Getting Ready for Surprises (985 words)

This week, over at https://moreoddsthanends.home.blog/2020/07/01/week-27-of-odd-prompts/ 

my prompt from Fiona Grey was, "Oh, no! The coffeepot has been stolen!"

 

A missing coffeepot? That sounds like a job for Gil, the Monster Hunter chef... I have to admit, I've done two quick versions, but I still think it isn't quite right. Anyway, here's the current writeup...

 

Getting Ready for Surprises (985 words)

by Mike Barker

 

Gil had just handed a customer their lunch when he turned around and saw a skillet on the range start flaming. Black smoke poured out, and Hanna jumped back, her hands up.

 

Billy grabbed a pitcher of water and sloshed it over the range. The grease splashed, of course, so now they had some fire on the range, and some running onto the floor.

 

Gil looked around, quickly. No red extinguishers? Then he reached over and grabbed the box of baking soda sitting where they had been making bread earlier, and a pot lid. He pushed past Hanna and dropped the pot lid on the skillet. It was a poor fit, but close enough. The smoke stopped pouring out, and was pulled up into the range hood.

 

He pulled the top of the box of baking soda open, and poured it onto the grease running across the floor. It made a mess, but the fire went out.

 

Billy and Hanna looked at him in wonder.

 

"How did you know what to do?"

 

Gil shook his head.

 

"Okay. Let's clean up the mess, and then we'll have a meeting. We're going to start EPP, I can see."

 

Hanna frowned.

 

"EPP? What's that?"

 

Gil chuckled.

 

"Emergency Preparation and Practice. Or you could call it getting ready for surprises, I guess. I'll explain later, but let's get this cleaned up first."

 

They all pitched in, and he heard them talking about it. EPP? Surprises? What was he going to do now?

 

Minutes later, everyone except Henry was in the small meeting room, looking at him. Henry was handling the kitchen, in case anyone wanted something.

 

"So. Let me ask you, do you like surprises?"

 

They frowned. Hanna said, "Well, some surprises are nice. But that fire? That wasn't a nice surprise."

 

Gil nodded. "Okay, what would you think about being able to prepare for emergencies before they happen?"

 

Now their mouths were open. 

 

"How?"

 

Gil laughed. "It's a simple exercise. What we'll do is, first, here, take these index cards. Now, everyone imagine some kind of emergency or problem that we might have. Write it on the card. They can be things that you've seen happen, or things that you think might happen."

 

Greta wrinkled her nose, and asked, "You mean like fires and stuff?"

 

Gil nodded. "Exactly. Or maybe missing stuff. Power outages. Anything that we might run into that would be hard to handle. Heck, having a pig run through the kitchen! Sure, why not? Whatever you like."

 

He quickly handed out cards, and they bit their lips, or laughed, and scribbled things on the cards. Then he collected them, shuffled the cards, and spread them out on the table, face down. He looked at the littlest troll. Grog? Yeah, that was his name.

 

"Grog, pick a card, any card."

 

Grog jumped a little, then reached out and picked one card. He handed it to Gil.

 

Gil turned it over and read it. "Oh, no. The coffeepot has been stolen!"

 

He chuckled. Everyone blinked, and started laughing.

 

Then he nodded, and said, "Yep, that would be an emergency. So, Greta, what do we need to do? The coffeepot is gone!"

 

She ran a finger over her chin. "Well, I guess we should tell security?"

 

He nodded. "That's a good step." He scribbled it on the whiteboard. "What else? Anyone?"

 

Grog muttered something. Gil frowned, and said, "What did you say, Grog? Say it loud enough for everyone to hear."

 

Grog looked at the floor. "We better send someone out shopping to get another coffeepot."

 

Gil chuckled. "That's true. Good, we'll add that to the list." He scribbled "Buy new coffeepot" on the whiteboard.

 

"Check to see if they stole all the coffee, too!"

 

"Oh, come on, that's stupid."

 

Gil turned and shook his head. "Nope, that's not the way this works. Look, every idea is useful. I mean, think about it, if someone stole the coffeepot, there's a pretty good chance they stole some other stuff too. And stealing the coffee to go with the pot makes a lot of sense. Okay? Don't cut down the ideas, build them up!"

 

Then he turned back to the board and added "Check to see what else has been stolen."

 

"We better start some coffee."

 

Gil turned, and said, "But we don't have a coffeepot. How do we do it?"

 

Harold shook his head. "When we go camping, we don't have a coffeepot. But you can make cowboy coffee. Just toss the grounds in, boil it for a while, then toss some eggshells in to make the grounds settle."

 

Gil laughed. "Okay, we need to make cowboy coffee. Eggshells? Does that really work?"

 

Harold grinned. "My dad said it did, and I've done it. So, yeah, I think so."

 

Gil wrote "Make cowboy coffee" on the whiteboard.

 

They kicked it around a little bit more, and decided that one thing they should do is buy a new coffeepot and keep it in the storage room. Having a spare would help even if the coffeepot burnt out or fell apart or something.    

 

Hanna shook her head. "But, how does this help with today's fire? I mean, it's fun, but..."

 

Gil nodded. "No, this is just the first step. What we'll do is, whenever we have time, we'll pull another card, and work through what we can think of. And put up a list, maybe even do some practice, to help make sure we know and can do whatever we need to. Like today? I mean, I want some fire extinguishers. But we'll work our way through the emergencies, figuring out what to do -- that's the preparation part -- and practicing, too. So, emergency preparation and practice. EPP! Okay?"

 

Hanna grinned. "It actually sounds like fun."

 

Gil smiled. "I think it is. Oh, you can add cards, too. Whenever you think of something else that might happen. So we'll keep working on EPP, right?"

 

(to be continued)