Dusting Off A Heart

Chapter 23 - Scrubbin'

If it was easy everybody would've done it.

She said as she motivates herself to mix the ingredients.

Well, yes of course for the cake!

Mr. Clarence has been on her side pointing what she should put inside the bowl. He already shows her how to make a simple vanilla cake before she dives in to make her own. But still, she couldn't even manage to make a 'very simple vanilla cake' as what Mr. Clarence had told her.

Thank goodness Mr. Clarence is a patient person. He stood by her side, uncomplainingly telling her which ingredient should she put. Even after so many times she forgot.

Finally, the time arrives when they put the dough in the oven, and wait for 30 minutes for the dough to turns to (hopefully) a cake. And Lauren waited on a stool near the oven, examining the progress of the cake. Oh goodness, she hopes it turn out just fine.

"Hey, Lauren! Can you come here for a minute?" Arabel, Mr. Clarence's wife calls her from a corner of the kitchen where sinks are seen.

Lauren leaves her stool and her 'cake watching' activity and strides to where Mrs. Clarence is.

"What can I help you with, Mrs. Clarence?" Lauren asked as she fixes the apron she's wearing.

"Oh, please don't call me that! I feel so old. Call me Arabel." She smiles at Lauren. "You see, since Clause is busy with that boy—what's his name, again?"

Even how much she hates to say his name, she said it for this nice lady. "Dane?"

"Ah, yes Dane! They're making the icing as we speak." She said as she turns to the sink full of dirty kitchen appliances. "While we, well we clean up the mess they made." She sighs.

"And also I'm going to teach you a thing or two to wash the appliances. They're not easy to clean as they looked, you know."

I bet. Lauren thinks to herself. Just as hard as making the 'simple' vanilla cake again.

~'~'~'~'~'~'~

He doesn't know what make his icing so sticky, that he almost couldn't steer it. Almost. But he managed. However, when the red bearded man takes a look at his icing, his eyes narrows to the maximum level an eye can be narrowed.

"I think you put something that doesn't belong in the icing, Dane."

"I think so too, Mr. Clarence. I just don't know what I put."

The pro-baker continues to scan at the table before him for quite a time until finally he chooses to taste the wrongness himself. Mr. Clarence put his finger on the fluid, and put it in his mouth. His face changed as soon as he tastes the fluid.

"Is it that bad?" Dane asked him. Kinda already know that he'll screw up anyway.

Mr. Clarence cringes, which makes Dane cringes as well. "Well, okay. We can try again." said Mr. Clarence. "It's okay. Maybe you can do the washings or the cleaning. Anyway, what if you join Arabel and Lauren washing the dishes, while I fix...this fluid that you've made."

Dane scratch the back of his head, and nodded. His second day, and he haven't got any clue of how to make the icing, which was quite an important phase of making a cake. Gosh, his mom would laugh until she teared up if she saw him like this.

He then walked with his head low and a little bit embarrassed (just a little, don't worry he's still a tough man he is) to the sink area to help the girls wash the dishes.