To Love And Be Loved

Chapter 8

Cass wiped her brow with her free hand. She gave a shriek as the hot pot burned her.

"You have to keep stirring Cass or you're going to leave many lumps."

Cass sighed and kept stirring the pot of Semovita. She had poured the white powder into the boiling water, just as her mother had instructed and she had been stirring for close to 10 minutes. The Semovita was still watery and it looked suspiciously like baby's puke.

"Cant we just put it in the mixer?" Cass asked.

"What? The mixer? For mixing cake flour?" Zara giggled as she closed the oven door containing the cupcakes

"What?" Cass asked, bewildered. "I wonder why you guys don't use it."

Her mother dropped the Ugwu leaves she was cutting and turned to her, hand on hip. "You are a woman," she said. "You should learn how to cook. You don't want your kids growing up on junk food, do you?"

Cass turned back to stirring. The front of her apron was covered with white crusty flakes of dry Semovita. Cass didn't hate cooking, she simply had no interest in it.

"Mum, its getting thicker, what do I do?"

"Just keep stirring darling. Its not running away," said her mother.

"Don't blame me if the food tastes funny," said Cass.

Cass felt her mother's hands on her shoulder. "Before I married your father, I had never cooked anything in my life. I couldn't even boil water by myself."

Cass looked into her mother's eyes. "Really?" she asked. Cass knew her mother could spend hours in the kitchen trying to fill up everyone's stomach. In fact, cooking was one of her hobbies. "Wqhat changed?"

"After I married your father and became pregnant with you and Gabriel, I ate a lot of restaurant food, which I must say isn't the right choice of food for an expectant mother. I became fed up with having to see my husband eat outside and come home after work with a takeaway, all because I couldn't cook. So I decided to take matters into my hands. I learnt how to cook."

"That must have been hard."

"Yes, it was. And that's why you should learn how to cook as well. You cant live forever on pizza."

The oven beeped twice. Zara brought out the cupcakes with mittens covered hands.

"You just keep stirring until its thick. There are cupcakes waiting for you." Her mother ruffled her hair and winked.

"Did dad ever complain?" Cass asked her mother before she turned.

Just then, Gabriel burst in, eyes wide. "I heard it," he said.

"Heard what?" the three women all asked in unison.

"The oven, I heard it."

"Cupcake Tom is back," said Cass.

Cupcake Tom was Gabriel's favorite cartoon show as a kid. It was about a superhero/ baker who baked cupcakes by day and fought crime by night. Gabriel had been obsessed with the show and had even developed a craving for cupcakes. Over the years, as he grew, it seemed he had forgotten all about Cupcake Tom, unless they baked cupcakes at home. Cass suspected he still watched episodes of the show on his phone.