Wednesday's Words on a Friday

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles.

The aim of the words is to encourage us to write, a story, a poem, whatever comes to mind.
If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along and read it.

This month the words are supplied by me and can be found right here.

This week's words are:

1. riverbank
2. leadership
3. impressive
4. watchful
5. gifts
6. cheesecake

and/or:

1. fountain
2. neck
3. conclusion
4. singed
5. purple 
6. lion

Here is my story: Papa's Cookhouse Chapter Two

(Chapter One can be found here: 
http://river-driftingthroughlife.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/wednesdays-words-on-friday
If the link works, otherwise find it in the archives for March 20th, 2015)

As soon as the Police Station opened the next morning, Papa, Ed and George walked in the front door.
Nathan had left his statement with the officer on morning shift and now Paul ushered all of them into a side room away from the front desk. He listened as each man explained his part in the fight, typing as he did so, then gave each of them the typed statement sheet to read and sign. No criminal activity had taken place, but the statements would come in handy if there was any dispute later with the insurance company.

Ed's face was a colourful sight, with two black eyes and very red cheeks surrounding a white plaster across his broken nose. Ellen had driven him to the hospital after he woke from his faint and Papa had suggested he take the next couple of days off. George had apologised for swinging the soup ladle, adding that he'd been having a rough day and Ed's constant harping on "prettying things up" had been the last straw.

Leaving the station, Papa led the way to the riverbank, where they all sat on the grass and watched as the nearby fountain sprayed cool water into the still air. Keeping a watchful eye on the two men, Papa began to speak. "I know you've been plating ribs a long time now George, and I appreciate your help, I'm too old to do this alone now. People have come to expect our ribs and potato salad will always have a certain quality and style, so we'll keep things the way they are in that regard. But Ed has a good point about garnishes and trimmings, the little extras that make things a little bit special. So I've had an idea. What do you think about expanding?"

"Expanding what?" asked George. "The kitchen and dining room are big enough, we can easily fit whoever comes and there's the outside tables too."

"Right," said Papa. I'm talking about expanding the menu. Ribs and salad have been fine for all the years since I opened, but maybe we can add something sweet. A dessert bar. There's the place for prettying things up. The woodshed backed up to that side wall can be cleaned out and rebuilt a bit to hold a fridge and shelves, add a few tables and more outside tables under that big oak tree. We'll build a flagstone path leading to it and Ed can run that side while you keep on with the ribs and salad. What do you think?"

"I like it," Ed said thickly. Speaking wasn't easy with a broken nose. "I know a lot about desserts, the sweets cookery was my favourite part of the course I did. We could do cheesecakes to begin with, everybody likes cheesecake, see how it goes and introduce more options if it takes off. I do a great apple pie."

George said, "Sounds good, how about we break into the wall between the dining room and the woodshed, make a wide archway and add a low step as a divider. How soon can we start?"

Papa said, "We can start right away with clearing out the woodshed, move all the stuff in there to that old outdoor kitchen where I first started, but we'll have to wait on the insurance money before we can build shelves and buy the extra tables. And another fridge."

Getting up from the grass and walking towards The Cookhouse at the edge of town, they met Nathan on his way in.  Papa and George told him about their ideas and Nathan was highly approving of the thought of cheesecakes. He commended Papa on his impressive leadership skills, adding that many bosses would be in a quandary over which worker to fire instead of hatching a plan to keep both.

Papa idly scratched at the back of his neck, wondering if now was the right time to tell the rest of the idea. Maybe not, he decided. Let the new ideas reach full conclusion, then have another riverbank meeting to spring the latest development on them. There was plenty of time, he could work out the finer points and then lay it all out before them.

** I've discovered the link doesn't work, so you'll have to find chapter one in the archives listed on the side bar. I'll have to learn how to do a link, must have missed something.