"Strawberry Swirl"
And so, May has passed that night, and June was here at Camp Hattawata. Charles unlocked his store as a red produce truck parked in front of the diner. The sun broke the twilight sky as the driver stepped out of the truck. His thick brows covered his Gator cap as he walked to the co-owner to shake his hand. "Charles, you old Corgi! How are you?"
"Fred! You are a sight of sore eyes!" Charles shook the big farmer's hand. This man, Fred, was a hard-working man with graying hair and a few whiskers on his chin. Being a man in his fifties, he still had a youthful body. His farming background gave his skin a brown tone. His eyes were still sharp and deep gray steel. His voice had a Savannah slur when he talked. "We haven't seen you for a long while, Fred."
"Yeah...I didn't have the pleasure of working as much since Aggie passed a few months back." Fred Tucker's wife of over twenty-five years passed away from Lyme disease. She took pharmaceutical creams and medicine to clear her skin. It turned out to be a misdiagnosis. It worsened by winter and before St. Valentine's Day, she left the world in his home. Fred was heartbroken when she came home to God. Eleanor informed me this later that day during lunch.
"Aggie was a good woman, Fred." Charles sighed, looking back at the last time she was there on February. She was in good spirits still and on her two feet. She and her husband were a team of produce farmers on a farm fourteen miles north of the camp. They took their hard work everywhere in the state of Florida. That included Camp Hattawata. "You are always in our prayers, Fred. You and Aggie."
"Much obliged, Charles," the farmer wiped his tears from his brown cheeks with his red bandana. "Much obliged indeed. Anyway, there is a reason why I called you last night, other than delivering your goods."
"And that is?" Charles asked, looking surprised. Fred grinned and cheered, giving his longtime friend a big hug. "I heard the news! Pastor Samuel told me! You're gonna have a chain! Congrats!"
At this point, Ingrid, Tony and Raymond walked to the front of the diner. Their eyes widened over Fred's huge muscles that held Charles's slender body. Tony ran to the farmer and tried to shoo him away. "Hey, you can't choke Mr. Mersfield like that! Get away from him!"
"It's all right! It's all right!" Charles choked, letting go of the hug, sighing. "This is my old friend Farmer Fred. He works at the farm and is kind enough to deliver his best produce to us. Fred, this is Tony, one of our new employees. You remember Ingrid and Raymond, don't you?"
"Sure do, Charles," Fred said as he stared at the latter. His gray eyes grew irritated when he saw Raymond's smooth face. "Raymond, my daughter has turned nineteen a week ago and wants to be part of your crew. You're not going to woo her as well as the other girls working with you, are ya?"
Raymond stared at the huge farmer with surprised. He put his arms around his back like an innocent school boy, his eyes focusing on the gray eyes. "Rest assured, Mr. Tucker, your daughter is safe. I wouldn't even touch her."
"Good boy, Raymond. I'm warning you right now, she's the only baby I have that is living in my house. With my wife gone and the boys so far away, Abigail is the only part of the family taking care of the farm alongside with me. I need her to stay with me if I could. That means no trouble from you. Do you understand, Miami Kid?"
Raymond gulped with Ingrid stared at him. "Of course, Mr. Tucker. I always think of Abigail as a friend and nothing more than that. Abigail thinks of me as the same."
The farmer nodded once, expanding his chest. "All righty. That's what I want to hear."
"Aye, Fred, let's see what you have in your bed of that truck!" Charles cried as he looked at the crates of fresh fruits and vegetables. Tony tugged Ingrid's shirt, looking so confused. "Ingrid, who is that guy?"
"Oh, that's Fred Tucker, our local farmer in Lake county. He is our bread maker for our diner."
"Oh! I see! Funny, I don't see him when I first got here."
Ingrid bowed her head. "Yeah, back then, he was still mourning for his wife when you came here. He's still doing that, but less now since his kids are still with him. He has three kids, two are abroad."
"Okay, I guess it makes sense." Tony went to the truck's side and carried the first crate to the diner's steps. Ingrid began to carry a crate of apple and Ray took a crate of strawberries as Tony's started his next trip. "So, this Abigail...what does she look like?"
"Abigail? Well, she took after her mom. She has...strawberry blonde hair, light blue eyes, slender body, she is like her mom by her appearance. Yet, she takes her father's smarts and strong will. She is a very clever girl as far as I know. She's also very...um..."
"Very what?" asked Tony. Ingrid sighed. "She is also very gullible. I know her heart is in the right place, but sometimes it got her into trouble. Like she gave a homeless man twenty dollars so he could buy some food on his own. An hour later, she found the same man in small casino, playing the slot machine. She was angry at herself after her dad yelled at her."
"Wow, that's harsh. I hope she doesn't beat herself all the time."
"Oi! Come on, kids!" Charles yelled, unlocking the doors. "We have to take care of these produce before the first breakfast crowds comes in for a bite! Raymond, you can wash the strawberries. Emma is going to need them. Hop to it!"
The others arrived and saw their co-workers stacking the crates on the counter. Knowing where they should go, they took the goods to each shelf on the storage fridge. There were four new employees after Tony. Each of them were fast learners and were keen in the kitchen culture. Tony found them rather attractive. Well, I know them...in fact I told you about them earlier.
Hannah, Lauren, Nikki and Pam volunteered to work at the diner for their own reasons. I wouldn't mention the reasons until later, but Pam's reason was to raise money for the cabin restoration. Her heart was dead set on restoring in, even if the repulsive skunks infected it. For her to have that dream recreation cabin, she would do her very best to be peppy.
"Anything I can do, Mr. Mersfield?" Pam asked, showing her huge cleavage in front of the co-owner. He noticed the girl's smile and her pink eyes sparkled on the gray sky. "Oh yeah, Pam, you can start peeling the vegetables on the green counter. You know, I'm glad you girls want to help us yesterday afternoon. It was very nice of you."
Pam blushed as she looked at the other girls carrying the crates to the storage room. They wanted to borrow a jumbo can of tomato sauce to clean the possible stench. Emma couldn't smell the stench at all. She also told the girls that tomato sauce wouldn't work anyway. By the time she told them about the recipe for skunk spray, Charles came out with a few slips of paper. He needed a few hands since the other employees took the rest of the day off. The girls then found themselves as Cookies & Cream's new hands.
"Well," Pam blushed as she took a few carrots and used a peeler to peel them. "I'm more than happy to oblige until your regular employees come back."
"Oh yes, that would include my son."
The other girls looked up when the owner mentioned it. Nikki raised her hand as she stored away the apples. "Your son?"
"Yeah. His name is Nathanial. He is from my previous marriage. Ah, he is a good kid. He wants to take up after his old man. He wants to have this place and by gum! I'll give it to him at the end of the summer. Now, we have breakfast customers coming in a half an hour. We need to make those eggs. Hannah, be a good girl and-"
