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I Cooked Thanksgiving for 300 in a School Cafeteria After the Pastor's Wife Took My Church Kitchen — Transcript

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0:00I cooked our church's free Thanksgiving
0:01dinner for 300 people for 11 years. Two
0:05days before, the new pastor's wife
0:07pulled my name off the kitchen board in
0:08front of the volunteers. We need a
0:10family woman. So, I handed her my keys.
0:13The board is a big square of cork on the
0:15wall of the fellowship hall next to the
0:17kitchen pass-through. Every November, it
0:19holds the volunteer schedule. Little
0:21laminated name cards with thumbtacks
0:24under headings in my handwriting:
0:25turkeys, dressing, greens, serving line,
0:29plates to go, clean up. At the very top,
0:32by itself, there's one card that says
0:35head cook. For 11 years, it said Yvette
0:38Boudreau. Charlene Thibodeau walked over
0:40to that board on Tuesday evening while
0:4214 volunteers sat in folding chairs with
0:45their coffee. She reached up and pulled
0:47my card off. The thumbtack popped out
0:50and rolled across the floor. Mr. Pervis,
0:52who is 67, bent down and picked it up
0:55for her because he's a gentleman even
0:57when he shouldn't be. Charlene held my
0:59card between two fingers like a receipt
1:01she didn't want. "I'm making a small
1:03change," she said to the room.
1:05"Thursday, the local news is coming to
1:07film our dinner. When people see our
1:09church, they need to see what we stand
1:11for. We need a family woman as the face
1:13of our table." She turned to me and
1:15smiled. "You understand." Everybody in
1:18that room knew what she meant. I've been
1:20divorced for 6 years. I didn't argue
1:23with her. I took my key ring out of my
1:25apron pocket. I worked three keys off it
1:28one at a time. The kitchen, the walk-in
1:31cooler, the pantry. My thumbnail broke
1:34on the last one. I put them in
1:35Charlene's open hand on top of my name
1:37card. "The big black pan on the top
1:40shelf is for the dressing," I said.
1:42"Don't let anybody use the little one."
1:44Then I took off my apron, folded it, and
1:46set it on the counter. I walked out the
1:48side door into the parking lot. Charlene
1:50didn't know something. Honestly, I had
1:53forgotten it, too, until I was sitting
1:55in my car with my hands shaking on the
1:56wheel. It was whose name was on the
1:59paperwork that fed those 300 people. It
2:01wasn't the churches.
2:03Have you ever given years of your life
2:04to something? And then someone new
2:06walked in and decided you weren't the
2:08right picture for it? Stay with me.
2:10Because an 88-year-old woman had seen
2:12that day coming a long time before I
2:13did.
2:14My name is Yvette Boudreaux. I was 45
2:17that fall. I'd been divorced 6 years,
2:19and I had one son, Remy, who was 12 and
2:22taller than me already. I drive a school
2:24bus, route 14, for Northside Elementary
2:27in Lafayette, Louisiana. I pick up 51
2:30kids every morning and drop them off
2:32every afternoon. I know every one of
2:34their names, and most of their dogs'
2:36names. I've driven that bus for 16
2:38years. I'm good at it. I can back a
2:4140-ft bus into a spot you wouldn't park
2:43a pickup in. I can [clears throat] stop
2:44a fight in the back row just by looking
2:46in the big mirror. Remy rides my bus. He
2:49hates that. He sits in the very last
2:51seat and pretends he doesn't know me.
2:53Then every afternoon, when the last kid
2:55gets off, he walks up the aisle. He sits
2:57right behind me and tells me everything
2:59about his day, every single thing.
3:02That's my favorite part of the job. We
3:04live in a little rented house off
3:05Johnston Street, two bedrooms and a
3:07porch with a swing that squeaks. Across
3:10Johnston Street, about a block down, is
3:13Bethel Fellowship Church. And right
3:14across the street from the church is
3:16Northside Elementary, where my bus parks
3:18at night. So my whole life is on about
3:20three blocks, church, school, home. I
3:23like it that way. I started going to
3:25Bethel when I was 28. I just moved to
3:27Lafayette from a little town near
3:29Opelousas. I didn't know anybody.
3:31The first Sunday I went, a tiny old
3:33woman in a purple hat caught me in the
3:35parking lot. She asked if I could peel
3:37potatoes. That was Miss Odile, Odile
3:39Fontenot.
3:41She was 71 then. Her late husband,
3:44Reverend Clovis Fontenot, had founded
3:46Bethel Fellowship in 1964.
3:48And in 1971, the two of them had started
3:51the free Thanksgiving dinner.
3:53The first year, they fed 34 people in
3:56their own living room. By the time I met
3:58her, it was 250 in the fellowship hall
4:01every year. Anybody who walked in got
4:03fed, no questions, no sermon before the
4:06food. Miss Odile used to say, "You don't
4:09preach to a hungry stomach. It can't
4:11hear you." So, I peeled potatoes. The
4:13next year I made the greens. The year
4:15after that, she let me make the
4:17cornbread dressing under her eye. She
4:19tasted it and said, "Too much sage.
4:22Chair, again." I made it four times that
4:25week. She was teaching me. I didn't know
4:27it then. I just thought she was bossy.
4:30In 2015, Miss Odile turned 78. That
4:34spring, her hands got too weak to lift
4:37the big stock pots. She called me over
4:39to her house one afternoon in March. She
4:41sat me down at her kitchen table with a
4:43cup of coffee and a stack of papers.
4:45"I'm giving you the dinner," she said.
4:47"Miss Odile, I can't run that. You've
4:49been running it for 3 years. I've just
4:52been standing next to you looking
4:53important." She tapped the papers. "Sign
4:56these." There were three of them. I'll
4:58be honest, I didn't read them carefully.
5:00I trusted her.
5:02One was for the city health department,
5:03the permit to serve food to the public.
5:06One was for the Acadiana Food Pantry,
5:08which donates most of the turkeys and
5:10the canned goods every year.
5:12And one was a little form for a
5:13nonprofit name she'd registered back in
5:15the 1980s, the Fontenot table. "Why do I
5:19have to sign all this?" I asked her.
5:21"Isn't the dinner the church's?" Miss
5:23Odile put her coffee cup down. "In
5:251993," she said, "a church board tried
5:28to cancel this dinner. They said it
5:30attracted the wrong element. Clovis had
5:32to stand up in a business meeting and
5:34fight for it like a dog. I made a
5:36promise to myself then. No board and no
5:38committee is ever going to be able to
5:40take that dinner away from the people
5:41who cook it." She pushed the pen toward
5:43me.
5:44"The church lends us the hall, Chair.
5:46The church doesn't own the table. The
5:48cook does. Sign."
5:50I signed, all three. Then I went home
5:52and made a pot of rice and forgot about
5:54it. I want you to understand that I
5:56truly forgot. For 10 years, I never
6:00thought about those papers once. Every
6:02September, I'd get a renewal from the
6:04health department and a confirmation
6:05from the food pantry. I'd sign them at
6:07my kitchen table and mail them back. I
6:10thought it was just paperwork. Like a
6:11school bus inspection. You sign it so
6:14the thing can keep running. That first
6:15year, 2015, I was head cook. We fed 270
6:20people. By the 11th year, it was 300.
6:24300 plates in the hall and 60 more that
6:26our volunteers drove out to people who
6:28couldn't leave their houses. Shut-ins.
6:31Old folks. A man on oxygen in a trailer
6:33out on the Brobridge Highway whose plate
6:36I've carried to his door myself every
6:37year. In 2019, my husband left. I'm not
6:41going to tell you much about that. It
6:43isn't that kind of story. He found
6:45somebody else and he moved to Houston
6:46with her and Remy was six. That's all
6:49you need to know. What you need to know
6:51is what happened at church. Some people
6:53whispered, "A divorced woman standing at
6:56the head of the kitchen at the church's
6:58biggest event." Two ladies from the
7:00choir stopped sitting with me.
7:02One Sunday, an older deacon asked me if
7:04I'd considered stepping back from
7:06visible ministry for a season. And Miss
7:08Odile stood up in the middle of the
7:10fellowship hall during coffee hour. She
7:12was 82 years old. She said it loud
7:14enough for everybody.
7:16"Jesus fed 5,000 people and never asked
7:19a single one of them if they were
7:21married. Evette is cooking. Eat or
7:23don't."
7:24That was the end of that for six years.
7:27Then, in June, our old pastor retired
7:30and the church called a new one.
7:32Reverend Alside Thibodeau came to us
7:34from a big church in Baton Rouge. He was
7:3661. He was a soft-spoken man with a gray
7:39mustache and reading glasses he kept
7:41pushing up onto his forehead and then
7:43losing.
7:44He preached short sermons, which
7:46everybody loved. He visited the sick. He
7:49learned names.
7:50He came to the fall fish fry and stood
7:52at the fryer for 3 hours in a borrowed
7:54apron. He didn't once tell us how they
7:56did it in Baton Rouge. I liked him right
7:58away. I still do. I want to say that
8:00before I say anything else.
8:02His wife was another story. Charlene
8:04Thibodeau was 58. She had beautiful
8:07clothes and a beautiful laugh and a way
8:09of saying your name like she was
8:11correcting it. She'd been a pastor's
8:12wife for 30 years and she had very clear
8:15ideas about what a church should look
8:17like. Not what it should do, what it
8:19should look like. She started small. In
8:22July, she redid the church photo
8:24directory. Every family got their
8:26picture taken in front of the stained
8:27glass.
8:28When the directory came out, Remy and I
8:30weren't in the family section. We were
8:32in the back on a page titled members
8:35between the church van and a list of
8:36committee phone numbers.
8:38"It's just alphabetical by household
8:40type, Miss Yvette." Charlene told me
8:42when I asked.
8:44Before she came, everybody called me
8:45Yvette. She was the one who started
8:47calling me Miss Yvette.
8:49It sounds polite. It isn't the way she
8:52said it. It's what you call a woman when
8:53you want everyone to remember she isn't
8:55a Mrs. In September, I was asked to stop
8:58leading the blessing at the volunteer
8:59meetings. I'd done it for 11 years.
9:02Charlene said it would be more fitting
9:05for one of the deacons to pray.
9:07Mr. Purvis, who has been a deacon for 20
9:09years, said he'd much rather hear me
9:11pray than himself. Charlene smiled and
9:14said that was very humble of him. And in
9:16October, there was a planning meeting
9:18for the Thanksgiving dinner.
9:19In front of the whole committee,
9:21Charlene asked me whether my son had a
9:23man in his life. She said the youth
9:25group needed positive role models. Remy
9:27was sitting right there. He was eating a
9:29cookie. He put it down.
9:31On the way home that night, Remy didn't
9:33sit behind me in the car. He sat in the
9:35back seat like on the bus. After a long
9:37time, he said,
9:39"Mama, is something wrong with us?" I
9:42pulled the car over on Johnston Street
9:44and turned around and looked at him.
9:46"Nothing is wrong with us." I said.
9:48"Some people have a picture in their
9:49head of what a family looks like. We're
9:51just not in her picture. That's her
9:53problem, not ours." He nodded.
9:56But he didn't eat the rest of that
9:57cookie. I know what you're thinking. Why
9:59didn't I leave that church? Because of
10:01Miss Odile. She was 88 and she couldn't
10:03drive anymore and I picked her up every
10:06Sunday morning and every Wednesday
10:07night. Because Remy had been going to
10:09that youth group since he was five and
10:11his best friends were there
10:13and because of 300 people every
10:15Thanksgiving who did not care one bit
10:18who was in the photo directory. They
10:19cared whether the turkey was hot. I told
10:22myself I could put up with one woman for
10:24a few hours a week for that.
10:26I didn't know yet how much she had
10:27planned for that dinner. Before it was
10:29over, the man on the Bro Bridge Highway
10:32would almost miss his plate, a TV
10:34station would be told a story that
10:35wasn't true and an 88-year-old woman
10:38would stand at a church door and change
10:40everything with one sentence. That
10:42Tuesday night, after I gave Charlene my
10:44keys, I drove home. I sat on my porch
10:47swing in the dark for a long time. Remy
10:50came out with two glasses of sweet tea.
10:52He sat down next to me. The swing
10:54squeaked.
10:55"Mr. Purvis texted me," he said. "He
10:57told me what she did. Mr. Purvis
10:59shouldn't be texting 12-year-olds." "He
11:01was texting the youth group chat," Remy
11:03said. "Everybody knows. Mama, what are
11:06you going to do?"
11:07"Nothing," I said. "It's her dinner now.
11:10I'll go help serve if she lets me."
11:12Remy looked at me like I'd said
11:13something in another language.
11:15"She doesn't know how to make Miss
11:16Odile's dressing," he said. "Nobody
11:18knows how but you." "She'll figure
11:20something out. She'll buy it at a
11:22store," Remy said, appalled.
11:25At 9:30 my phone rang. It was Miss
11:27Odile. Somebody had told her, too.
11:29Somebody tells Miss Odile everything.
11:32"Did you give that woman your keys?" she
11:33asked. "Yes, ma'am."
11:35"Hmm," said Miss Odile and then she was
11:38quiet so long I thought the call had
11:39dropped.
11:40"Yvette,
11:42do you remember what you signed at my
11:43table in 2015?" "The permit," I said
11:46slowly, "in the food pantry."
11:49"Go to bed," said Miss Odile. "In the
11:51morning, see who calls you." And she
11:53hung up. In the morning, I found out
11:55who.
11:56At 7:15 on Wednesday, I was sitting in
11:58my bus in the North Side lot doing my
12:00pre-trip check. My phone rang. It was a
12:03number I knew, Josette Arseneau from the
12:06Acadiana Food Pantry. She has run
12:08program for nine years. Every year, she
12:12and I spend about three phone calls
12:14arguing about how many cans of yams 300
12:16people can eat.
12:18"Yvette," she said, "I need to ask you
12:20something strange." "Go ahead."
12:23"A woman named Charlene Thibodeau called
12:25me yesterday evening. She said she's
12:27taking over the Thanksgiving dinner at
12:28Bethel. She asked me to move your pickup
12:30to the church's account. 42 turkeys, the
12:33canned goods, the rolls from the bakery,
12:35and the paper plates. She wanted to pick
12:37it all up this afternoon in the church
12:39van." Josette paused. "Is that true? Did
12:42you hand it over?"
12:43I gripped the steering wheel.
12:45"I handed her my keys," I said. "That's
12:47all I handed her." "Because here's my
12:49problem," Josette said. "The account
12:51isn't the church's. It never was. It's
12:54the Fontenot table, and the authorized
12:56person is you. I can't release a
12:58donation to a different organization
12:59because somebody calls me on the phone
13:01and says so. I'd lose my job, and I
13:03deserve to.
13:05So, I told her no, politely."
13:07"What did she say?" "She said she'd just
13:09buy it herself then," Josette said. "And
13:11then she asked me if I knew you were
13:12divorced." Josette made a little sound.
13:15"I told her I knew you could feed 300
13:17people with 42 turkeys, and that's the
13:19only thing on my form." I laughed. I
13:22couldn't help it. "So," Josette said,
13:25"the food is yours. It's been yours
13:26since 2015. The pickup window is 2:00
13:29today. Where am I sending it?"
13:32I didn't have an answer. I didn't have a
13:33kitchen. I didn't have keys.
13:36"Can I call you back in an hour?" I
13:37said. I sat there in my bus in the
13:40parking lot of Northside Elementary
13:42looking at the building. And right then,
13:44through my big side window, I saw Mr.
13:46Purvis walking across the lot toward the
13:48cafeteria door with his lunchbox. Purvis
13:50Guidry is the cafeteria manager at
13:52Northside Elementary. He's 67, and he
13:55refuses to retire. He's been cooking
13:57lunch for 600 children a day for 32
14:00years.
14:01He's also been washing pots at the
14:03Bethel Thanksgiving dinner every year
14:05since Miss Odile started asking him in
14:061998.
14:08He's a widower. He has a voice like a
14:10slow river, and he has never once in my
14:12life hurried. I opened the bus door and
14:14called out to him. Mr. Purvis, how big
14:17is your oven? He stopped walking. He
14:19turned around. He looked at me and my
14:21bus and a slow smile came up under his
14:23mustache like he'd been waiting all
14:25night for somebody to ask him.
14:27Big enough, Share, he said. Big enough.
14:30Here's what you need to know about a
14:31school cafeteria. It has two commercial
14:33ovens and a tilt skillet that can cook
14:3580 lb of anything. It has a walk-in
14:38cooler, a dish machine, and tables for
14:40300 children. On Thanksgiving day, it
14:44sits empty and dark and the district
14:46lets community groups use its buildings
14:47on holidays. They need a sponsor at the
14:49school, a health permit, and a signed
14:51form. Mr. Purvis was the sponsor. I had
14:54the permit. It had my name on it. It had
14:57been taped to the inside of the kitchen
14:58door at Bethel for 11 years. The
15:01principal signed the form at 10:15 that
15:03morning. She said, Just leave me a
15:05plate. I called Josette back at 10:30.
15:08Send it to Northside Elementary, I said.
15:10The cafeteria door across the street
15:12from the church. Across the street?
15:14Josette repeated. Then she laughed out
15:16loud. Oh, Yvette. Oh, she's going to see
15:19the truck. She's going to see the truck,
15:21I agreed.
15:23That afternoon, I made the second
15:24discovery or rather, Remy did. He came
15:28home from school and walked straight to
15:29the kitchen and held his phone out to
15:31me. It was the website of the TV station
15:33in Lafayette. There was a little promo
15:35for their Thanksgiving coverage.
15:37Bethel's First Lady Feeds 300, a
15:39Lafayette tradition. There was a
15:41picture. It was the fellowship hall
15:43packed with people, steam coming off the
15:46serving line. I knew that picture. Remy
15:48had taken it last year on my phone and
15:51I'd put it on the church's social media
15:52page. In the original, I was standing in
15:55the middle of the serving line in my
15:56apron laughing with a ladle in my hand.
15:59In the TV station's version, the picture
16:01had been cropped. You could see the line
16:04and the steam and the people. You could
16:06see my ladle.
16:08But you couldn't see me. Underneath was
16:10a quote. This dinner has always been
16:12close to my heart, said Charlene
16:14Thibodeaux, wife of Reverend Alside
16:16Thibodeaux.
16:17It's what our church family is all
16:19about.
16:20She had been at Bethel for 5 months. She
16:22had never been to the dinner, not once.
16:25"She cut you out, Mama." Remy said. His
16:28voice was very quiet.
16:30"She cut your face off the picture I
16:31took."
16:32I sat down at the kitchen table. That
16:34hurt more than the name card. I don't
16:36know why. Maybe because it was Remy's
16:38picture.
16:39And then the third thing. At 5:00, I
16:41called Bethel's office to ask about the
16:43to-go plates. 60 plates.
16:45The shut-ins.
16:47The man on the Breaux Bridge Highway.
16:49The church secretary answered. A nice
16:51young woman who'd only been there a
16:52year. She sounded embarrassed.
16:55"Mrs. Thibodeau hired a caterer for
16:56tomorrow." she said. "A place in
16:58Broussard. They're doing everything.
17:01But they don't deliver to homes. Mrs.
17:03Thibodeau said the volunteers' cars were
17:05a liability and that this year the
17:07dinner would be," she said, "a sit-down
17:09event only." She hesitated.
17:12"She said if people can't come, we can't
17:14really serve them well on camera."
17:1660 people. 60 plates that wouldn't go
17:19anywhere. People who'd been getting a
17:21hot plate at their door every
17:22Thanksgiving for years because Miss
17:24Odile started doing it in 1989.
17:27I hung up. I looked at Remy. "Get your
17:30shoes on." I said. "And text the youth
17:32group chat."
17:33"What do I tell them?"
17:34"Tell them anybody who can peel a potato
17:36should be at the North Side cafeteria at
17:386:00." By 6:30 that Wednesday night,
17:41there were 31 people in the North Side
17:43Elementary cafeteria. Nine of the 14
17:45volunteers from Tuesday night came. The
17:48other five stayed with Charlene, and I
17:49don't blame them. Some of them had known
17:51her longer than I'd known them.
17:5311 kids from the youth group came with
17:55their parents.
17:57Three other bus drivers from my lot came
17:59in their reflective jackets.
18:00Remy had told one of their kids, and
18:02that kid had told everybody. And Mr.
18:04Purvis stood in the middle of it all in
18:06a clean white apron handing out jobs
18:09like a general.
18:10The food pantry truck had come at 2:00,
18:12right on time. The driver backed it up
18:14to the cafeteria door. 42 turkeys, 60
18:18cases of canned goods, 360 rolls, and
18:22paper plates stacked as high as my chin.
18:24And the truck had to drive right past
18:26the front of Bethel to get there. Big
18:28white truck, Acadiana Food Pantry
18:30painted on the side in green letters.
18:32I'd like to tell you I didn't watch the
18:34church windows while it unloaded. I did.
18:36A curtain moved in the pastor's office.
18:38We worked until 11:00 that night.
18:40Turkeys brined. Greens washed in the big
18:43steel sinks three times each because Ms.
18:45Odile would know.
18:47Sweet potatoes peeled by the youth
18:48group, mostly correctly.
18:50I made the dressing base the way she
18:52taught me. Onions, celery, and bell
18:54pepper cooked down slow in a pot of
18:56butter. Soon the whole cafeteria smelled
18:59like every Thanksgiving of my life.
19:01Around 8:00, the cafeteria door opened
19:03and Charlene walked in. She didn't take
19:05her coat off. She looked around at all
19:07of it. The bus drivers peeling potatoes,
19:10the kids, Mr. Purvis at the tilt
19:13skillet, the turkeys lined up on the
19:15steel tables in their pans like a choir.
19:18Then she walked over to me.
19:19"Ms. Yvette," she said,
19:21"I have to say this is a little sad." I
19:24kept stirring.
19:26"People come to Bethel on Thanksgiving,"
19:27she said. "They don't come to a school.
19:30Tomorrow at 11:00, they'll walk into our
19:32fellowship hall. The caterer will be
19:34there and the news will be there.
19:36They'll sit down at tables with real
19:38tablecloths.
19:39I just don't want you to be embarrassed
19:41when nobody crosses the street." "Then
19:43we'll take the plates to the people who
19:44can't," I said. She smiled at me.
19:47"We'll pray for your little dinner," she
19:49said. She turned around and walked out.
19:51Remy was standing at the sink with his
19:53sleeves rolled up.
19:55He said something under his breath in
19:56Cajun French that his grandmother taught
19:58him. I'm not [clears throat] going to
19:59translate it.
20:0110 minutes later, my phone rang.
20:03It was Reverend Alcide.
20:05His voice was tired.
20:07"Yvette," he said,
20:08"Charlene told me what's going on over
20:10there. I wish you'd come to me first.
20:12Your wife took my name off the board in
20:14front of 14 people, Reverend. You were
20:16in your office. You could have come
20:18out." He was quiet. "She has a vision
20:21for the church," he said finally. "She
20:23thinks we need to reach young families.
20:25The new segment is part of that. I know
20:27it was clumsy, but please, Yvette. Two
20:30dinners across the street from each
20:31other. People will talk. It'll divide
20:34the church.
20:35I didn't divide anything, I said. I
20:38handed over my keys and I went home. The
20:40food pantry called me, not the other way
20:42around. Those turkeys are in my name.
20:44They have been since 2015. Miss Odile
20:47set it up that way.
20:48There was a long silence on the line.
20:51I didn't know that, he said.
20:53I know you didn't, I said. Nobody asked.
20:56He said good night. He didn't argue. I
20:58noticed that.
21:00I got home at midnight. I set my alarm
21:01for 4:00. Thanksgiving morning was cold
21:04and bright. 51°, which in Lafayette is
21:08practically a blizzard. By 6:00, the
21:11cafeteria was full of steam and the
21:13smell of turkey, and Mr. Purvis was
21:15singing Amazing Grace in a low voice
21:17over the dish machine. At 9:00, we
21:20started the to-go plates. 60 of them.
21:22Turkey, dressing, greens, yams, a roll,
21:26and sweet potato pie. All in foam boxes
21:29with a plastic fork taped to the top.
21:31The bus drivers took them. They had a
21:33list. The list was in my handwriting
21:35because I'd made it every year for 11
21:37years. I gave the Brobridge Highway
21:39plate to my friend from the bus lot. She
21:42drives route nine. She knows the road.
21:44He likes extra cranberry, I told her.
21:46Who doesn't? She said. By 10:30, we had
21:49300 plates worth the food in hotel pans
21:52keeping warm in the big ovens.
21:54The tables were wiped. Mr. Purvis had
21:57put a little paper turkey that some
21:58third grader made on every single one.
22:01The kids had written a sign on butcher
22:02paper and taped it to the cafeteria
22:04door. It said, "Thanksgiving dinner,
22:07everybody welcome, free." Someone had
22:09drawn a turkey with sunglasses. At a
22:11quarter to 11:00, I walked out onto the
22:13cafeteria steps and looked across
22:15Johnston Street. There was a line in
22:17front of Bethel. A long one.
22:20It went out the church doors, down the
22:22steps, and along the sidewalk past the
22:24church sign. Families,
22:27old men in their good jackets, mothers
22:29with babies on their hips, a couple of
22:31men I knew from the shelter on Jefferson
22:33Street. 300 people, maybe more.
22:37The same people who'd stood in that line
22:38every Thanksgiving for years. They'd
22:41come to Bethel, just like Charlene said.
22:44A white van from the TV station was
22:46parked by the church steps. At the top,
22:48by the open doors, stood a man with a
22:50big camera on his shoulder. And Charlene
22:53Thibodeau, in a cream-colored suit,
22:55smiling. I stood there on the cafeteria
22:57steps in my apron and watched. Mr.
23:00Purvis came out and stood next to me.
23:02"Well," he said, "that's that." "That's
23:04that," I said. I tried to sound like it
23:07didn't matter. "At least the plates went
23:09out." And then a car pulled up in front
23:11of the church, an old brown Buick.
23:14Remy jumped out of the passenger side.
23:16I hadn't even known he'd left the
23:17cafeteria.
23:19He ran around to the back door of the
23:20Buick and opened it, and he helped
23:22someone out. A tiny old woman in a
23:24purple hat. Miss Odile Fontenot had come
23:27to Thanksgiving dinner.
23:29I didn't hear everything that happened
23:30next. I was across a four-lane street.
23:33But I saw it, and Remy told me the rest,
23:36word for word, about nine times.
23:38And the next day, it was on the evening
23:40news, because the man with the camera on
23:42his shoulder never stopped recording.
23:45Miss Odile walked to the church steps on
23:47Remy's arm, with her cane in the other
23:49hand. The line moved back to let her
23:51through. Half those people had known her
23:53for 40 years. Somebody started clapping,
23:56and then a lot of people were clapping.
23:58Charlene came down two steps to meet her
24:00with her arms open.
24:02"Miss Odile," she said, for the camera.
24:05"What a blessing. You're our guest of
24:07honor today. Come in, come in. We have a
24:09table reserved for you right up front."
24:11Miss Odile stopped on the bottom step.
24:14She looked up at Charlene. Then she
24:16looked at the camera. Then she turned
24:17around and looked down the long line of
24:19people on the sidewalk.
24:21"Charlene," she said. Remy said her
24:24voice was so loud he jumped. "Where is
24:26Yvette?"
24:27"Miss Yvette is having her own little
24:29dinner, Charlene said, still smiling,
24:32across the street. We decided this year
24:34we needed a family woman as the face of
24:35our table. Miss Odile nodded slowly, as
24:38if that was very interesting.
24:41"Charlene," she said, "that dinner was
24:43never the church's. It was hers. My
24:46husband and I started it in our living
24:47room in 1971.
24:49I gave it to her with my own pen in
24:512015. The permit is hers, the food is
24:54hers, the table is hers." She lifted her
24:57cane and pointed it straight across
24:59Johnston Street, at me, standing on the
25:01cafeteria steps in my apron. "Follow me,
25:04everybody."
25:05And then she walked. She went down the
25:07last step, across the sidewalk, and out
25:10into Johnston Street. 88 years old, on
25:12my son's arm, with her cane. She moved
25:15at about the speed of a turtle with
25:16somewhere to be. A car stopped. Then the
25:19other lane stopped. Nobody honked. This
25:22is Lafayette. Nobody honks at an old
25:24lady in a purple hat on Thanksgiving.
25:26And the line followed her. I watched it
25:29from the cafeteria steps. First, the old
25:31men in their good jackets, because
25:33they'd known her longest, then the
25:35mothers with babies, then the men from
25:37the shelter, then everybody. The whole
25:39line peeled off the church sidewalk and
25:41came across Johnston Street, one after
25:44another, like a long, slow parade. 300
25:47people walking across a four-lane road
25:49behind a woman who weighs 90 lb. The man
25:53with the camera turned around and filmed
25:54it, all of it. I couldn't move. Mr.
25:57Purvis put his hand on my shoulder.
25:59"Chair," he said, "you'd better go stand
26:02at the front of your line."
26:03I wiped my face on my apron, and I did.
26:06Miss Odile reached the cafeteria steps
26:08last, because the line had politely let
26:10her go first and then gotten ahead of
26:12her anyway. Remy helped her up the
26:14steps. When she got to the top, she
26:16stopped in front of me. She was
26:18breathing hard. Her purple hat was
26:20crooked. "Too much sage?" she asked me.
26:23"No, ma'am," I said, "just right." "I'll
26:26be the judge of that," said Miss Odile,
26:28and she went inside to sit down. That's
26:31how we fed 309 people in the Northside
26:34Elementary Cafeteria. Paper turkeys on
26:36the tables and a turkey in sunglasses on
26:38the door. About 20 minutes into serving,
26:41the cafeteria door opened again and
26:43Charlene came in. She'd left the
26:45cameraman across the street. She walked
26:47straight down the side of the room past
26:49people with their mouths full of turkey.
26:51She came to the serving line where I
26:52stood with a big spoon and a pan of
26:54greens.
26:55"You stole this dinner." She said. She
26:58said it low, but her voice was shaking.
27:01"You planned this. You and that old
27:03woman. You made me look like a fool on
27:05television."
27:07"I gave you my keys, Charlene." I said.
27:09"You asked the food pantry for my
27:10turkeys. They said no because the
27:13account's in my name.
27:14The health permit's in my name, too.
27:16It's been taped to the inside of the
27:18kitchen door at Bethel since 2015. You
27:20walked [clears throat] past it every day
27:22for a week." She opened her mouth, then
27:24she closed it.
27:26"I didn't plan anything." I said.
27:28"I just didn't let 300 people go hungry
27:30because I'm divorced." Charlene looked
27:32around at the full tables, at Miss Odile
27:36in the front row eating dressing very
27:38slowly with her eyes closed, at the bus
27:41drivers coming back in from the
27:42deliveries with empty crates.
27:44Her voice changed. It got smooth.
27:47"Yvette." She said. She didn't say Miss.
27:50"Let's be smart about this. The news is
27:52right outside. Let's tell them it's one
27:54dinner in two buildings, a partnership.
27:57You can keep cooking. I'll do the
27:58interview. Nobody needs to look bad."
28:01"I'm not hiding anybody." I said. "You
28:03did that already. You cut my face out of
28:05my son's picture." She flinched. She
28:08hadn't known I'd seen it. That was when
28:10Reverend Al Sidewalked in. He'd crossed
28:12[clears throat] the street behind the
28:13line. He was in his good suit with his
28:15reading glasses pushed up on his
28:17forehead. He stopped next to his wife
28:19and looked at the room. Then he looked
28:21at me.
28:22"You told me the dinner was a church
28:23ministry." Charlene said to him, not to
28:26me, to him. You said it was ours. You
28:29told me to take charge of it.
28:31"I told you it was important to the
28:33church," Reverend Alside said quietly.
28:35"I never told you to take it. You never
28:38asked me who ran it, Charlene. You told
28:40me what you were going to do with it."
28:42"You could have stopped me."
28:43"I should have," he said. "That's mine
28:45to carry.
28:47But you're the one who pulled her card
28:48off the wall."
28:49They stood there, two people who had
28:51been married 30 years, each waiting for
28:54the other one to be wrong. I didn't say
28:56anything. It wasn't my argument. Then
28:58Reverend Alside took off his suit
29:00jacket. He folded it over a chair. He
29:03rolled up his sleeves.
29:04"Miss Yvette," he said. He used the miss
29:07differently than his wife did. He meant
29:09it.
29:10"Do you need somebody to carve?"
29:12"Mr. Purvis has the knife," I said. "Ask
29:14him nicely." He went and asked Mr.
29:16Purvis nicely. Mr. Purvis handed him an
29:19apron and a carving knife. Then he gave
29:21him the slowest, most detailed
29:23instructions on carving a turkey I have
29:25ever heard. The Reverend nodded through
29:27every word of it. Charlene stood alone
29:30at the end of the serving line for a
29:31while. Then she turned around and walked
29:33out. Across the street, the caterer from
29:36Broussard sat in the fellowship hall. He
29:38had trays of food for 300 and nobody to
29:41eat it. Around 1:00, I sent Remy over.
29:44He came back with the caterer, a nice
29:46young man in a black vest who looked
29:48terrified.
29:49Remy had told him we'd take the macaroni
29:51and cheese. We took the macaroni and
29:53cheese. We took the green bean
29:55casserole, too.
29:56At 4:00, the last of the line had eaten.
29:59We packed everything left over into foam
30:01boxes. The bus drivers drove a second
30:03round of plates to the women's shelter
30:05on Jefferson Street and the fire station
30:07on Pink Hook Road. Nothing went to
30:09waste. Miss Odile would never have
30:11allowed it. At 5:00, when the cafeteria
30:14was clean and the dish machine was
30:15finally quiet, I drove Miss Odile home.
30:19She fell asleep in my front seat on the
30:20way with her purple hat in her lap.
30:23When we got to her house, I walked her
30:25to the door. She held onto my arm on the
30:27porch.
30:28"You know what Clovis used to say?" she
30:30said.
30:31"The table belongs to the person who
30:32sets it." "Yes, ma'am." "Don't you
30:35forget that," she said. "Not ever. Not
30:38for a pretty suit."
30:39I thought that was the end. I thought
30:41the hardest part was over.
30:43Two weeks later, I got a letter from the
30:45school district. It came to my house in
30:48a long white envelope with the district
30:50seal. My name was typed on it. Inside,
30:53there was one paragraph. The district's
30:55human resources office had received a
30:57complaint. It said a district employee
30:59had used a school building for a
31:01religious event on a holiday without
31:03permission. It said she had diverted a
31:05church's food donations to a public
31:07school. I was asked to attend a meeting
31:09on December 9th at the central office. I
31:11was told I could bring a representative.
31:13I read it standing in my kitchen. Then I
31:15sat down on the floor, right there, with
31:18my back against the cabinets. My bus job
31:20is my life. It's our rent. It's our
31:23health insurance. It's Remy's braces,
31:25which we hadn't paid off yet. It's 16
31:28years. I didn't need anybody to tell me
31:30who'd filed that complaint. Remy came
31:32home and found me on the floor. He read
31:34the letter. Then he called Mr. Purvis
31:36without asking me. Mr. Purvis came over
31:39at 7:00 with a shoe box under his arm
31:41and sat at my kitchen table and opened
31:43it. In the shoe box were copies.
31:46The district's community use form,
31:48signed by the principal on Wednesday at
31:5010:15. The health permit with my name
31:53and the Fontenot table on it. The food
31:55pantry's donation record showing that
31:57the donation was made to the Fontenot
31:59table, not to any church. And a printout
32:01of the district's own policy on holiday
32:04use of school buildings by non-profit
32:05community groups. "I've been working for
32:08that district for 32 years, chair," Mr.
32:10Purvis said. "I know where they keep the
32:12rules."
32:13"Will it be enough?" "It's the truth,"
32:15he said. "In my experience, the truth is
32:18usually enough if you bring copies." The
32:20meeting was in a small room at the
32:22central office with a long table and bad
32:24coffee. The officer from human resources
32:27was a woman named Ms. Della Hosea. She
32:29was about 50. She had reading glasses on
32:32a chain and the expression of someone
32:34who has seen every complaint there is.
32:36Mr. Purvis came as my representative. He
32:39wore tie. I'd never seen him in a tie.
32:42Ms. Delahoussaye read the complaint out
32:43loud. Then she looked at me over her
32:45glasses.
32:47"Mrs. Boudreaux, did you hold a church
32:49service in the Northside cafeteria on
32:50Thanksgiving Day?" "No, ma'am." I said.
32:53"I held a dinner. Anybody could come.
32:56Nobody preached." Mr. Purvis sang
32:58Amazing Grace over the dish machine,
33:01but I don't think that counts.
33:02Something happened at the corner of Ms.
33:04Delahoussaye's mouth.
33:05Mr. Purvis slid the folder across the
33:07table. She read every page. She took her
33:10time. She read the district policy last.
33:13"The use form was approved by the
33:14principal." She said. "The group is a
33:17registered nonprofit, not a church. The
33:19permit is valid. The donation was made
33:21to the nonprofit." She closed the
33:23folder.
33:24"The complaint says the food was
33:25diverted from a church. It wasn't. It
33:28was never the church's. This complaint
33:30is closed. You'll get a letter."
33:32I breathed out for what felt like the
33:34first time in a week. Then Ms.
33:36Delahoussaye took off her glasses. "Off
33:38the record." she said.
33:40"My mother was in that line on the news.
33:42She's 81. She's been going to the Bethel
33:44dinner for 20 years. She told me she
33:47followed the old lady in the purple hat
33:48across the street. She said it was the
33:50best dressing she's had since 1971."
33:53She stood up.
33:55"Thank you for feeding my mother, Mrs.
33:56Boudreaux."
33:57I didn't know what to say. Mr. Purvis
33:59did. "Bring her next year." he said.
34:02"We'll save her a seat." That Sunday,
34:04December 14th, I almost didn't go to
34:06church. I sat in my car in the Bethel
34:09parking lot for 10 minutes. Remy finally
34:11said, "Mama, Ms. Odile is going to ask
34:14where you were." And that settled it. We
34:16sat in our old pew, not the back, our
34:20old one. Ms. Odile was at the end of it
34:22in her purple hat. Reverend Alcide got
34:25up to preach. He didn't open his Bible
34:27right away. He stood at the pulpit with
34:29both hands on it, and he looked out at
34:31the congregation for a long time.
34:33"Before the sermon." he said, "I have to
34:36say something. To the church and to one
34:38person in it."
34:40The room got very still. Three weeks
34:42ago, he said, "In this building, a woman
34:45who had cooked our Thanksgiving dinner
34:47for 11 years had her name taken off the
34:49wall. She was told, {quote} we need a
34:52family woman as the face of our table."
34:55He paused.
34:56"Those were my wife's words. I didn't
34:58say them.
34:59But I was in my office down the hall and
35:01I didn't come out. That makes them mine,
35:03too."
35:04Nobody moved. Charlene was in the front
35:06pew where the pastor's wife always sits.
35:09I could only see the back of her head.
35:10She didn't turn around. "Two weeks ago,"
35:13the reverend said, "someone from this
35:15church filed a complaint against that
35:17same woman with her employer. I found
35:19out about it on Friday." His voice got
35:21rough.
35:22"That will never happen again while I
35:23stand in this pulpit." He looked
35:25straight at me. "Yvette Boudreaux," he
35:28said, "I'm sorry. This church is sorry.
35:30And for the record, Jesus fed 5,000
35:33people and never asked a single one of
35:35them if they were married." Miss Odile,
35:38at the end of my pew, said "Amen" so
35:40loud that a baby in the back started
35:42crying. Then the whole church said it.
35:44I'd like to tell you that Charlene stood
35:46up and apologized, too. She didn't.
35:48That's not who she is.
35:50She sat in the front pew through the
35:51whole sermon, straight-backed. After the
35:54service, she shook hands at the door
35:56like she always did. When it was my
35:58turn, she shook my hand. She didn't say
36:00anything.
36:01But she said Yvette.
36:03Not Miss Yvette, just Yvette. I'll take
36:06it. On Christmas Eve, Miss Odile asked
36:09me to come by her house in the
36:10afternoon. Just me, not Remy. She was
36:13sitting at her kitchen table, the same
36:15one where I'd signed the papers 10 years
36:17before.
36:18There was a pot of coffee and two cups
36:20and a small wooden box in front of her.
36:23It was old with a little brass latch.
36:25"Sit, chair," she said. I sat. She
36:28pushed the box across the table toward
36:30me. Inside were recipe cards, dozens of
36:34them, yellowed, stained, soft at the
36:37corners, some in pencil, some in blue
36:40ink.
36:41Gumbo, pralines, fig preserves,
36:44couscous, her mother's bread pudding,
36:47and right on top, by itself, a card I
36:50knew before I picked it up, cornbread
36:52dressing for the table. It was in her
36:54handwriting from a long time ago when
36:57her hand was steadier.
36:58The ingredients, the steps, and down at
37:01the bottom, in different handwriting, a
37:03man's, tiny and slanted, someone had
37:06added a line.
37:08Odile, less sage, love, C.
37:12I laughed out loud, then I couldn't stop
37:14crying. Miss Odile handed me a paper
37:16napkin and waited. Clovis wrote that in
37:191972, she said, after the second year.
37:22He was right. I never told him he was
37:24right. I just used less sage. She tapped
37:27the card. It's yours now, the whole box.
37:30I don't have a daughter, Yvette. I have
37:32you.
37:33Miss Odile, I can't
37:35You can, she said. You fed 300 people
37:38out of a school cafeteria with two days
37:40notice and no keys. You can carry a box
37:42of cards home.
37:44I took it home. It sits on the shelf
37:46over my stove. Every Thanksgiving, I
37:48take that card out and put it on the
37:50counter, even though I know it by heart.
37:52I just like to see his line at the
37:54bottom.
37:55The next November, we had one dinner at
37:57Bethel in the fellowship hall.
38:00Reverend Alcide asked me in September if
38:02I'd consider bringing the Fontenot table
38:03back home. He asked me in his office
38:05with the door open.
38:07He said the church would lend the hall,
38:09the way it always had, and the table
38:10would be the cooks, the way Miss Odile
38:12always meant it. I said yes, on one
38:15condition.
38:16Mr. Purvis's cafeteria became our second
38:18kitchen. We needed the ovens anyway. We
38:21were up to 340 people. Josette from the
38:24food pantry sent 50 turkeys instead of
38:2642.
38:28She put a note on the delivery slip. It
38:30said, for the woman with her name on the
38:32form. The TV station came back. They'd
38:35run the story of the line crossing
38:37Johnston Street the year before. It got
38:40more views than anything they'd posted
38:41all year.
38:43This time they interviewed Miss Odile.
38:45She told them the whole history of the
38:46dinner in about 11 minutes and then told
38:49the reporter his tie was crooked. Ms.
38:51Della Hussey brought her mother. Mr.
38:53Purvis saved them seats at the front
38:55just like he promised. And Charlene
38:57worked the welcome table. Nobody asked
38:59her to. She signed up for it on the cork
39:01board herself. She sat at a folding
39:04table by the front doors for 5 hours in
39:06a cream sweater.
39:07She wrote names on stick-on tags and
39:09handed out paper turkeys. She was good
39:12at it. She remembered names. She
39:14remembered children's names. She was
39:16warm with every single person who walked
39:18through those doors. She still corrects
39:20people's grammar. She still has opinions
39:23about the photo directory. She and I are
39:25not friends.
39:26But that afternoon, when the last plate
39:28had been served, she came back to the
39:30kitchen and stood in the doorway.
39:32"The dressing," she said, "is it Odile's
39:35recipe?"
39:36"Clovis' correction," I said. She
39:38nodded. She picked up a dish towel and
39:40dried pots with Mr. Purvis for an hour.
39:42She didn't say another word. Neither did
39:44I. Sometimes that's the best you can
39:46get, and I'll take it. The cork board is
39:49still on the wall by the pass-through.
39:50The little laminated cards are still
39:52there every November,
39:53but the head cook card isn't on the
39:55board anymore. In October, Remy and the
39:57youth group painted the kitchen door.
39:59It's white now with blue trim.
40:02And across the top, in careful
40:03hand-lettered blue paint that took them
40:05three tries, it says Yvette's kitchen.
40:09Underneath, in smaller letters, it says
40:11founded by Odile and Clovis Fontenot,
40:141971.
40:16Remy did the lettering himself. He's 13
40:18now.
40:19He says the hardest part was the curly
40:21Y. I didn't ask for it. I'd never have
40:24asked for it.
40:25But I walked in that first morning at
40:274:30 with the lights still off and saw
40:30it.
40:31I sat down on an overturned bucket and
40:33cried for about 10 minutes. Then I
40:35turned on the ovens.
40:36I think about that cork board sometimes.
40:39Charlene reaching up, the thumbtack
40:41rolling across the floor, my name card
40:44between her two fingers like a receipt.
40:46She thought a name on a wall was what
40:48made a person belong somewhere. She
40:50thought she could take it down and put a
40:51better picture up instead.
40:54But a table isn't a picture. It's a lot
40:56of hands. Hands that peel potatoes and
40:59wash greens three times. Hands that
41:01carry a plate to a trailer on the Bro
41:03Bridge Highway every year without being
41:05asked. Those hands don't come from a
41:07photo directory. They come from showing
41:09up. Miss Odile is 89 now. She still
41:13tastes my dressing every year before I'm
41:15allowed to serve it.
41:16Every year, she closes her eyes and
41:19chews for a long time. And every year,
41:22she opens them and says, "Too much sage,
41:25Cher."
41:26Then she winks at me and asks for
41:28seconds. That's the story of how I lost
41:30my keys and found out the table had been
41:32mine all along. It was really about
41:34belonging, about who decides where we
41:37fit, and how sometimes the answer is
41:39just to keep cooking until people cross
41:41the street. So, let me ask you.
41:43Say someone took your name off the board
41:45after 11 years.
41:46Would you hand over the keys and walk
41:48away, or refuse to leave the kitchen?
41:50Tell me in the comments. And if there's
41:52a Miss Odile in your life, someone who
41:54saw you coming before you did, I'd love
41:56to hear about her. If you love stories
41:59about community, kindness, and standing
42:01your ground, subscribe and come back for
42:03the next one.

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