YouTube transcript (FLVrW3lkzeE) — Transcript

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1. 0:00If your lunch lady ever starts humming
2. 0:02while she fills your tray,
3. 0:04don't eat it. Don't taste it. Don' even
4. 0:06smell it. Just smile, walk away, and
5. 0:10throw it out when she isn't looking.
6. 0:12It's your first day at Westbrook Middle
7. 0:14School. New town, new house, new
8. 0:17everything. You don't know anyone yet,
9. 0:20so when the bell rings for lunch, you
10. 0:22just follow the crowd down the hall to
11. 0:24the cafeteria.
12. 0:25It looks like every cafeteria you've
13. 0:27ever seen. Long tables, plastic trays,
14. 0:31that smell of bread and floor cleaner,
15. 0:33kids yelling over each other.
16. 0:36But the line is quiet. Nobody talks in
17. 0:38the lunch line. Nobody pushes. Nobody
18. 0:41jokes around. Every kid just stares at
19. 0:44their tray and moves forward, one step
20. 0:46at a time.
21. 0:48Behind the counter is the lunch lady,
22. 0:50Mrs. Hollis. She's short and round with
23. 0:53a pink hairnet, rosy cheeks, and the
24. 0:55biggest smile you've ever seen.
25. 0:57She looks like somebody's grandma.
26. 1:00Hello, sweetie, she says. You must be
27. 1:02new.
28. 1:03She picks up a ladle and scoops
29. 1:05something brown and steaming onto your
30. 1:07tray.
31. 1:08And while she does it, she starts to
32. 1:10hum.
33. 1:11It's a soft little song, slow and sweet,
34. 1:14like a lullaby.
35. 1:16And the whole cafeteria goes silent.
36. 1:18Every kid at every table stops talking.
37. 1:22Forks freeze in the air, and everyone
38. 1:24turns to look at your tray.
39. 1:28A boy behind you leans in and whispers,
40. 1:30don't eat that. His name is Max. He's
41. 1:33been at Westbrook since kindergarten.
42. 1:35And at your table, while you stare at
43. 1:37the food you're not allowed to touch, he
44. 1:39tells you the rules. Every kid at
45. 1:41Westbrook learns them in their first
46. 1:43week. The ones who don't don't usually
47. 1:46make it to their second.
48. 1:48Rule number one, if the lunch lady hums
49. 1:50while she serves you, don't eat anything
50. 1:53on your tray.
51. 1:54Most days, she doesn't hum. Most days,
52. 1:57the food is just food, soggy
53. 2:00gray chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes
54. 2:02that taste like paper. It's gross, but
55. 2:05it's safe.
56. 2:06But some days she hums. And on those
57. 2:09days, the food is different. It looks
58. 2:12the same, it smells the same, but if you
59. 2:14look really close, you'll notice the
60. 2:17steam is moving the wrong way, down
61. 2:20instead of up.
62. 2:21And sometimes, if you leave it on the
63. 2:23tray long enough,
64. 2:24the mashed potatoes start to breathe.
65. 2:27And it smells good. That's the worst
66. 2:29part. It smells like your favorite meal,
67. 2:32like a birthday dinner, like home.
68. 2:35Your stomach growls so loud that Max can
69. 2:38hear it.
70. 2:39Max says you can't just leave it either.
71. 2:41If she sees a full tray going into the
72. 2:43trash, she remembers your face. So you
73. 2:45have to make it look like you ate it.
74. 2:47Push it around, hide some in a napkin,
75. 2:50drop the rest in the trash when she
76. 2:51turns her back. You do exactly what he
77. 2:54says. And when you walk past the counter
78. 2:56on the way out, Mrs. Hollis smiles at
79. 2:59you and looks at your empty tray. Good
80. 3:02job, sweetie, she says. Was it yummy?
81. 3:05You nod. You don't say anything. That's
82. 3:08because of the second rule. In 2016, a
83. 3:11janitor named Gary Pruitt was mopping
84. 3:13the cafeteria after school. Everyone
85. 3:15else had gone home. Then he heard
86. 3:18humming coming from the kitchen. He
87. 3:20thought it was strange because the
88. 3:21kitchen staff left it too. So he pushed
89. 3:24open the swinging door and looked
90. 3:25inside. Mrs. Hollis was standing at the
91. 3:28giant steel pot, stirring, humming. And
92. 3:32next to her on the counter was a stack
93. 3:34of school photos, the little pictures
94. 3:37every kid gets taken in the fall. She
95. 3:39would pick one up, look at it, smile,
96. 3:42and drop it in the pot. Gary said the
97. 3:44pot was so big he could have climbed
98. 3:46inside it. And whatever was in there was
99. 3:49moving. She turned around and saw him
100. 3:51standing in the doorway. She didn't look
101. 3:54angry, she didn't look surprised. She
102. 3:56just smiled and held up the ladle. You
103. 3:59look hungry, Gary, she said. He quit the
104. 4:02next morning. He never came back for his
105. 4:04last paycheck. And the kids in the
106. 4:06yearbook photos she dropped in the pot,
107. 4:08they're still on the school's website
108. 4:10under students we miss. Rule number two,
109. 4:13never say thank you to the lunch lady.
110. 4:16It sounds rude. Your parents raised you
111. 4:18to be polite, but at Westbrook thank you
112. 4:21means something different. When you
113. 4:22thank her, you're telling her you
114. 4:24accept, that you're grateful, that
115. 4:26you'll take whatever she gives you. And
116. 4:28Mrs. Hollis always gives you more. There
117. 4:31was a girl named Chloe Bennett in the
118. 4:33sixth grade, polite, sweet, the kind of
119. 4:36kid teachers love. On her first day,
120. 4:39Mrs. Hollis filled her tray and Chloe
121. 4:41looked up at her and said, thank you so
122. 4:43much. Mrs. Hollis stopped humming. She
123. 4:46put down the ladle and she said, oh,
124. 4:48you're very welcome, sweetie. I'll save
125. 4:51you some extra. The next day, Chloe's
126. 4:53tray had two scoops. The day after that,
127. 4:56three. Every day the portions got bigger
128. 4:59and Chloe couldn't stop eating them. She
129. 5:01said it was the best food she'd ever
130. 5:03had. She said she could hear the song
131. 5:05even when she was home. By the end of
132. 5:07the month, she didn't come to class
133. 5:09anymore. She just sat in the cafeteria
134. 5:11all day long waiting for lunch. Then one
135. 5:14day she wasn't there either. But Max
136. 5:16says if you stand near the kitchen door
137. 5:18after school, you can still hear her
138. 5:21saying, thank you, thank you, thank you.
139. 5:25Rule number three, if the kitchen door
140. 5:28swings open, don't look inside.
141. 5:31The door to the kitchen has a little
142. 5:33round window like on a ship. It's always
143. 5:36fogged up. You can never see what's
144. 5:38behind it.
145. 5:39But every now and then when Mrs. Hollis
146. 5:41goes back for more food, the door swings
147. 5:44open just for a second. And everyone in
148. 5:47the cafeteria looks down at their trays
149. 5:49all at the same time.
150. 5:51You didn't know that on your second
151. 5:53week. So when the door swung open,
152. 5:56you looked.
153. 5:57It wasn't a kitchen. It was too big. The
154. 6:00floor went back farther than the school
155. 6:02did. Rows and rows of steel pots,
156. 6:05bubbling, steaming, stretching into the
157. 6:08dark.
158. 6:09And standing next to every pot
159. 6:11was another lunch lady.
160. 6:13Same pink hairnet, same rosy cheeks,
161. 6:16same smile.
162. 6:17And all of them stopped stirring and
163. 6:20looked at you.
164. 6:21Then the door swung shut.
165. 6:24When you looked back at the counter,
166. 6:25Mrs. Hollis was standing right in front
167. 6:27of you. You never heard her walk up.
168. 6:30She leaned down so close you could smell
169. 6:33the gravy on her breath.
170. 6:35You saw my kitchen, she whispered.
171. 6:38Now I know you're curious.
172. 6:41For the rest of the week, every time she
173. 6:43filled your tray, she hummed.
174. 6:46In 2019, the county sent a health
175. 6:48inspector to Westbrook. Her name was
176. 6:51Diane Foster. Parents had complained the
177. 6:53kids were getting sick, missing school.
178. 6:56A few of them were missing completely.
179. 6:58Diane spent the whole day in the
180. 7:00kitchen. She checked the fridge
181. 7:02temperatures, she tested the water, she
182. 7:04looked at every box of food.
183. 7:06Everything was perfect, cleaner than any
184. 7:09school kitchen she'd ever seen.
185. 7:11Then, at the end of the day, Mrs. Hollis
186. 7:14offered her a plate.
187. 7:15You've been working so hard, she said.
188. 7:18You must be starving.
189. 7:20Diane said, no, thank you.
190. 7:22Mrs. Hollis kept smiling, and she
191. 7:24started to hum.
192. 7:26Diane wrote one line in her final
193. 7:28report.
194. 7:29Kitchen passes inspection. And under it,
195. 7:32in shaky handwriting,
196. 7:34the food was looking at me.
197. 7:37She retired that same year. Her husband
198. 7:39says she still won't eat anything she
199. 7:41didn't cook herself. And sometimes at
200. 7:43dinner, she stares at her plate for a
201. 7:45long, long time,
202. 7:48waiting for it to blink.
203. 7:50Rule number four. If a kid who ate the
204. 7:53food comes back to class, don't sit next
205. 7:55to them. You'll know who they are.
206. 7:58After lunch, they come back a little bit
207. 8:00too happy, a little bit too calm. They
208. 8:03don't talk much. They just smile at
209. 8:06nothing. And they hum the same slow
210. 8:09little song under their breath [music]
211. 8:12during math, during reading, during
212. 8:14tests.
213. 8:16In your third week, a kid named Tyler
214. 8:18didn't follow the rules. He was hungry
215. 8:21and he ate everything on his tray. Max
216. 8:23tried to stop him, but Tyler just
217. 8:25laughed and said they were all being
218. 8:27stupid. After lunch, Tyler sat down in
219. 8:30the empty desk next to you. He didn't
220. 8:32take out his books. He didn't look at
221. 8:34the board. He just turned his head
222. 8:36slowly and looked at you. His smile was
223. 8:40too wide. His cheeks were too rosy. And
224. 8:43when he opened his mouth to hum, you
225. 8:45could see gravy on his teeth. You raised
226. 8:48your hand and asked to switch seats. The
227. 8:50teacher said no. So you sat there for
228. 8:53the rest of the day staring straight
229. 8:54ahead while Tyler hummed in your ear.
230. 8:57And every few minutes, he whispered the
231. 8:59same thing. She saved you a seat,
232. 9:02sweetie, right next to me. The next
233. 9:04morning, Tyler's desk was empty. His
234. 9:07name was gone from the attendance sheet.
235. 9:09And when you asked the teacher where he
236. 9:11went, she just looked confused. Who's
237. 9:13Tyler? she asked. Rule number five. If
238. 9:17she ever asks you if you're hungry,
239. 9:19always say you already ate. It's the
240. 9:21last day of school. Tomorrow summer
241. 9:24starts. And everyone at Westbrook knows
242. 9:26the lunch lady does something special on
243. 9:28the last day, something she saves up for
244. 9:31all year. Max says the older kids call
245. 9:34it the last helping. Every year on the
246. 9:36last day, one kid doesn't go home for
247. 9:39the summer. Nobody remembers who it was.
248. 9:42Their parents don't remember. Their
249. 9:43friends don't remember. The only proof
250. 9:46is one more school photo on the page
251. 9:48called Students We Miss. You decide not
252. 9:51to take any chances. That morning, you
253. 9:54bring lunch from home, a sandwich, an
254. 9:56apple, and a juice box, all in a brown
255. 9:58paper bag with your name on it. At
256. 10:00lunch, you don't even get in line. You
257. 10:03sit at the very end of the table with
258. 10:04Max and you unwrap your sandwich. And
259. 10:07then you hear footsteps behind you. Mrs.
260. 10:10Hollis is standing right there, smiling,
261. 10:13holding a tray with a single scoop of
262. 10:15something brown and steaming. Aren't you
263. 10:17hungry, sweetie? She asks. The whole
264. 10:20cafeteria goes quiet. Max kicks you
265. 10:22under the table. I already ate, you say.
266. 10:25She looks at you for a long time. Her
267. 10:28smile doesn't move. Then she looks down
268. 10:30at the sandwich in your hand and she
269. 10:32smiles even wider. Oh, she says. I can
270. 10:36see that. And she walks away back to the
271. 10:39kitchen and the door swings shut behind
272. 10:41her. You let out a breath you didn't
273. 10:43know you were holding. You did it. You
274. 10:46survived the whole year. You followed
275. 10:48every single rule. You take a big bite
276. 10:51of your sandwich. It's good, really
277. 10:53good, better than any sandwich your mom
278. 10:56has ever made. And then you stop chewing
279. 10:59because you remember this morning. You
280. 11:01remember coming downstairs and seeing
281. 11:03your mom in the kitchen with her back to
282. 11:05you making your lunch. You remember
283. 11:07thinking it was weird because your mom
284. 11:10never wears a hair net and she never
285. 11:12hums. Across the table, Max is staring
286. 11:16at you. His face is white because you're
287. 11:19humming. You didn't even notice you
288. 11:21started the same slow, sweet little song
289. 11:25and you can't stop. From the kitchen,
290. 11:27behind the little round window, you hear
291. 11:29Mrs. Hollis humming along with you. And
292. 11:32for the first time all year, the food
293. 11:34tastes yummy.