Pancakes & Pandemonium - Culinary Competition Mystery #6

Chapter 10

(Amy)

"I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner," Amy said as she dumped a bowl of carrot chunks into the soup pot the next morning. She looked at Sophie and shook her head. "My mom isn't a morning person, but we really wanted her to come into town to encourage her to volunteer in some way. I think it'll be good for her to see what it feels like to help people."

Sophie stirred the mountain of carrots into the broth. "No problem. I appreciate whoever shows up, whenever they get here."

Amy looked at her mother, who was sulking in a lawn chair inside the warming tent, instead of helping prepare the meal. She'd insisted that she had zero culinary skills and couldn't even manage to peel a potato. Amy would've doubted that declaration from most people, but she didn't when it came from her mother. She'd grown up eating fast food or TV dinners. Her mother cooking a meal wasn't part of any of her memories.

"I'll help in any way possible. I'm hoping Mom will agree to go on the Breakfast All Day truck. Yesterday Teresa asked me if I knew anyone who could help them since they're expecting to be busy with nobody having electricity anywhere in town. Dishing up soup and pouring coffee technically isn't cooking, so Mom should be able to at least do that."

It took about half an hour to get the first pot of soup ready to go with the charitable food truck crew. Quick-cooking zucchini, mushrooms, and spinach combined with shell pasta and sun-dried tomatoes to make an Italian-style soup. The vintage motor home turned food truck parked in front of the café just as the pasta had cooked to al dente. The vehicle's yellow color was as bright as the sunshine that was warming everybody's bodies and spirits.

Amy went to get her mother as Teresa and her helper, Kim, carefully carried the soup pot between them to the mobile kitchen. "The truck that will be delivering soup is here. I'll introduce you to the owner," Amy said as she walked into the tent.

"Why?"

"So you can go with them to deliver soup to the people who can't make it here. Ladling soup into bowls technically isn't cooking. I'm sure that's something you can help with."

"I don't want to do that."

"Why not? It's such a wonderful thing to do," Geri said as she walked into the tent with a basket full of whole-grain rolls. She smiled cheerfully at Amy. "Why don't you go help load up the truck while I chat with your mom?"

"Ooookay." Amy raised an eyebrow at Geri when she turned to face her. "Whatever you like."

Stacks of takeout containers, a bin of cookies and rolls made in the wood-fired oven, plus a huge canister of ground coffee were all loaded into the truck. Since Teresa had volunteered to be the delivery vehicle, Sophie and many of the other downtown business owners were providing the supplies. Everybody was chipping in to help make life a little easier for others.

Fifteen minutes later the truck pulled away from the curb with Amy's mother on board. "How did you get my mom to go?" Amy asked when she joined Geri inside the café to chop more vegetables. "She didn't want anything to do with helping before you talked to her."

"Oh, I just stressed how important it is to help people out when they are in distress. What goes around comes around, so it's always nice to have good karma." She nudged Amy's arm with her shoulder. "It was no big deal."

"I know how stubborn she can be. It is a big deal."

"It's just a matter of phrasing things the correct way. I simply pointed out that there is virtue in helping others who can't help themselves. I considered it a personal challenge to convince her to go with the truck."