Pickle #7/#9, Eggnog #9/#15--"Karma"/"Visit"
Author: leiamoody
Title: “Karma”
Rating: PG
Challenge: Pickle #7 “bun in the oven”, Eggnog #9 “sugar cookies/gingerbread”
Extra: Malt: 12 Days of Christmas (“Five bowls of mush”)
Story: The Future Book
Summary: Kelly and Croy have a baking disaster.
Word Count: 348
December 21, 2011
“Cookie karma?”
“Sure.” Imagine your paternal unit holding two bowls of watery gingerbread cookie dough, and three bowls of sugar cookie dough (also watery) settled on the counter. Our first attempt at making Christmas treats has now ended in disaster. One saving grace is the sticky buns puffing up nicely in the oven. But we planned on a full dessert spread, and twelve little buns won’t satisfy the Randolph and Palmer clans!
So your non-cooking parents decided to venture into uncharted territory: making desserts. Yeah, more than one dessert for the respective Christmas gatherings on Sunday. And that’s where your father’s idea of “Cookie Karma” arrives into this narrative. His theory: “We started out with lack of knowledge and the best of intentions. We got darned ambitious−”
“Are we really that bad?”
“Yeah, because we decided to go up against forces more powerful than our skills can handle…” Your father dropped the soggy dough goop into the sink. “Well-intentioned amateurs try making cookies in batches−”
“You think mushy dough is punishment for us making cookies?” We decided to be a couple of domestic types, actually using our kitchen for its designed purpose, but we suck at cooking, so the dessert venture was doomed to a watery outcome? What about our collaboration on the sticky buns? Your dad had a convenient explanation for that part: “The baking gods aren’t cruel, not if you have good intentions. We got stupid, right? Yakking away like we freebased Red Bull instead of paying attention while filling up the bowls…” he shrugged “…running back and forth watching Charlie Brown instead of staying here focused on the undertaking…”
“I thought the Dessert Gods weren’t totally condemning us?”
“Those are looking great.” He bent down and looked into the oven, just to make sure the Dessert Gods hadn’t changed their minds and turned the sticky buns into pillars of salt. “So we got a reprieve, and we get to bring one dessert for Christmas Day.”
“That doesn’t seem fair.”
“It’s a sliver of mercy. Those buns could be on fire right now.”
Author: leiamoody
Title: “Visit"
Rating: PG
Challenge: Pickle #9 “the stork”, Eggnog #15 “a feast”
Extra: Malt-- 12 Days of Christmas (“Three pairs of underwear”)
Story: The Future Book
Summary: Kelly and Croy are visited by his parents on Christmas Day.
Word Count: 337
December 25, 2011
“A chandelier in the bathroom?”
“It’s better than a disco ball.”
“Neither one makes any sense in the room with the toilet.”
Your dad and grandfather “debating” about stuff they don’t agree on is like a scheduled appointment every time the family gets under one roof. We’re finally getting the humble abode fixed up a little bit every so often, and we’re nearly finished the bathroom. We don’t have a chandelier or disco ball in there, although I could persuade your Dad to wrangle up a combo disco chandelier just for the “Hey, why not?” factor. The bathroom has been our latest project (three months and counting, 92% finished). We’ve got all the important stuff (pipes, etc.) taken care of; now it’s the extraneous details that need to be completed.
It’s Christmas Day, and your paternal unit’s parental units are over for a little dessert feeding. Your dear parents recovered from the Great Cookie Disaster with one lovely tray of sticky buns paired with four trays of mixed sugar/gingerbread cookies from Henson’s on Kershaw (your aunt picked up some red velvet cupcakes from there a week ago; they were GOOD, so we had to get cookies from there!). We did our gift exchange (you scored the biggest share of loot, including three pairs of toddler-sized underwear. I suppose Grandma Palmer was thinking ahead by getting those…). Then we spread out in the living room, chomped on the desserts, and somehow Grandpa Palmer decided to regale us with his version of the Jonah and His Pesky Sea Journey tale. (His version involves the Loch Ness Monster). There was a lot of Bailey’s flowing tonight, and your grandfather was a sailor (prone to random bouts of storytelling)…odd, but funny.
It was a great evening, except when Grandpa Palmer made a stork joke. (Wondering aloud when the “Great Fertility Bird” is coming around with a grandson isn’t really amusing).
(The visit to Randolph House: The Center of Misery was typical; at least everybody agreed on the cookies).