The Pantry

a Lulu & Friends story

500 words inspired by the Weekend Wordsmith prompt “hunger”
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Lulu drove around to the side door of the community food pantry, grinned at her best friend Lola sitting in the passenger seat and tapped the horn.  From Lola’s window they had a view through the doorway and could see folks working inside.  Lu and Lo had spent the last hour at the nearby wholesale club, filling an oversized shopping cart, or “buggy”, as Lo insisted on calling it, with groceries from the pantry’s “How You Can Help” list.  It was a relatively cool summer Saturday in Far North Dallas, the temperature just over 85 degrees at 10am, but even with the car’s erratic air conditioner set at maximum Lulu wanted to get the perishables into the pantry’s refrigerators as soon as possible.

Tricia, the pantry’s manager, appeared in the doorway, clipboard and pen in hand.  Lulu popped the car’s trunk and walked around to the passenger side.  Lola rolled down her window.

“Hey Miss Trish,” said Lola.  “Got anybody to help bring this stuff inside?”

“Hey Miss Lo, Miss Lu,” said Tricia.  She turned to holler into the building. “Delivery!”

“Perishables in the back seat, non-perishables in the trunk,” said Lola.

A herd of teenaged boys and girls quickly unloaded the car and disappeared inside.

“Youth group service day,” said Tricia.  “Y’all wanna do some work before you go?”

Lulu and Lola followed Tricia into the building, past the makeshift office and through the maze of shelving units and glass-fronted refrigerators.

“I thought you’d have way more stuff,” said Lola.

“Donations are down,” said Tricia, “ ‘cause of the economy and all.  Fall’s our busiest time for donations with Thanksgiving and Christmas food drives, but summer’s harder for our clients.  When school’s out, breakfast and lunch programs are shut down, too.  Families need extra help feeding their kids, especially the last two weeks of the month.”

“That’s why we’re here,” said Lulu.  “What do you need us to do?”

The youth group was busy sorting groceries on tables in the center of the work area.

“Today the grownups are breaking down industrial-size product from our corporate donors into family-friendly packages,” said Tricia.  “The ladies at that table in the corner are repacking dried milk.  Or there’s a bunch of seasonings in restaurant packs that need tending to.

“So the choice is pack white powder into kilo bundles or dried herbs into nickel bags?” said Lola.

Tricia laughed.  “Trust me,” she said, “this ain’t no French Connection.  Better music in the 70s.”

“Well, we might could stay for a bit…” said Lo.

“I dunno,” said Lu, turning to look at the clock on the wall over the doorway.  “We’re supposed to meet Travis and Steve for the noon show at the Cinemark, and I have to drop you at your place, then go home and shower and get ready.  Plus Lucky’s gonna need a walk if I’m gone all afternoon.”

“Maybe next time,” said Lo, shrugging her shoulders and turning to follow Lu to the car.  “Driver’s in charge. Sorry.”

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Copyright © 2012, Lulubelle B

I-635 (LBJ Freeway)

a Lulu & Friends story

500 words based on a sentence selected by Dive.  Click here for more info.

This week's sentence is from John Steinbeck's Cannery Row:  "It was not so interesting driving at night."

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It was not so interesting driving at night, what with Lola snoring in the front seat and Lucky snoring in the back. Then again, Lulu told herself, the drive home from DFW airport wasn't much more interesting in daylight. At least during the day you could admire the bluebells at the roadside and the wildflowers in the median, gifts to the state from Lady Bird Johnson, or so Lulu'd been told when she first moved to Texas.


Lo'd been out of town for a few days and was getting in just after midnight. “Sure,” Lulu’d said when Lola called to tell her Travis couldn’t make it, it being poker night and all. “I can pick you up.”


Lucky was up for a drive, as pups usually are, so Lulu made the run from North Dallas to Irving with classic rock blasting on the radio and the dog's chin on her shoulder as he balanced in his co-pilot position, front paws on the center console and rear paws on the very front edge of the rear seat. Every few minutes he'd sniff Lulu's ear or jam his moist Westie nose into the soft spot under her jaw. Lu would giggle and gently push him back into the rear seat, telling him to sit, but a few seconds later he'd be back, head on Lu's shoulder, riding contentedly westward as the air conditioner blew in his face and Lulu absently reached up to scratch his neck.


Lola waited in the passenger pick-up zone, left hand resting on her leopard-patterned wheelie bag, right hand holding her usual Ozarka bottle, complete with bendy straw. She heaved the bag into Lulu’s trunk, then slid into the passenger seat, twisting to greet the dog as he strained between the front seats.


“Hola Señor Lucho. Did you miss your Auntie Lo-Lo?” she murmured as she rubbed the tickle spot on his chest. “Sorry I couldn’t bring you anything, but your mean ol’ mama says no food for you in the car.”


“Not after the pepperoni incident. How was your flight?” Lulu asked.


“Long and uneventful,” Lola answered through a yawn. “I think I’ll just rest my eyes for a while. Can you make sure I’m up when we get to the Galleria? I want to wave to Nordstrom as we go by.”


“I’m pretty sure they’re still in business, even with your being gone all this time.” Lulu smirked, knowing Lola’s near-addiction to their shoe department.


“Even so…” Lola trailed off, her head tipping back against the headrest.


Lucky’s paws twitched in his sleep, the tip of his tail wagging almost imperceptibly. Lulu reached across and gently took Lola’s water bottle from her relaxed hands and stowed it in a cup holder. Lulu figured she’d be able to drop Lola at her apartment in about twenty-five minutes and be back at her own place ten minutes later.


Lulu glanced over at Lola and checked on Lucky in the rearview mirror, happy to watch over her two best friends.

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copyright (c) 2010 Lulubelle B

Lucky

a Lulu & Friends story

500 words based on a sentence (in italics) selected by Dive. Click here for more info.


Lulu stepped in it barefoot on her way to the bathroom.


The dog sidled up to her and nosed the side of her leg as she sat on the edge of the tub washing her foot under the rushing water. “What’s a matter puppy face? Your tummy bothering you? We’ll go out in a minute.”


Lulu pulled on a t-shirt and jeans and grabbed a red leash. Outside the dog made his way to a tree, did what he needed to and pulled Lulu back towards the house. From that angle Lulu saw that he needed the back half of a bath.


Inside again Lulu parked the pooch in the tub, treated the stain with the carpet spray from under the sink and reached for the phone.


“Hi Lo. It’s me. Pupster’s gotta go to the vet. Can you pick us up? My car’s still in the shop.”


Lola got to Lulu’s just as Lulu shut off the blow drier.


“Wow – his hair’s really starting to grow in Lu. Why’d he have that other haircut?”


“I think the kids at the shelter thought he was a white schnauzer. Guess the pointy ears and carrot tail didn’t register. You’re looking more like a Westie every week, aren’t you poopy pants?”


“Uh, Lu? I think you got another problem over here behind the loveseat.”


“Crap!”

“Exactly. You need to shove his nose in it and yell he’s a bad dog.”


“No. He’s gonna learn that I don’t yell when he’s sick. He’s gotta learn to trust me and that he’s safe here.”


“Maybe when we’re done at the vet, Lu, we’ll go to McDonald’s and get him a sausage biscuit?”


“He’s already got diarrhea Lo. He really doesn’t need a sausage biscuit.”


“Well, maybe I’ll get one for me.”


At the vet’s office Lola picked up a magazine from a table and plopped down on a chair. Lulu and the dog fidgeted impatiently at the check-in desk. The receptionist wore white scrubs with a faded multi-colored paw print pattern.


“Have an appointment?”


“Yeah. I called a little while ago.”


“What’s the pet’s name?”

“Lucho Abril Marroquin.”


The receptionist looked up from her screen, eyebrows raised.


Lulu sighed. “Lucky. Everyone calls him Lucky.”


“You can take him into room two. Doctor Jeff will be right in.”


In the exam room, Doctor Jeff scratched behind the dog’s ears and made kissy-kissy noises.

“He’s got diarrhea? It’s probably just the bug that’s going around. We’ll do a quick exam just to make sure, then there’s a pill that will get him back to normal in no time. Eyes good. Ears look fine. Gotta take your temperature buddy. Our ear thermometer’s broken, so we’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way. Now where’s that tube of lubricant?”


But with the passage of the years Lucho Abril Marroquin was to tell himself that of all the instructive experiences of that morning the most unforgettable had not been either the first or the second accident but what happened afterwards.

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copyright (c) 2009 Lulubelle B

Lulu and Lola

a Lulu & Friends story

500 words based on a sentence (in italics) selected by Dive. Click here for more info.

Twin beds sullenly welcomed us at the motel just off the interstate, flat, spent pillows barely raising a bump under the stained quilted bedspreads. The sun had long ago sunk below the horizon, yet the Texas heat was as choking as ever, the relentless, disheartening, will-crushing heat of an August drought. The beige Saturn’s fickle electrical system continued its slow, lingering death that afternoon, taking with it the air conditioner and the controls for the power windows, which were now stuck at useless heights, neither containing the tepid air burping from the vents on the dash, nor letting any outside air circulate.

Traffic had slammed to a halt about 30 minutes north of Houston when a cattle carrier overturned, spilling disoriented livestock onto I-45. Local police stopped traffic in both directions while Texas Rangers on horseback worked with local volunteers to round up the frightened cows. The 250 miles between us and home in North Dallas stretched temptingly northward, but with no way to get there, Lo and I sat in the car most of the day with the sun pounding down on the roof, from the limitless, empty Texas sky. The motel room was little better as I slid between the graying, frayed sheets, trying to find a cool spot on my pillow and wondering why the room had no ceiling fan.

“Lu? Can I have a water?”

Three bottles lay on their sides, half submerged in the cloudy, lukewarm mystery liquid at the bottom of the cooler, floating among the remains of popsicles, candy bars and lipsticks.

“Sure Lo, but we’ll have to get some more tomorrow, and ice this thing up again before we leave. I’ve never seen anyone drink so much water.”

“Gotta stay hydrated. Oprah says how many liters a day? Got any straws?”

“Just drink it from the bottle”

“But…”

“Like you’re worried about make-up now? We’re going to sleep, just drink it from the damned bottle.”

“I’m sorry Lu”.

“S’ok Lo”

“You know what today’s like, Lu? Thelma and Louise. This is our big road trip. We’re just like them.”

“Lo, you know how that movie ended, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but maybe I can still have a thing with Brad Pitt? Might be worth it.”

“Go to sleep Lo”

“Night, Lu…Lu, can we find a waffle house for breakfast tomorrow? And when we get the water, we need straws too. Oprah always says to use a straw. Her guests always have straws, too.”

“Go to sleep Lo.”

And again next day a thinly populated sky, losing its blue to the heat, would melt overhead, and Lo would clamour for a drink, and her cheeks would hollow vigorously over the straw, and the car inside would be a furnace when we got in again, and the road shimmered ahead, with a remote car changing its shape mirage-like in the surface glare, and seeming to hang for a moment, old-fashionedly square and high, in the hot haze.

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copyright (c) 2009 Lulubelle B