…everybody's happy.
This week, Cook is happy! Of course, it's all about the scuttlebutt, and things
are changing, so we'll cross our fingers. Again, Miss Lillian did not order the
foods on Doug's list on Wednesday, so the cupboard is pretty darned bare! When I asked him about the dearth of food, he
said things were looking up because THE director of the shelter is being
replaced. Doug met the new director this week and likes him a lot. The new guy
says anybody who's not pulling their weight is out. Doug thinks Crusty Old Gal will be the first to go! Furthermore
(and here's the best part), the new director thinks the kitchen should have two full-time cooks and none of this
part-time/helper nonsense. We agree!
So I'm
excited to see how all of this shakes out.
Meanwhile, the candies/gum box was filled this week, as was another
whole box! I spent about an hour digging through them for things for the
children and for tiny packs of gum to hand out with lunches. We have no cookies to pack with the sack
lunches, so those packs of gum have been used instead… Rare is the day when we
have no cookies, so I wonder if it has something to do with Wednesday's order.
Guess
what??? The 1- and 9-year-olds have left, but we have a new 6-month-old, and
she's so cute! I gave her a stuffed
infant toy and she hugged it and smiled and kicked her feet, jumping in the
arms of the girl who was holding her. What a happy baby!
The
teenagers are still there, as is our Oriental fellow. He can say "twenty,"
his bed number. He is impeccably neat and clean and polite. He is wretchedly
quiet, as there is not a soul for him to talk to. Doug says he's as smart as I
imagine him to be, and I look at him and wonder: Wouldn't some benevolent
family be blessed to take him in and help him acclimate? Where can I find one
of those?
Doug made
his divine potato soup today, and we served chicken salad and fruit with it.
The young woman who's been working community service hours for several weeks
now was there again today. I was already aware that I don't fit in with younger
people (anyone under 50), but she makes it painfully evident with reports of
local events she's attending. She's a good worker, though, and takes a lot of
the sweat off of me when it's time to sling the hash or make sack lunches.
As soon
as the pre-release were seated and eating, one of them began to banter with
Doug, and Doug told me the guy needed putting in his place (all in jest of
course). So I got a Snickers bar from that full candy box, held it out of
sight, and walked out into the dining room. "Doug says you need to
behave," I said, putting the candy by his plate, "and don't let me
see you showing out again!"
Five or
six voices rang out, "We need to
behave!" as I knew they would, and we did have enough candy bars for
everyone. These are the times when I can fully appreciate being the mother in
the kitchen, even if I cannot talk about popular events in town.
Not wanting to
bring home 10 pounds of tiny packs of gum, I hid two bags of them in the
pantry. One bag is squeezed between two sacks of flour in the back of a box of
sacks of flour, and the other bag is at the bottom of a box of tiny packets of
salt. Hiding things in that kitchen is difficult, so I'm eager to see if my
stealth works. (More importantly, will I remember
where I hid them?) Doug said that between last night and this morning, the
contents of one of the large candy boxes diminished by 4 or 5 inches…
It was over when it was over,
and my back was done long before it was over. And about my back: I have engaged
a fellow at a local gym to teach me to strengthen it. So far, his ministrations
have given rise to great pain in much of my body, but it's far too early to
complain. If he were not French… but he is… So I believe that one day I will leave the shelter kitchen with a spring in my step that matches the smile on my face.
No comments:
Post a Comment