Dinner Lady

Mrs Gruffle was an exceptionally ugly woman, but there was a reason for this.

Not only was Mrs Gruffle the school cook, but she was also a goblin.

None of the children or staff knew she was a goblin. They just knew that she was a fantastic cook, and that she lived alone.

They thought perhaps she had suffered some terrible accident when she was a child.

She was bent almost double, and wore a turban on her head to hide her ears. She used to bath in cheap perfume to disguise her goblin scent.

You could smell her coming from miles away.

All the children loved her. She knew every one of them by name, and was always especially nice to those that needed a little extra loving.

The ones that didn’t have many friends.

The ones from the orphanage.

Every day Mrs Gruffle would hobble into school, muttering merrily to herself.

“Hello, Mrs Gruffle!” the children would say.

“Hello my little nibbles!” she would reply back. That was just what she called them.

A term of affection said by a lonely woman.

Both staff and students looked forward to Mrs Gruffle’s lunches.

Often it was a steaming stew.

Sometimes it was a meat pie.

Mrs Gruffle did do a vegetarian option, but it was very rarely taken up.

Her meat dishes were so delicious.

Sometimes there were spongy dumplings.

It really helped the children to have such a yummy meal. They needed something warm and comforting in their lives to help them get over the sadness.

Children had gone missing.

Two or sometimes three children seemed to go missing every year.

Everyone was at a loss.

There were patterns, of course.

Many of them were loners.

None of them seemed to have many friends.

A large proportion of them seemed to come from the orphanage.

They all seemed to be vegetarians.

It was a great sadness to the whole community.

The police had been into the school, and told the children about ‘stranger danger’.

The vicar had been involved in setting up the “don’t be late, walk with a mate!” initiative.

The PTA had issued every child with a whistle.

Even Mrs Gruffle had done her bit.

When she found a child alone in the street, she would, after a quick check that no one was around, get them to carry her herbs and spices home for her.

Just so she could keep an eye on them.

That was just her way.

Good old Mrs Gruffle.