The HubNugget Fortune Cookie Caper

It all began one hot airless evening when the hub crew decided to go out to eat at our local Chinese Restaurant. Little did we know just going to dinner would lead us to an adventure that would have us making a mad dash from home to China, to Japan and back to California. It was a whirlwind four days that none of us will soon forget.

Dinner went fine with all of us filling our plates with our own special favorites. The kitten girls, redelf and enelle lamb each picked delicately through the fish, shrimp and lobster dishes, of course. ladyjane 1, Patty Inglish, Ripplemaker, Maddie Rudd, and I, KoffeeKlatch Gals, well, we all piled our plates with a combination of vegetarian, General Tso, Pork Fried Rice, Chicken Chow Mein and anything else that caught our eye.

By an unspoken agreement we all keep the talk during dinner light and fun. The talk about business was being saved for later. First we needed to enjoy dinner and have fun with our fortunes that we would be receiving in our fortune cookies at the end of the meal.

Finally the time has arrive and the fortune cookies are placed on our table. Each of us grabbed up the one closest to us and eagerly broke the cookies in half wanting to see what future they foretold for us. The first one to read her fortune was Maddie who became very quiet. She held it in her hand for a moment then slowly placed it on the table for the rest of us to read.

There may be a crisis looming, be ready for it.

As we read it we all gasped. Was it possible that we were once more going to become involved in a mysterious adventure?

We all turned to our own cookie. Hopefully there would be something in them to tell us what this was all about. Breaking them open we all read then compared our fortunes. They all said the same thing.

The fortune you seek is in the other cookie.

What did that mean?

Throwing our fortunes on the table we paid for our dinner and turned to leave, grabbing the pile of HubNugget Hubs we walked out the front door only to be greeting by a mysterious stranger.

"I wouldn't be so quick to discount the fortune in your cookie. They have a strange way of coming true."

"Well, if you're so smart. What is it about?" asked Maddie

"It is not for me to tell. You must find out for yourself." Turning away, he paused and said, "Start from the beginning and don't forget to read the fortunes." Then he simply disappeared.

"Hey wait! What beginning?" We all called out.

"Well," said RedElf, "At least this time we know we won't be chasing down the HubNugget Hubs."

Our cell phone began to ring all at once and that's when we learned that this time we were not going to have to find the HubNugget Hubs we would have to find the HubNugget Nominees. Now how were we going to do that?

Running back to the office we all jumped onto our computers and began to try to find out everything we could about fortune cookies. After all this started with Maddie's fortune in her cookie.

"Isn't that interesting", murmured KoffeeKlatch Gal. "There are only about 30 calories in a fortune cookie."

"You know, I heard somewhere that you have to eat a fortune cookie for the fortune to come true." offered Ripplemaker.

"I didn't eat any of my cookie and here we are in the middle of my fortune." replied Maddie Rudd.

"Where would the beginning be? asked Patty Inglish. "would it be back at the restaurant or back where the fortune cookie began?"

"I think it must be back where the fortune cookie began." piped up ladyjane1.

"Oh, look, according to this the first fortune cookie was made in Japan. That must be where we need to start." Enelle Lamb said excitedly.

"I don't know about that," said RedElf. "According to this article the Chinese started the fortune cookie. It makes sense, you always get one at a Chinese restaurant."

"This article says Los Angeles was the place it all began." said Ripplemaker.

"Wait a minute, this article sayings the fortune cookie started in San Francisco." Said RedElf

"Look here it says the fortune cookie was first made in Japan in the 19th century. I think we need to check Japan out." KoffeeKlatch Gals spoke up.

"Hey, China seems to be in the running too. They had their own version as far back as the 13th and 14th century."

"There's nothing left for us to do but to spit up and see if we can find our new HubNugget Nominees. We have to have them back in time for this weeks voting." From out of nowhere Jason joined our little group. It didn't even faze us, it was turning out to be a weird night. and we needed all the support we could get.

So RedElf and enelle lamb found themselves on a plane winging their way to China in hopes that they would find a clue as to where the HubNugget Nominees were. As they waited to arrive they did a bit of research and found out that the Chinese used to have a cookie called Moon Cakes way back in the 13th and 14th century. Inside these Moon Cakes they would hide messages written on Rice Paper and hidden in the middle of the Moon Cakes. Instead of fortunes they included instructions concerning an uprising against the Mongols.

It looked promising , this must be where the fortune cookies began. All they had to do was find the most important spot of the Mongolian uprise and there should be a clue.

The taxi ride seemed to take forever now that they felt they were getting closer to the answer. According to their driver there was a museum built over the area they wanted to be. So they decided to visit the museum. As they walked around looking for something, anything to speak to them, to help them out, they both zeroed in on a beautiful golden Mongolian artifact. There beside it was a fortune cookie. Without even thinking they snatched it up and each ate half of the cookie then read the fortune.

What you are looking for is not here. Go back to where you came from.

What exactly were they looking for? The message was certainly plain enough. Discouraged, RedElf and enelle lamb called Simone Smith and Fawntia Fowler to tell them what had happened. It was decided by all that the best thing to do was to go back home. Go to the airport, wait for hours to get another flight, fly for hours to get home, and get back home empty handed. They sure hoped the others were luckier than they were.

Meanwhile ladyjane1 and Patty Inglish set off on their long trip to Japan. As they flew across the country they too did a little research. They found out that in the 19th century fortunes were hidden inside the fortune cookie and handed out from the Hyotanyama Shrine in Japan.

There inside the beautiful Hyotanyama shrine on a Japanese table was a pretty little plate with hand-painted lotus blossoms and in the center of the plate was a fortune cookie. The two of them broke the cookie in half and eagerly read the fortune.

Wrong place, No Nominees here. Go home.

Darn, they could have sworn this was the place where they would find the HubNugget Nominees. There were so many great hiding spaces. They called Simone Smith and Fawntia Fowler and let them know what their fortune cookie said and let them know they were coming home.

When ripplemaker and Jason arrived at the Japanese Tea Garden they just knew this was the right place. It was so beautiful and so oriental looking. The were eager to begin their search but first had to go over the information they had gathered. According to their research the fortune cookie was invented by Makoto Hagiwara, a Japanese Immigrant. Makoto was the gardener that designed the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. Although he was a hard worker and did a fabulous job he was fired by an anti-Japanese mayor, happily the next mayor hired him back. To show his gratitude to those who stood behind him during the hard times he created the fortune cookie and included a thank you note inside each one, in 1914. He passed them out at the Japanese Tea Garden and soon they were being served there.

As they wandered the gardens they spotted a beautiful wrought iron table with two perfect little chairs under a cherry blossom tree. They walked over to rest for a minute and found a Japanese Tea Set there in the middle of the table. It was perched perfectly on a lacquered Japanese tray. On the tray beside the tea pot was a golden brown fortune cookie. They carefully broke it open and read their fortune.

Your journeys end is still ahead.

They poured themselves a cup of tea and called Simone and Fawntia with the news. They had not been the ones to find the Nominees. They would be beginning their journey home soon.

On their way to the airport Patty Inglish and KoffeeKlatch Gals hear the news that the other groups had struck out on finding the HubNugget Nominees. They could feel the pressure of being the nominees last change. They would have to be especially careful not to make any mistakes. So they were extra vigilant in their research.
They found a story of a Chinese immigrant living in Los Angeles, David Jung, being the inventor of the fortune cookie. It is said that he invented the fortune cookiein 1918 when he became concerned about the poor he would see wandering near his shop, the Hong Kong Noodle Company. He created the cookie, placed an Inspirational Bible Scripture inside each one and hand them out for free.

They also found out that in 1983 a judge involved in a mock trial held in San Francisco at the Court of Historical Review ruled in favor of San Francisco as having been the origin. Even though it was a mock trail and judgement, maybe there was something in it. Maybe they were on the right track. Actually, they thought, it had to be the right track. There was no other track left.

They arrived at the Hong Kong Noodle Factory and stood outside the building wondering where to start. They decided the front door was a great place to start. They walked inside and there on a highly lacquered desk stood a porcelain dragon and at it's feet lay a fortune cookie. Carefully breaking open the cookie the two read the fortune.

You have reached your journey's end.

Now that they knew they were in the right spot they quickly ran from one area to the next. Finally they found the HubNugget Nominees there in the factory in the section that printed out the fortunes for the fortune cookies. Somehow they had been responsible for the fortunes that each group had found in their cookies.

There was much rejoicing and celebrating now that the lost had been found. They had been kidnapped by the mysterious stranger and put to work. The phone call was made to Simone and Fawntia telling them the happy news. The group happily made their way home to finish the HubNugget Hub and they all lived happily ever after.