The Fox, Red

019 - Baking With Penny! Anne is Making Progress

It's still early. I look around and I see a rare sight for me; Anne leaving her cabin to work for the day. Typically I don't see her for hours and not until she's already gotten started but today is going to be different. I meet her by the stairs greeting her bringing the most confused look on her face. "Good morning Anne!"

"Red? You're early."

"I've completed what I needed to already so I'm going to follow you today and assist."

"Ok, um, the first thing I need to do is get breakfast for you."

I give kind of an awkward stare, "Oh yea, I sometimes get that."

"And today you do because you completed what you needed to."

I follow her inside where she grabs a plate from the kitchen counter turning to me. I take it and just eat in the kitchen talking to her and the other cooks. They are all nice and even when they're working they are just on top of the conversation. They tell jokes while I learn more about them from the stories they have to share. It's amazing how well they all get along but I guess in such a confined space you get to know one another well. As I finish my plate Anne takes it as she is supposed to and returns it to the counter only two feet away. Then the two of us begin her day.

In a record time, we get Madam Odette's study clean and ready for her to use. She's in charge of polishing the railings today so we split up. She starts at one end on the side towards the wall and I start on the opposite end near the edge that runs all along the span of the top floor. We finish the main hallway and head to the library where the only other set of railings are located. By the time the two of us finish she is supposed to take out lunch but she has an hour and a half before they need to. She goes over the list and we find a chore that we can finish in that time. We simply clean the drain out of the fountain and make sure there are no large particles or yard waste in it.

Lunchtime rolls around and like the tag team we've become, we get meals out to everyone in under 20 minutes. After they finish we stack plates to be brought back to the kitchen to be washed. Between the two of us, we just keep going getting things knocked off to where we can help one of the landscapers carry new dirt to the newly constructed compost pile. Dinner time comes when we tame up just getting plates out and to her designated section. Dinner is over and all the plates come back. By this time we've completed her chores so we wait for the kitchen staff to finish before Ann's lessons with Penny. Tonight we had a simple treat that they call "Cupcake Chocolate Bomb". It's a cupcake that before baking has a solid mass of frozen chocolate put in the center so as it thaws and melts the cupcake bakes around it. Some are absorbed into it but the center is gooey and warm.

After the kitchen is cleaned up Penny reminds me, "So Red, today is collection day."

"Collection day?"

"Yup, you get to pay me for helping you with Anne."

"Uh-huh, and how does this work?"

"What we agreed on is that you show me what you and Madam Odette have been up to in your off hours since you're not allowed to tell me. Words spread rumors but actions tell stories."

"I think you're mistaken."

"I think I'm right in this. I mean, she's such a beautiful woman Red. You just can't ignore that now can you?"

She begins slowly pacing a small area of the kitchen as I speak, "Well, ok. You're right. She is a beautiful woman."

"Right? You can't tell me that in some way you didn't get rewarded. We don't get that but you may have."

"I think the 'may have' means that I haven't."

"You say that but your eyes say yes. So I want you to show me what you've done. I don't care how nasty it is, we can clean up later."