Baking 101: Part III

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Baking 101: Part III

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

            “I-I don’t think that I can do this,” Necie whispered harshly as she tightened her arms around her knees, closed her eyes and took a shaky breath while Zoe stood there, chewing on her bottom lip and doing her best to resist the urge to shoot another glance at the smoldering hard white discs sitting on the table behind her that were supposed to be double fudge brownies.

            “Can I get you something?” Zoe asked, wondering if she was going to have to call Duncan and tell him that she’d broken his wife.

            Necie went still and noticeably swallowed. “Like what?” she asked, sounding absolutely terrified, which unfortunately was a reaction that Zoe was well used to when it came to her baking. Hence, the reason that she was planning clandestine lessons like this.

            “A can of Coke?” she said, knowing that it was better to clarify that she would in no way be involved with the preparation of anything that she offered at this point.

            After a slight hesitation, Necie reluctantly nodded her head even as she tightened her hold and seemed to curl into herself. With a small, forced smile, Zoe waddled her way to the fridge, praying the whole way that Necie didn’t start muttering to herself again since it had freaked her out a bit there the first seven times that she’d done it.

            As she grabbed a can of Coke and decided against grabbing a glass of ice since it would probably terrify the other woman, Zoe wondered if she should get rid of her latest baking experiment so that Necie wouldn’t see it and…lose it again. No matter how many times she’d witnessed someone having a breakdown because of her cooking it never failed to surprise her, because every single time she’d made an attempt to cook something she’d been sure that this time things would be different and Poison Control wouldn’t have to get involved.

            She still couldn’t figure out where she kept going wrong. She’d always followed the instructions, making sure that she read them three of four times before she attempted to follow them, but somehow it always ended in disaster. She just couldn’t figure it out. Even when she got help from someone who knew what they were doing, the results never failed to be terrifying. This time she’d even worked with a professional baker, but if anything, the results had somehow come out worse.

            Seriously, what the hell was she doing wrong?

            Take today for example, Necie had watched her every step, giving her encouragement every step of the way and constantly reassured her that she was doing everything right and then…

            Disaster would hit.

            If a professional baker couldn’t figure out what she was doing wrong, then there was absolutely no hope for-

            “I-I want to lay down,” Necie whispered harshly, making Zoe frown as she came to a stop a mere three feet away from the other woman.

            “Umm, you are laying down,” Zoe foolishly pointed out, watching as the trembling woman, who was now in the fetal position, started to mumble to herself again.

            Deciding that there was nothing else that could be done, Zoe sighed heavily as she placed the can of Coke on the bathroom counter since there was no way that she was going to be able to bend over without falling on her ass. Once she placed the Coke on the counter, she tossed a clean towel over Necie’s trembling body, considered saying something to reassure the other woman, but thought better of it and went to the kitchen to get rid of the latest disaster.

            As she picked up the plate of what should have been delicious brownies, and held her breath, she couldn’t help but wonder if she should have started off with something easy like cupcakes.

To be continued…

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