The Magic of Baking-a Highland Books short story (COMPLETE)

The Magic of Baking

 "Caroline, what's your favourite memory of Ranald?"

She did this sometimes. Pretended she was being interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland. Who took her seriously and sought her opinion on everything and anything. In this instance, material they could use to help listeners understand Ranald McLatchie better.

"Och, easy!" she said. Kay Adams interviewed her. Kay didn't stand for any nonsense. Caroline liked her. If the two of them got together afterwards for a wee chat, she knew Kay would warm to warnings about the perils of the menopause. Kay wasn't afraid to bring up dry vaginas, inconvenient weepiness or that wretched extra flesh that welded itself round your belly.

When Caroline said, "Coconut oil—the cure for everything!", Kay nodded sagely. Even if she had trouble figuring out how it might stop you greeting every time you saw an ad for a cancer charity on the telly.

"Here it is, my memory," Caroline told Kay. "I have tae set the scene. We're in a farmhouse kitchen. Have ye been in one, Kay? They're awfy big. Draughty too. A table in the centre, a dresser to the left filled wi' blue and white Adams cattle scenery plates and silver cutlery. To the side, a Raeburn stove, the wire shelf above it topped wi' tea-towels and a chancer cat sleepin' there to catch the warmth..."

"A lovely scene, Caroline," Kay butted in, "tell me what happened."
No nonsense, remember? Caroline had vanished into la-la-land memories, the look and the smell of the place whisking her back twenty years. She'd stumbled on it too, returning from a day at the university doing her medical studies course and there they were. Ranald and her son in that kitchen.

"No, no, don't mix it too much!"

They hadn't heard her come in. She'd lifted the latch on the kitchen door quietly, an old habit left over from Jack's father's days. If he got a fright when she came in, he lashed out first and asked questions later.

Ranald had pulled out the old milking stool. It gave her eight-year-old son the height he needed to stand at the kitchen counter. They both wore pinnies, aprons over their clothes meant to protect them from the splatter of flour. Whiteness dotted their cheeks and dusted their sleeves. She saw patches of it on the floor, the counters. Even in their hair.

"Can I try it?"

Jack's question made Caroline smile. She was broad Scots. Ranald wasn't. His own father had beaten elocution into him and his sister. And yet her own son picked up on Ranald's proper speech and copied it. He said the odd 'aye' and 'mebbe' just like his mother did, but Ranald was the man he wanted to be. So now he emphasised the 'I', differing it from his mother's 'Ah'.

"Might give you a sore tummy," Ranald said, spoiling the warning when he stuck a finger in, scooped up a bit blob of sugary dough and stuck it in his mouth. Jack copied him, his face lighting up.

"The rice flour makes it special, doesn't it?"

Ranald took another bit of dough, worked it in his mouth thoughtfully and smiled. "Aye, I think so, Jack."

The 'aye' was the sign he'd seen her. Speaking properly all the time made him self-conscious. "I don't sound like anyone else around here, Caroline," he told her. "And I dinnae care," she said, and laughed. They exchanged their usual eyeball greeting over Jack's head. If questioned about it, Caroline would say the eyes asked, are you okay? Yes? Good.

"Makin' shortbread boys?" she asked, Jack twisting from his stool to look at her. His eyes shone.

"Yes, Mum! Ranald's teaching me. The rice flour is the secret ingredient."

She opened one of the drawers on the ancient dresser. Like everything in this old house, it was crammed with random stuff. Old pens, notepads, diaries, mouse pads and... here it was, the heart-shaped biscuit cutter she'd bought a year ago.