with a ding, and as soon as the doors opened, Daryl saw two guards standing by the closest room to the elevator.

Ah. That would be why.

Darn it, this was going to make escaping hard. Not that Daryl had expected it to be easy in the first place, but he supposed he had let his recent luck get to his head.

...Oh well. He couldn’t afford to back down. Not when he promised.

Daryl took a deep breath before he headed towards the guarded room.

“I have the tea for Ms. Hannah,” he said, loud and clear, so everyone could hear. In true henchmen fashion, the guards looked at each other and nodded before one of them opened the door. Daryl walked in without hesitation, not looking back even when they closed the door behind him. Despite this being a bedroom, the small round table surrounded by chairs, as well as the flatscreen TV hanging on the wall, made it look more like a living room.

Made sense that a Blacktree had a suite as a bedroom.

“Hannah?” he called out as he quickly placed the tea kettle set on the table. Before he even began to worry, the side door slammed open, revealing the most beautiful woman Daryl had ever seen.

And would ever see.

“You made it just in time,” the youngest child of the rich Blacktree family said as she strode over to him, a wide grin on her face as she grabbed Daryl’s tie and pulled his lips to hers.

Despite the guards outside the door barring their escape, Daryl felt peace as they shared this moment. Grateful that if nothing else, he had made it to her.

Then their lips parted, and Daryl was reminded that he had to save Hannah from a forced engagement. Even if Hannah hadn’t been in love with him, Daryl still would have put all this effort into saving her.

Her happiness was that important.

“Hannah, the guards-”

“I know,” Hannah said, her grin somehow even wider with glee as she grabbed Daryl’s hand and tugged him through the side door. “Which is why I asked for a lot of blankets because my nerves were making me cold.”

When they entered the bedroom part of the suite, Daryl’s eyes widened at the rope made out of blankets that had one end wrapped around a bedpost and the other hanging out the window several feet away.

“Obviously, the part about nerves was a lie,” Hannah said, looking quite pleased with herself. “And the blanket rope reaches all the way to the ground. I think the maids were either sorry for me or just didn’t want me to make them take several trips cause they gave me all these blankets all at once. Well, some of these were already in my room, so I guess most of them. But come on, we gotta go before someone notices the blanket rope hanging outside a window.”

Hannah began to tug him to the window.

“Don’t worry, I remember your knot-tying lesson so-”

“Hang on,” Daryl said as he gently pulled Hannah to a stop. “You are the most brilliant woman I have ever met, so I do not doubt your blanket rope. But just in case we are caught, there’s a question I must ask you.”

Hannah tilted her head in silent curiosity as Daryl reached into his pocket. Fifteen minutes later, they were racing down the empty road under the beautiful moonlit sky, both of them wearing joyous smiles.

Hannah was also proudly wearing a small diamond ring on her left hand.