SCUTTLEBUTT!

     Doug and I enjoyed another Friday in the kitchen, while shelter staff filled the rest of the building. He had prepared a Dr. Pepper bottle with grape juice for me... I mean, really... it was too early, but who can turn down that much care? I'm not turning that down!

     There was so little for me to do. Doug had dinner in the oven, and he had made all the sandwiches for all the lunch sacks and the PBJs! We assembled those with drinks and chips, but that only took 20 minutes. After that, he had nothing to offer me but thanks for keeping him company... and company was the word of the day!

     The staff was very often in the kitchen today—they seemed hyper, and that was fitting for some of our events. A  very fine restaurant sent us a carload of goodies—pastries, rice with saffron(!) and more pastries! Staff came out of the woodwork for the pastries. Doug and I declared our lunch hours and partook of the rice dish.

     While cruising the back porch, we noticed an addition to the sidewalk across the street. A man in a sleeping bag was standing there, as if in a cloth phone booth, assuming no one would notice the big puddle he was leaving on the concrete wall. He was a long time talking on his phone. This act raises myriad questions for me, as I was a long time affording a cell phone! He sat with his back against the wall for awhile. Three of us were watching; I took pictures (of course), and the big question was who was he?

     Those who are there every day know all of the street people, and Doug and Secretary wanted very badly to identify the mystery in the sleeping bag. Finally, they nailed him—the man who tore our water fountain off the wall last week! Doug closed the back door.

     I left at 1:00 for an appointment. Cruising thru town, the radio was playing Bob Dylan's "Everybody Must Get Stoned." By strange happenstance, I noticed a woman whose gait was weak. She and a man were approaching the local gas market that is known for selling things that lift one's spirits—legally and otherwise. She's too thin and she's too young to be decrepit, but there she was, going certainly for another fix, bringing the song to life. It's not so cool when it's live.

     Tomorrow I plan to serve again. We'll provide a hot lunch for the residents, and plate their dinners, as always. I need to put something special in my bag for the boy.