As I walk away from them and around the chateau, I look up.
Grumpy is on his top floor and, as always, in his navy suit. Today, he doesn’t look grumpy. Today, he looks furious.
“Screw you,” I mumble, “I’ll flirt with who I like.”
I reach my car, check the ding in it, and clean out my road trip snacks. I then go for a walk in the trees, and it feels calming to have the sun on my skin.
After deliveringMr. Predictable his regular sandwich, I prepare and deliver him a new dish. It is Moroccan and smells amazing.
After cleaning up and hearing a bell, I go to collect the tray. All the food is gone, and there is a handwritten note.
Compliments to the chef. The oral surprise quenched my deep hunger.
As I wash up below, I shake my head.
Is he now messing with me? Or was it just playful phrasing or, like, say, media, advertising or movie speak?
Deciding to head outside into the sun again, I pull on a day pack and head off.
As I walk far from the chateau and around the lake, I think about my future.
I lost interest in doing cutting-edge high-pressure cuisine a little while back. At least for five-star restaurants and the high-flying. It was fun, but it was exhausting. Living in cities is now also less me.
I cooked for several singers and pop stars on tour back in the day. Also, for high-flying celebs.
My conclusion now: there ismore to life. And doing somethingmeaningfulwould also help my soul or spirit.
Mom never met her blood mother or father, and she was adopted. She later found out who they were, but they’d already passed. Her mom’s name was Jessie, and her husband was Andy.
Sadly, they’d been very young when they fell pregnant. Theywere freshly married and deeply in love, but they were traveling from Tennessee. They also had no money.
It was in Kansas that Mom had been presented to an orphanage.
Giving back to the modern equivalent of orphans in need and adoption agencies feels right.
I’ve been considering the idea for some time, and now, for some reason, it feels even more wise.
If I can help the VA, or veterans in need locations, I will also do that. Anyone who needs affordable nutrition.
Providing fine dining to spoilt celebs or people paying a hundred plus a meal has lost its appeal.
I hope it will make me feel connected to Jessie and Andy, too. I want that, and I have wanted to do something like this for some time. I just didn’t know how.
One of the original reasons for working for the old recluse in the countryside, even if he is not old but just hot, was to work out how to do it.
As I walk around the estate and think, nutrition, food costs, and meals churn through my mind. Also, my mad imagination. I am becoming more and more convinced that it is possible to create low-cost meals that are full of nutrition, full of vitamins, and full of minerals.
Creating energy and a kind of love for those in need would be sensational, and I’d be giving back.
Staying lakeside is calming, and with some luck and time, I would find a way. A way to make it work.
As I walk on,I notice fresh hoof prints in the soft grass. I don’t need a lot of time to wonder where the horses are because they find me.
I pet and talk to them, then they follow me along the lake.
There are two, including the gentle chestnut and the stunning-looking, colder black stallion.
At stables on the lake edge, I notice grooming gear. Figuring there is no harm, I start to brush and talk to the chestnut.
