Work never ends

Who: Ruby and OPEN
Where: The Rose and Pearl soup kitchen
When: Early morning

The second of January started like hundreds of days before. Ruby got up and made breakfast for herself and the twenty people who were under her wing at the Rose and Pearl. Last night they has sorted through the stock they had picked up after six in the evening. Shopkeepers and grocers got write offs for donating produce and goods they couldn’t sell to the paying public any more. Ruby could cut out bad spots, freshen up two day old bread and always found a use for meat bones of any kind.

So she and six others were chopping while beef bones were cooking in a dozen industrial soup pots. They didn’t often get real meat, so she carefully tapped open donated eggs and sniffed them for any trace of turning. Then added them to the stock, giving some extra protein.

Today… today was a very good day, however. They had an extra pot going. Hot Dogs. The company hadn’t sold as much as they thought over the holidays. So the bread would go to be makeshift buns. There was no mustard, but there was home made ketchup.

“Ruby, we got a late shipment of apples,” one of the women called from the back. All of the people who worked here were homeless who were paid by way of a roof over their heads, heat, a cot and food. It was riches to those who didn’t have.

Ruby wiped some sweat from her brow with the back of her wrist. “Have the kids go through them and toss anything really soft or blackening. Bruises are okay.” Today may well be a feast until the food ran out.

Folks started to line up at ten and eleven outside most days. Because ‘The Rose and Pearl’ served soup and bread to the hungry but folks never knew when it would run out. Children and pregnant women got served first. It was the top rule. They had growing to do. All others, including the parents of the kids, had to wait in line like all others.

There was no telling who might end up at the soup kitchen. No telling how many would show on any given day. Some were slower than others and there were leftovers. But those were rare. But with today’s bounty, the food should stretch a lot further. The fact that it wasn’t raining today would up the numbers.

“I need someone to run to Rocco’s for some pepper and garlic powder.” Ruby called out. She didn’t care who made the run, one of the staff or a kid. Ruby had only so much money to spend on spices, but they were running out.