Twenty-four by seven: #WriteBravely #WRITETRIBEFESTIVALOFWORDSJUNE2018

 

She toiled twenty-four by seven at Donna’s kitchen. “No rest for the wicked”, she always said with a winsome smile.

Donna’s Kitchen was her life line, her haven and her home away from home. She had no family to call her own, but the staff and Donna were family now. Amelia actually enjoyed labouring almost twenty-four hours at Donna’s kitchen. After all Donna had given her everything, when she had just about nothing. And this was the least she could do to return her favour.

She not only donned the chef’s hat in this twenty-four by seven café by the highway; but also doubled up as a waitress.

On a cold, foggy night a handsome couple walked into the café. It was past eleven, and Donna was still busy whipping up her specialities and also running around serving the customers.

The woman who had streaks of silver, and a very graceful demeanour; made herself comfortable on the table by the lawns. She helped her husband into his chair, putting his walking stick aside. He had a slight limp, maybe from an accident of the past.

As Amelia came up to them to take the order, the woman stared at her with astonishment.

“A-a-ameliaaa?? Is that you?” she asked with a look of disbelief, getting up from her chair.

Amelia looked at her, taken more than aback.

“Yes, I’m Amelia. But Ma’am do I know you?” said Amelia now looking very baffled. 

The woman’s eyes welled up. The old man continued to stare at Amelia in disbelief.

“I’m your mother, my child. On your thirteenth birthday, the boat carrying us capsized in the ocean and we thought we had lost you forever,” she said, tears streaming down her peachy, plump cheeks.

Eleven years back, Amelia had been washed out into the shore and saved by Donna, who had taken her in and given her a home. Amelia had lost her memory. The only thing she remembered was her name.

She had turned twenty-four recently. That very moment her life had suddenly thrown a new surprise her way, and this was what she had always dreamt of. A life with parents,  a family connected by blood and to call her very own. She loved her time at Donna’s, but the void of not having people to call as parents always gnawed into her being.

Today the doors to her heart had opened.

“Mom, Dad!” she said tearing up, while embracing them both in a big, warm hug.

“Thank you for finding me. If it wasn’t for Donna’s kitchen and it’s twenty-four by seven schedule, we would have never met I suppose,” said Amelia, reunited now in heart and soul with her family.

 

 

 

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This post is written for Day 7 of The Write Tribe Festival of Words June 2018.

Prompt:  The picture prompt above – Open Twenty Four Hours