Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Robert

Robert volunteered to help with cooking the soup somewhere in december.  we kept losing the soup bucket at that time - somehow it disappeared after the soup got eaten, or the top was nowhere to be found.  it was about the third 'disappeared' bucket donated to the cause by a nearby QFC, so we set out to the church kitchen without.   

Robert proved to be a very skilled prep-cook, so i asked him if he would like to volunteer the next time as well.  He  said he would have to check with his work schedule and took out a piece of paper from his pocket to look.  Robert works at some auto-company; his resourcefulness  blew me away, because i couldn't quite imagine being able to live in a tent and maintain work schedule, and i came to this country with a status of a refugee.

When we put all the ingredients into the pot we started to worry about transporting it back to the camp with no bucket.  i stayed to look after the soup and Robert and Nova, my monday-partner-in-cooking, set out to look for a bucket in  QFC  three blocks away.  the soup was ready 30 minutes later, but no signs of Nova and Robert.

i walked to QFC and back, and now started  to worry what happened to them.  the time was passing and Jorge, the church worker, was getting ready to close the church.  he kindly found some paint bucket which he washed so it could be used for soup, and also provided plastic bag to cover it for transportation.  

by now i was getting a bit panicky - an hour passed since Nova and Robert left for a 6 block  walk.  Jorge helped me to put the soup into bucket and carried it to my car.  i said goodbye to him, and yes, do close the church, but i'll be back in the parking lot to wait for my friends.

back in nickelsville i had to inform Robert's wife that somehow i don't know what happened to him.  i could tell it made her nervous.  she tried to call him on her cell phone, but he wasn't answering. she left a message.  after some very tense 5 or 10 minutes he called back.  i was so relieved i didn't wait for the details and drove right back to the church.  Jorge came to the parking lot, obviously concerned, too.  

it turned out Nova and Robert had no luck finding a free bucket in nearby food stores, so Nova called around asking her friends about big empty container for soup.  one of her friends in northgate had one, so she and Robert went to fetch Robert's car and drove there.  the sight of them pulling into church parking lot made both Jorge and me very happy.

to be written:  Gus, Gina, Tracy, Brian, Darren, Richard, Rosemary, Peggy.

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