I had to miss my party ;-(

I had no other option than to tell my pledge sisters I couldn’t make it for the start of the party but that I hoped I would be done in time to meet them after the soup kitchen had closed. They of course were upset I wouldn’t be there and joined me in complaining how unfair and unreasonable Professor Swanson was being. I did still consider skipping my Professors requirements but knew my parents couldn’t afford to take out any loans on my behalf. This scholarship was the only way I could attend this College.

I dressed in the plainest clothes I had brought to college with me. I didn’t want to wear anything nice around the homeless people. It was the first time I had worn them since leaving home, my usual outfits much prettier and nicer. I wore a dowdy dark dress that went to my knees and a beige cardigan. It was the sort of thing my Mom wore every day. I made sure to pack my party outfit in my handbag though. Worst come to the worst; I could get changed in the Uber on the ride back.

I got dropped off out the front of the soup kitchen half an hour before it opened and there were already nearly a dozen homeless people milling around waiting. I tried not to meet any of them in the eye as I went to the front door and knocked to be let in. A tall black male in his early twenties looked up from behind the serving counter and on seeing another young person and not a street bum came to let me in.

“You must be Jasara,” he said politely and held out his hand for me to shake, “The professor said to expect you but I hadn’t expected you so early.”

“Yes, pleased to meet you. Early to start, early to finish, right? You are Baas then?” I answered as I shook his hand back and took in the sight of him.

Baas was tall, over six foot, and looked like he was carved from a solid block of dark wood. Handsome didn’t do him justice. He looked like he was entirely made of muscle, from his wide shoulders down to his tight waist.

Baas ignored Jasara’s hopeful comment about getting to finish early and led her into the kitchen area. “The kitchen is the only one in the city and runs from 6pm until midnight. We serve over two thousand meals in that time,” he explained.

“Wow! That’s a lot of homeless,” Jasara said before wishing she had kept her mouth shut almost immediately.

“The meals all prepared from donated food that would just be thrown into the garbage by the supermarkets so we are recycling and helping to reduce the waste at the same time. The cooking was started around 8am this morning. If you would like to continue helping in the future, maybe that time would be better suited to you?” Baas offered.

Jasara cursed her professor for not telling her that was an option. If she had known that she could have been getting ready for the party tonight instead of wasting her time here now. Baas introduced Jasara around to the other workers at the soup kitchen. She was actually happy to see that the majority were all younger girl just like herself. Made sense when she thought of who was running the place.

With the prep pretty much over, Baas showed Jasara where the aprons were and had her stand in the line behind the counter next to him, ready to ladle spoonfulls of what she hoped was chilli into the trays as they were to be put in front of her. He unlocked the door to the kitchen and her first taste of charity work was about to begin.