CHAPTER THREE

It was lunchtime at Caffco University. It was about 95 degrees on the sunny Monday afternoon. Students walked around clothed in shorts, tank tops, t-shirts, and short sleeved shirts. Groups of girls were standing together giggling and talking about their eventful summers. Clusters of boys were boasting to their friends about the summer exploits. One girl sat on a bench reading her book. The epicenter of the school flurried with students trying to decide where and what to eat for lunch. It was a popular student hangout that incorporated the Student Center, Cafeteria, and Student Park.

The campus cafeteria was one choice, having some of the best cooks in the state. Caffco made it a point to provide their students with the feel of home when it came to food. Serving nutritious, excellent tasting food had garnered them some points with its students. One of the favorite cooks in the cafeteria was Shurley Greene. She was a Christian woman who many of the students, faculty, and staff often sought out for prayer and counseling. She was a shiny vessel at the school. She had been there for 15 years or more. Three of her children had graduated from the school. One of her ten children was currently enrolled. Her greens, corn bread, and friend chicken were often in demand and her meatloaf was often requested. She would often come out of the kitchen to see the students. She walked with a happy saunter while singing God’s praises to herself. She was known to get the students to join in from time to time. One Christmas, she started a mass Christmas carol session that was so pleasing it became a tradition. Each year on December 18th, the students and cafeteria staff sang Christmas carols at lunch time. The cafeteria was often full. You almost needed a reservation to feast on the delectable offerings of the cafeteria.

The café in the student center was another choice. It served soup, salads, and sandwiches. The Student Center was a fun place complete with a recreation room that allowed students to blow off steam by playing pool, ping pong, fuse ball, air hockey, cards, dominoes, and other games. The student center also provided a patio dining area just in case students wanted to eat outside. The café was ran by a guy who was a bit feminine, but people rarely every said anything to him. Mrs. Greene often to Harold Casey he needed to get right with God, but he would smile at her and continue on his way. The café was always festive and colorful. The menu was diverse and the students could make requests for menu items to add to the menu. You could get your sandwiches hot or cold. The service in the café was excellent, Harold always saw to that. The students that worked there were trained in the art of customer service. The tip jar of the café was always overflowing to the joy of the working students. It was a culinary experience to watch the chefs in the making prepare your sandwich with style and flair. If you wanted an entertaining lunch, it would be to your advantage to patronize the café.

The student park was always full of students who decided to sit under the shade provided by the Windsor Phonamie trees that filled the two acre park. Students that were enjoying their lunch could often see a Frisbee of football fly by the head as they were eating. The park was a place where girlfriends chatted happily with their boyfriends. It was a place where girlfriends with each other to talk about their days so far. It was a place where guys stopped to check out all the pretty girls. The campus police strolled through the park just to show that they upheld that motto to protect and serve.

Each school had a faculty lunchroom in it so that the professors could get together and talk to their peers. Each lunchroom was equipped with microwaves, vending machines, couches, and televisions. Of course, the students who lived in the on-campus apartments had kitchens that they could use. The students in the dormitories could utilize the on-campus facilities or the vending machines and microwaves in the common area of each dormitory.

Caffco University provided its occupants with many choices for lunchtime. It was a matter of choosing if you wanted to stay on campus or go off campus. The hottest off campus spot was Franklin's Eatery. It was located on the west side of the campus just behind the student living area. That was a good place for it to be because the student apartments and dormitories were directly in front of it. It was easily accessible to the students. Franklin’s Eatery served a wide –range of foods that included soup and sandwiches as well as hamburgers and steak. Most of the students choose their juicy hamburgers as their choices. Franklin's Eatery had some of the largest burgers known to man kind. The average female patron could only eat half of one of their Caffco burgers. The male patrons could finish one of the burgers, but they would have to loosen their belt afterwards.

Lunchtime was a brief break between classes. It was a fun time for those who choose to use the time for such. There were those who decided to use the time to study. The Brian Caffco Library was the ideal place to do so. Located between the Student Center and Cafeteria, the library could be reach by the students. The library was a top rated library used by the area residents as well as the students. The library use fee paid by the non-students was well worth it because the library had a large collection of books and particularly research material, since Caffco was a top research school. Caffco University had an arrangement with the Dorinda, Hardaway, and Absanie library systems that allowed the library’s patrons to use books from those cities libraries. So, Caffco University had a library collection that extended outside its walls. The university was trying to make arrangements with other surrounding cities. If you choose to spend lunch in the library, you had to be quiet and you brain was the only part of your body that could be fed.

Colt had to eat lunch early. He knew that if he would have eaten at 12:00 PM, he wouldn’t have made it back to Dr. Davis’ 1:00 class on time. He decided to go to Franklin’s Eatery. He felt good and wanted to indulge himself.

Franklin’s Eatery was crowded at 11:30 AM. It took about 10 minutes before he could get seated. Once he sat down, he looked at the menu. He already knew what he wanted, but he looked at them menu anyway. The waitress came over to the table to take his order. Colt told her that he wanted a cheeseburger, fries, and soda. She took his order and walked off.

While Colt waited for his order, he took in the scenery at Franklin’s Eatery. Franklin’s Eatery was a relaxed dining experience. The staff wore jeans and a Franklin’s Eatery t-shirt. Most of the wait staff was college students. The walls were painted white. They housed pictures of famous graduates from Caffco University as well as other famous people who had eaten at the restaurant. The picture on the wall nearest to Colt was of Morris Ripken, a basketball player for the Tarleton Arms Warrior. Morris had graduated from Caffco University. He was the #1 pick in the Maddocha Basketball League draft just two years earlier.

The restaurant was filled with big booths that could seat up to 8 people. The booths were closet to the walls. In the middle of the restaurants were tables. Colt was sitting at a table. Colt was wondering if someone would end up sitting at the table with him. It was common that if the restaurant was really crowded, someone from the wait staff may ask a diner who is by themselves, if they can seat another single party person at the table with them. Today, Colt wouldn’t have even minded any company, especially if it was someone female.

The waitress brought Colt his food. The fries sounded like they were still sizzling. Colt grabbed one of the hot fries and put it in his mouth. The fry was too hot. He grabbed his napkin and covered his mouth to spit the fry out. Colt heard his mother voice say, “Boy, you knew that fry was hot. Why did you put it in your mouth?” Colt smiled as he took a sip of soda.

Colt grabbed the knife and cut his burger in half. He took a bite of it. He heard his mother’s voice say, “Boy, say grace.” He put the piece of burger down and said, “God bless this food.” He picked the piece of burger up and began eating it.

Colt pondered how he could have grown up in a very religious household and not be more religious. He surmised that it was because he was a man of science. There was too much in religion that wasn’t explainable. Although, that was the best thing about religion, according to others, Colt still couldn’t get with it. He had gone to church, prayed, learned scripture, and sang, but he still wasn’t into the whole church thing.

Colt finished his meal. He left a tip on the table for the waitress. He got up from the table and left. As he was leaving, he bumped into one of his friends from Berkshire University. Colt said, “Hey John. What you doing here?” John responded, “Man, I am a grad student here. You know this school is K-RAD. It’s the school for a man of science such as myself.” Colt laughed at the chunky Caucasian dude who thought he was smarter than anyone else, even professors at time. Colt said, “That’s what I’m doing. I am in grad school. Are you still taking Physics?” John rubbed the bottom of his stomach and said, “Yea, dude. That’s what I am doing. I’m gonna show these folk something.” Colt nodded and said, “Alright man. It was good to see you.” John and Colt shook hands as Colt left the restaurant and John waited to be seated.

Kourtnee decided to do something different for lunch today. She usually picked something up for lunch from Franklin’s Eatery and ate at her apartment. There were times when her Mother, Anna or Grandmother, Mary would stop by and take her to lunch. She had heard good things about the café in the student center. She decided to go there for lunch.

She walked in the café. She was greeted by a lanky dark skinned guy who smiled a kool-aid smile at her as he asked her was it her first time there. When Kourtnee told him it was, he proceeded to give her a tour. He showed her the salad bar. The salad bar was stocked with over 30 items. It would an excellent choice. Kourtnee’s tour guy showed her the sandwich line and then the soup bar. The sandwich line was over 4 feet long, with all kinds of sandwich items. The soup bar had about 12 or 13 soup choices. Kourtnee’s tour guide flirted with her as he said, “After you have chosen your food, you have got to choose somewhere to sit. I would hate to have to share someone as beautiful as you with the rest of the world, so you may have to sit at my table. But if you just want to break my heart, you can sit in the dining, on the patio, or you can get your food to go and eat it elsewhere. It’s up to you.” Kourtnee smiled and her cheeks turned dark purple as she blushed. Her tour guide took her back to the front of the café and said, “Tell the cashier that you are Setrick’s special guest,” as he winked.

Kourtnee decided to get a salad and some soup. She figured that Setrick was just doing his job, so she didn’t really pay him much attention. She decided to have a salad. At the salad bar, you choose whether you wanted a small, medium, or large salad. You could pile the bowl has high as you wanted as long as the salad wasn’t falling out of the bowl. When that happened, you had to stop filling your plate. Kourtnee choose a medium salad. There were so many items on the salad bar that she really couldn’t choose.

The salad bar had avocados, black radish, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, chicory, cucumbers, spinach, mini-carrots, mushrooms, onions, garlic, peppers, roma tomatoes, sliced tomatoes, basil, bay leaves, chives, cilantro, oregano, parsley, thyme, apples, apricots, cantaloupe, cherries, coconut, grapes, peaches, pears, pineapple, raspberry, strawberry, and watermelon, just to name a few items. How was a person to choose?

Kourtnee decided on a more traditional salad. She would be braver the next time she came in. she placed some endive lettuce, cherry tomatoes, yellow peppers, chives, parsley, carrots, and cucumbers for her salad. There were some small condiment sided bowls near the salad dressings. She put some Catalina dressing in a couple of the cups. Setrick walked over to her as she finished and said, “Girl, did you read the sign? Quit being cute and put some more food in that bowl.” She laughed and said, “This is enough.” Setrick responded, “Alright, but next time you come in here, you are gonna have to pile it on.” Setrick smiled, winked at her, and then walked off. Kourtnee wanted some fruit, so she grabbed a small bowl and put some apples, coconut, strawberries, and watermelon in the bowl. She grabbed her tray and walked over to the drink counter. She fixed herself a cup of fruit juice and a cup of water.

Kourtnee reached the cashier. She wanted to tell the skinny peach, freckled faced girl what Setrick had said, but Kourtnee didn’t think it was right to pay less for something when she could very well afford it. She didn’t say anything to the girl. The girl rung up her food and said, “Setrick told me that I was supposed to take care of you because you were his special guest. That’ll be $5.95.” Kourtnee looked towards the front of the café. She saw Setrick. He flashed her a smile and went back to smoozing the customers as they walked into the cafeteria.

Kourtnee sat at a table by herself. She took a fork full of her salad, after she had said grace. It was excellent. Kourtnee had never tasted anything like it. The vegetables were so fresh that you would have thought they had just taken them off the truck right before putting them on the salad bar. The fruit was just as fresh and good. The fruit drink tasted like it had been freshly squeezed.

Mid way through her meal, Setrick showed up at her table. He flashed her a kool-aid smile as he said, “That’s what I thought. You are sitting at my table. Uhh huh.” He laughed and continued, “How is everything?” Kourtnee wiped her mouth and said, “Everything great.” Setrick replied, “It’s supposed to be. So, what’s your name?” Kourtnee made a face at him before she said, “My name is Kourtnee Adams.” He said, “You ain’t even have to make that face. Are you gonna come back and see me soon?” Kourtnee responded, “Yes, I will.” Setrick smiled and asked, “Do you always speak in complete sentences?” Kourtnee giggled, “Yes, I do. It’s a habit.” He said, “Girl, you trying to make me fall in love. Beautiful, educated, articulate. I ain’t gone make it.” Kourtnee shook her head as she asked, “Do you flirt with all the girls like this?” Setrick looked at the front of the café suspiciously and said, “Okay, I'll be right there.” He grinned. Kourtnee rolled her eyes. Setrick said, “Oh no, the eye roll. I know I better get out of here. I’ll be looking for you again. Don’t break my heart. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for making a guy cry, would you?” Kourtnee made a face at him. He winked at her as he walked off.

Kourtnee finished her meal. She put her trash in the receptacle. She walked over the exit. Setrick was up there talking to a tall fine guy. He had to play basketball or some other sport. She walked by Setrick as if she wasn’t going to speak. He shrieked after her and said, “Girl, you better come back here and say bye.” Kourtnee walked back over to him and said, “Bye, Setrick.” The tall fine guy said, “Hey, girl,” with a sexy voice. Setrick looked at him and said, “Boy, back up off my woman, fo’ you get hurt.” The tall fine guy said, “That’s your girl.” Kourtnee answered, “No, I’m not his girl.” The tall fine guy responded, “I knew this fool couldn’t get a girl as fine as you for anything.” Setrick fumed as he said, “So, now I’m a geek. Whatever!” he stood in between Kourtnee and the tall fine guy. Kourtnee giggled and left the café.

Paula headed for the cafeteria. She ate at the cafeteria everyday. It was the meal plan that she chose. Plus, she liked the food served. She liked Mrs. Greene, too. It was nice having someone at the school that was an example without being pushy, like Rick about God. She was still upset with him. Paula swept Rick from her thoughts.

She walked into the cafeteria. She wanted to find Mrs. Greene first. Paula needed one of her famous hugs. A hug from Mrs. Greene was as if Love wrapped her arms around you and engulfed you in radiant warmth that was never going to let you go. One of Mrs. Greene’s hugs could get you through a bad day and make a worse day better.

Paula was a bit hungry, so she went ahead and went through the line. She got some meatloaf, macaroni & cheese, green beans, and corn bread. She chose a piece of pecan pie for dessert. She grabbed a cup of soda and went on her way.

Mrs. Greene was walking around in the dining area. Paula made it a point to walk by her. Paula spoke to Mrs. Greene and went to find a place to sit. Paula bowed her head and blessed her food. She smelled her food. It was a crazy habit that she had. Her father also shared her habit. Before she eats her food, she had to smell each item. She doesn’t really know why she does it, but her food didn’t seem to taste right if she didn’t perform the ritual. Paula took a bite of the meatloaf. It was exquisite. It melted in her mouth. Mrs. Greene had outdone herself on the meatloaf. As Paula was about to put another piece of meatloaf in her mouth, a motherly voice behind her said, “Girl, put dat fork down and hug me.” Paula jumped up and hugged Mrs. Greene. The motherly love of Mrs. Greene’s hug invited Paula to remain in the motherly grip of the saintly woman, but Paula knew that would be out of order. She had to leave the tender spot that had made her feel better.

Mrs. Greene sat down next to Paula and said, “What did the preacher do this time?” Paula looked at the woman and asked, “What did you ask me that?” With a keen maternal look Mrs. Greene responded, “Anytime the two of you all do not have lunch together, you all have had an argument. Do you wanna tell me what happened or do I ask him?” Paula shook her hair before she said, “He started preaching to me again. He had the nerve to tell me that I wasn’t a good Christian. He done been a preacher all of a day and he wants to tell someone how to live. He made me mad.” Mrs. Greene patted Paula’s shoulder. Mrs. Greene said, “Sweetie, he is just trying to make up for lost time. Plus he is a bit zealous. He’ll calm down before too long. Give him a chance. Plus, you need to put a little sweetness in your voice and stop being mean. He probably meant to say something and it came out wrong.” Paula didn’t want to give Rick a chance. She wanted him to leave her alone about being a Christian. Mrs. Greene said, “Well, let me get up from here. Don’t worry baby. I am sure the both of you all will be in here tomorrow, sitting all close and smiling at each other.” Mrs. Greene walked off humming something that sounded spiritual.

Paula went back to eating her meal. People were walking by her left and right. The place was packed. She began to fill a bit cramped. She quickly finished her food, put her trash and tray up, and headed for the door. She needed some air and quick.