The Clarkl Soup Kitchens by Mary Carmen Read Free Book Online Page A

took the last of my spare cash, after I paid off Patsy’s loan, and I decided I would rather have an extra $40,000 to fall back on than a year in warm Ohio .
    The Fundamentalists have essentially abandoned their posts. They have a crew of about seventy people left, according to my manager. They had nearly three hundred when I arrived in 2137. All their foods come from either the spacecrafts from Earth or our farms. The seventy people are running the kitchen and the dining room.
    The new facility is coming along nicely. The automat section is ready, and we have staffed it, in addition to our dining room work. Two people are there for each of the three shifts, and one person is always on duty to drive foods from the kitchen to the new facility, around the clock. Its popularity has grown, and now about ten percent of our food goes into those little compartments. The biggest users are the Drones, of course. They are large and like to eat a number of times each day.
    The robots in the dining room are still working well. The Seekers have been watching the dishwashing crew to learn how to create robots to load and unload the dishwasher, and the prototypes are working very well. They are programmed to work with only certain dishes, and they are able to safely set all others aside. Right now the robots are handling about eighty-five percent of the dishes used on the serving line.
    The huts were reroofed again this year, and this new roofing certainly keeps out the cold. It is some mixture of copper and platinum, materials that are in abundance here.
    The only really good thing about this climate is that human skin ages more slowly. I have no sun spots and certainly no skin cancer. People who have been here for eleven years look almost no older than when they arrived.
    About a dozen Monarchs came to the dining room one day this year, for the second time since I came to Clarkl. They toured the kitchen and the new facility, shown around by a few Batwigs. It was like a regal procession, with each Clarklian knowing its place in the line. We stood behind the buffet area, smiling. They never looked toward us. They remain the most hideous of creatures. I am very glad they are not our frequent guests.
    A better apple crop this year, to the delight of the Clarklians. I don’t know why some years are better for apples, but we were able to dry many pounds of apple chips for use in the future. During that harvest, all days off were canceled, and lunch hours were cut to fifteen minutes. How nice the bags of dried fruit looked when we got them packed into the storeroom! And the kitchen smelled wonderful for several weeks.
    We had some good luck with walnuts, too. The Clarklians love them mixed with pumpkin or in waffles.
    As of right now, I am scheduled to leave in less than three years. This has been an interesting adventure, but I need to get back to my children and my Molly.
    December 25, 2146  
    Less than two years to go!
    This year will be remembered as the year I paid off my mortgage. I had asked the real estate people to make one or two extra payments each year, and in September the final payment was made. Now, I can relax. Even if I am sent home early, as most of the Fundamentalists have been, I have my home free and clear.
    The new facility is closer to completion, and we are getting very anxious to occupy it. The kitchen is now very crowded, with the extra automat foods and two new chefs, and my dining room lines grow longer each month. Those Clarklians who had been eating with the Fundamentalists are coming here.
    The automat is now attended by robots. Our staff takes food to the building and puts portions onto disposable plates or napkins. Then, the robots put the portions into the compartments. We used to have a system whereby we would put pie in one section and main dishes in another, but that is too complex for these robots right now. Except for tea, which has its own set of compartments and doors, any food can go into any empty