Raining Cats, Dogs and Maple Syrup

Meeting At The Pancakeria

Papa Louie was preparing for the Breakfast rush at the Pancakeria. He had just gotten a new shipment of waffles in but he could not run the Pancakeria alone for much longer, for there were other restaurants to oversee like the brand new Cluckeria in Oilseed Springs which is holding it's ground in the Chicken Sandwich Wars. He pondered how to find employees for a restaurant on a mountain when an orange cat walked through his door. An orange cat with a red collar that reads Cookie. ''Why hello little customer, welcome to the Pancakeria!'' A small grey dog with a light pink bow and yellow collar. He left them in his office with water, some dog and cat food and a letter for their owners before leaving out the backdoor and driving down the mountain to the Cluckeria. Prudence and Cooper burst through the door and found  no one there but heard an excited little yip from the back of the Pancakeria. They went in the back and found Pickle and Cookie curled up beside each other near a note. Dear Owners of Pickle and Cookie, as you are aware by now I am Papa Louie. The owner of this establishment, Papa's Pancakeria which is in desperate need of employees. If you could please help out of the restaurant, you will each receive a card for free pancakes and waffles for the next 50 years when I return. ~Papa Louie 

Then the rush of people from the Reader's Retreat flooded through the door, Willow squeezed in between people ''Prudence, there you are! Do you work here? Nevermind, I'll take two chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup, chocolate chips, 3 butters and don't forget my small decaf with a shot of Cocoa, thanks Bestie!'' Prudence and Cooper put on their pink and yellow aprons ''I'll take orders and work the coffee station, you'll do the actual cooking and topping placement.'' The two worked through all the orders and it was a bit of a learning curve to work the drink machine ''Ok, so what is this button?'' Prudence had activated the shot button ''Select flavor'' ''Um, Cocoa?'' Then there was the machine's dispensing meter, get it in the green and you have just the right amount, yellow is too little and red would overflow the cup. Thankfully they were able to get Willow's order correct. ''Thanks Prudence, see you later!'' ''See ya.'' The two made the crowd's orders the best they could and then they decided to make their own orders in the downtime. Prudence and Cooper made their own orders and dined together at a table close to the window. 

Focusing on the two glasses of strawberry iced tea and citrus iced tea, Prudence looked at Cooper's pancakes and Cooper at Prudence's pancakes. ''So, um, you like maple syrup too.'' ''Yeah, cream and chocolate chips too.'' ''What's your reason for coming all the way up the mountain?'' ''I actually came up here to try the food here at the Pancakeria and from what I can taste it lives up to all the great ratings.'' ''I'm here as part of a Reader's Retreat with my book club. We meet weekly at the Powder Point Library and discuss romance novels.'' ''Oh my, I'm dining with a hopeless romantic over here.'' Prudence's cheeks turned bright pink as hid behind Storm In The Seas. ''Is that one of your club's books?'' ''Yeah, it's about how Robby and Cori met and the real effects of the Shrimp Boat tragedy on those who were involved and survived.'' ''Is it a good book so far?'' ''Yes, it's a seaside romance and the scenes with Robby's PTSD are well written, they feel realistic. Not that I would know.'' Cooper glanced behind through the front windows at the roads, those roads. ''Yeah, I wouldn't want to know what that's like.'' He drank from his citrus iced tea, watching Prudence flip page after page of that book. He could read the words off the reflections in her eyes, descriptions of crashing waves, tumbling skies and the screams of the other unfortunate souls on the boat. Then with a heavy sigh he knew, the cute librarian girls were his type.