It was a sad day when a woman Jan admired, friendly neighbor Channel, died. She was the woman who did all the parties on their street, made great deserts and kept her husband, Harold, always happy.
For a few months Harold seemed so despondent, his adult children had come there for a while, but had to get back to their families.
Jan had often played at the family's house, she was a friend of their daughter, and often would watch Channel cook and bake for the family. In some ways Channel was like her mom away from home.
Now that Jan was 26 years old, she still lived at home, working part-time, and was a very caring individual. She talked with her mom about Harold, and her mom suggested she go over and see what she could do for him. So that's what she did.
Knowing Channel's recipe for lemon bars, and how often she made them, Jan set-out to create the bakery confection, and ended up making it three times before it resembled and tasted close to what Channel had done always from scratch the first time.
She walked over with a plate of the lemon bars and knocked on the door. It took Harold a good two minutes before he got to the door, and asked in a gruff voice, "Who is it?"
"It's Jan from next door, I came to see you." Harold opened the door, saw it was Jan, and welcomed her inside.
"These are lemon bars I made from observing your wife making them. I hope you like them," Jan said as she handed them over. She had to reach up to give them to Harold, who stood 6'5", compared to Jan's petite stature of 5' 3" which was close to the height of his late wife.
Harold invited Jan inside, and asked her to come to the kitchen, and she saw the mess. She asked Harold to sit down, and she made some coffee and cleaned all the plates and flatware, and glasses that had piled up in the sink.
They sat together having coffee and lemon bars, which Harold said were close to what Channel had made. He said he had been lonely since she left and was hoping to find some company.
Jan remembered what her mom had said, to see what she could do for Harold, and it seemed this was her chance.
"Well, I could keep you company, and what should I call you, as whenever I was over here, I used to call Channel by her name," Jan said.
"For now you could call me Harold, and how often would you want to come over?"
"Depending on my work schedule, I would really find it nice to come here each day, help you with your meals and cleaning around here, making you feel special."
Jan cleaned what she could in his home, and let Harold know she would be back tomorrow. She returned home and told her mom what happened, and over dinner they decided it would be nice if Jan did spend more time with Harold and try to make him happy.
Over night Jan decided to make several meals for Harold. She went to an overnight supermarket and got all the necessary items, and made sauerbraten, a flavorful brisket, and several chicken meals. It was near dawn when she was all done, and knowing Harold was up usually around 4 a.m., she gathered up everything and walked over to his house. She placed the items on the porch and knocked on the door. This time Harold was faster to respond, and he saw a cheerful Jan, holding a bountiful of food, and gladly welcomed her inside.
Taking all the food to the kitchen, Jan told Harold, "I made these according to Channel's specifications. I used to spend a lot of time with her in the kitchen when I was younger and remembered all these great dished she made for you."