How to Make a Cake

“Junie,” Katty asked, “how do you make a cake?”

“What do you need a cake for?” Junneth said, “it’s not your birthday for two more months. What kind of cake do you want anyways? Don’t be in such a hurry to be sixteen.”

One like this, Kat held up a picture of an elaborate cake from a past issue of a popular magazine. It was a perfect lamb made from a cake mold for Easter, so pretty one would be afraid to cut into, let alone eat. White, fluffy, sitting pretty on a bed of green coconut grass, with docile eyes.

“You have to have some big shindig for a cake like that, how do you plan to make that, and what for, Miss Katty? That cake was made by what you call a professional, they make cakes like this in their sleep.” Junneth was trying to divert Katty from the elaborate cake, and maybe think about one a bit more realistic. But no, Katty wanted that one.

“You can help me Junie, you always make pretty cakes, pleeeease??? I like this one the best.” Kat said with the tone she knew always worked. Kathrine was Junneth’s only niece, and as often happens, Kat was a lot like her aunt in looks and temperament. Sometimes, like this one, it worked to Kat’s advantage.

“When do you want to make this cake,” Junneth asked? “I might be busy today,” (she wasn’t), “and this cake won’t make itself, you will have to help me. Can you tell me what you want it for?”

“I just want it for a friend.” Kat was evasive, and didn’t say anymore, she was afraid that if she said who she wanted the cake for, Junie wouldn’t want to help her.

“Can we make it today, so I can give it to h--,” Katty stopped herself, and said, “so I can give it to my friend tomorrow?”

Junneth went to the cabinet and got out a little black book she saved recipes in, she hoped tucked away was one for a lamb cake, that would be easier to make than the one on the cover of this fancy magazine, and yes, there it was. A few of the ingredients she had on hand, and a few she would have to send Katty to the corner to get, and the lamb mold she would have to borrow from Barb next door. Junneth wrote down the list, and gave it to Katty with some cash, telling her not to forget to stop at Barb’s, to pick up the mold.

“Oh, thank you! Junie, thank you! I’ll be right back!” Kat ran out the door, only to come straight back to put on some shoes, and ran back out again, ponytail flying behind her. Junneth picked up the phone to call Barb to let her know Katty would be stopping by for the lamb mold.

“It might be a bit dusty, I haven’t used it for a while,” Barb said.

“Katty can wash it, she’ll be stopping by pretty soon, thanks Barb, she won’t tell me what she wants this cake for, so I can’t promise you a piece when it is done.”

“That’s OK, I’ll have it ready for her.” Barb promised.

It always took Kat a bit longer to get something from the store than it ever did Junneth, because Kat usually stopped t0 talk with friends, human and animal, if they were out and about. She stopped to reach over a fence to pet and talk to an elderly Lab named Daisy, then walked on towards the corner grocery.

Sure enough, there was Mike was sitting at his favorite sidewalk table, at his favorite coffee shop, the owner usually didn’t mind how long he sat there, because someone would always stop to talk to him, and then get an order to pass the time. Mike being there sometimes annoyed a few employees, but, they weren’t the ones in charge, Ralph would rather be kind, besides, Mike took good care of his living quarters upstairs, and Ralph would rather have someone around that he could always trust, instead of someone who always paid the rent on time, if something needed a repair, Mike could usually fix it himself.

“Hi Mike!” Kat said, “how’s it going today? I saw a metal bookcase, down at The Lot, might bring you a few bucks so you can buy me a cup of coffee some day.” Her fingers reached for a crumb of chocolate cake left all alone on his plate, and faster than Jed Clampett, he lightly smacked it away.

“Yeah, I saw that, it's still in pretty good shape, someone might need it, I’ll wait a day or two picking that one up. You look chipper, what’s up with you this fine day Katty?” Mike took a sip of coffee as he waited for Katty to tell him about her goings on, if he was lucky she would tell him a bit about Junneth, since Junie always just walked on by when he was out on the street, There was some history between them, that Katty vaguely suspected, but never asked about, she just liked having Mike as a friend, so the thought was never analyzed.

“Just going to the store to get some things for Junie.” She bit back the words that would have let him know what she was up to, she didn’t want to give him a hint of what she had planned. “See you later, gotta go now!” Kat said as she started to walk away.

“Bye, take care,” Mike nodded, and put up a hand to give a small wave, but Katty was halfway down the street. Mike finished his coffee, that last cake crumb, and went upstairs to his apartment.

Mike’s place was stuffed with books he had rescued, a mish mash of furniture, that was solid, but had nothing in common from past lives, he got most of his furniture from the ‘take and leave’ lot down the street. No one knew for sure who owned the empty lot, it had become a place for people to leave things they didn’t need anymore, but someone else might. At one time it had been a small farmer’s market, and the shelter roof was still there, now used to put things out of potential rain. Everyone just called it “The Lot”. Mike, and a few other's would pick up any metal left, to take to the recycle place for a little extra cash, nothing stayed there too long.

Mike laid his keys down on the ragged bed his little white dog Tootsie used to sleep on, she loved to sit there keeping a watchful eye on the street, there was a rail outside the window the birds sat on, and Tootsie always thought it was her duty to keep them in line. When she died a month ago it broke Mike's heart, and it was just too soon to take the bed out. Before, if you saw Mike, you probably saw Tootsie, and Ralph used to keep treats for her under the counter at the coffee shop.

Kat came in the back door, kicked off her shoes, and set her loot on the kitchen counter.

“OK, Junie, they didn’t have any green food color, and I got the last bag of coconut, I got chocolate cake mix, cause h--, my friend likes chocolate best, and the last can of white frosting.”

Junie gave Kat instructions on what to do, but, this was her first lamb cake too, so she hoped it wouldn't be too hard to make something that at least resembled the cake on the cover. Wrong! The cake did not fill up the mold, and got stuck in places, most of the coconut somehow landed on the floor, and the frosting was a bit thick, making it hard to spread evenly. But the troubles only annoyed Junneth, Kat was happy to be making something for her friend, she didn’t want the cake to really look like a lamb anyway, she wanted it to look like Tootsie, and finally when Junie was committed, Kat told her who the cake was for and why. Junneth just kept her mouth closed, and a small muscle twitched, she knew tomorrow was Mike’s birthday.

“You can use this plate to put it on,” Junneth got out a miss match white plate she had, because she didn’t care if it came back or not. “We can try to touch Tootsie up in the morning, she looks a bit sad now.”

“Mike! Of all people to make a cake for, why did it have to be him Katty picked out?” Junneth’s thoughts went from sour to soft and back to sour, Mike was the one who said he would take her to prom, yes, they weren’t solid, but, he was the only one she really wanted to go with, then, he told her he had to take some girl who was the daughter of someone of someone else, his dad worked for. Junneth was OK for a while, but then when she saw the girl, her blood boiled, and she could not forgive, she was everything Junneth was not. Five years later, and it still stung. Junneth missed prom because of Mike. But everyone liked Tootsie, so, that made the cake a bit more acceptable, she’d allow it.

First thing Kat did when she got up next morning, was to go look at the cake, and she was dismayed to see that Tootsie’s fur had sagged a bit, there was some frosting left, maybe Junie could fix this. Kat made herself a bowl of Raisin Bran, and waited for Junie to wake up, and get her first cup of coffee. Mike didn’t usually get to the coffee shop until about 10, so she reminded herself no hurry. It had been a month since Tootsie died, she didn’t want Mike’s birthday to be sad.

Finally Junie got up, and after pouring her coffee, she had to inspect the cake too, since Mike would know she had a hand in it, she wanted it to look a bit presentable. She noticed the frosting was sagging, and was glad they hadn't ate the last dregs, there was just enough to patch up Tootsie.

“She doesn’t have any eyes,” Katty said, “what can we do for her eyes? I forgot to get something for her eyes!” At the same time they both saw the raisins in Katty’s cereal bowl, plucked two out, and stuck them in what looked like it would be Tootsie’s face.

“Perfect!” Junie declared, and absentmindedly touched her face. “Wrap her up, and let’s go.” Junie commanded. She reluctantly realized she would have to carry the darn thing down the street, because Katty had a card and a few balloons to hold, Junie didn’t trust her walking with a cake that far anyway.

As usual, Mike was at his table, coffee by his side, and working on what looked like a big book. Mike always had to scope out The Lot first thing in the morning, and someone had thrown out a box of books, and one of them was this safe, disguised as a book, a quick shake let Mike know something was inside, so, he decided to give it a go, though it required a key that wasn’t there. Mike was engrossed with the lock, and didn’t see Junneth or Kat walking down the street, they stopped at his table and he looked up. Junneth sat the cake down, and Kat handed an astonished Mike, the balloons and the card.

“Ahh, thanks Katty, and, Junneth,” Mike said with a bit of stammer over Junneth’s name. “You didn’t have to do this.” Junneth took the wrapper off of the cake, and Katty said, “To remember Tootsie.”

Mike was a bit overwhelmed, and said “thank you” again. He was not sure what to think about this cake, but, he could see they really tried, and it meant all the world to him.

Kat went in to the shop to get some coffee for her and Junie, and Junie pulled some plates and forks out of a tote, and then realized she forgot a knife to cut the cake with.

“We’ll manage,” Mike said looking at Junneth, he touched her face, “You, have some frosting on your cheek,” he said quietly, and licked his finger. Junneth didn’t move.

“What is that?” Junneth said pointing to the book, trying to change the climate, “What are you trying to do?”

“It’s a safe, pretending it’s a book, I’ll get it open in a minute, I hope no one kept anything too valuable in here, but I gotta try.” Mike used his pocket knife to try and open the lock, he was making headway just as Katty came back with the coffee, as she set the cups down, the lock sprang open.

All three leaned over to peer in as Mike opened the cover, $20,000 in cash stared back at them! For once all three were speechless.