Monday, October 31, 2011

"Why I Am Late for Cooking Class"

Jessie had three-quarters of an hour when she got home from working at the food bank to eat lunch, pack up, and head off to catch the bus for her cooking class at the community health centre. She made and ate her lunch, and then had a brilliant Jessie-inspired idea for a costume to wear to the class.  What defines a Jessie-inspired idea is that it explodes at the last (if not past the last) possible minute for it to be do-able.

My first inkling of this brilliant idea was when she almost knocked me out of my desk chair as she grabbed the good scissors, and then left me in a cold freezing draft as she forgot to close the door after rooting through the recycling box for cans and containers.

“It’s a great idea!” she exclaimed. “I am going to wear old plastic shopping bags (we do have a very few of those left) and attach cans and things.”

At this point Jessie is due to leave in exactly 1 minute to get to the bus on time. And she still has to pack a container to bring home what they cook, find a loonie ($1 coin) to defray a minor portion of the costs, and review the bus and walking route to get to the class

“Great,” I say. “Good for you!” (See upcoming post on mantras.)

She is excited. She is late. She looks like this:

If you can’t see it, the message (because Jessie always has a message!) reads:

If I had a smart phone I would send the picture to her cooking class instructor right now with the header: Why I Am Late.

But I am not sure how well it will work for my client who is waiting for my final edit on their food safety report.

2 comments:

Cindy said...

Oh no! Did she miss the bus?! Did you have to drive her? It IS a pretty clever costume.... :)

Nan said...

I didn't have to drive her and she was only a little late, but called the "leader," who told me afterwards that that was the best excuse she had ever heard. This is an urban/core health centre that serves a lot of diverse people, such as new immigrants, street people, people with disabilities. Jessie is definitely the youngest in the class! but is very exctited because there are a number of women (its all women) from differnt cultures and faiths. THere are only about 6 of them I think.

I did go pick her up after . . but only because she had 20 minutes to get across town to a dance rehearsal and then had to get home to eat before going out with friends to the Rocky Horror Picture Show at our local cinema.