Down The Rabbit Hole

B. 1. "Curiouser and Curiouser"

"Curiouser and Curiouser"

Stranger things have happened, so why not share the most curious thing that's ever happened to you? Alice would definitely empathize. (<500 words)

Word count: 443

The Birthday Fault

When learning to bake a cake, Arm yourself well.

I was all grown-up, seventeen, married, and stuck on Guam Island with my hubby. He was in the Navy and was assigned to spend his hitch there. True, we were just married, and learning the duties of a housewife turned out to be trial and error...at best. When it came to cooking, I never learned at home, but I figured it to be a cinch. Hey, Mom sailed through it. A rattle of pans, a dump in of this, a dump in of that, thirty to sixty minutes in the oven...and Wha-La! Delicious food in the disguise of a main course and/or dessert.

         I admit, my first, many meals sucked. It took a local who lived in the same village as we did to bail me out. He taught me how to fry and bake chicken and potatoes. Hubby ate at the base a lot. Eventually, I upgraded to spaghetti, chili, and hamburgers.

         Then it happened. April showed up and brought hubby's birthday with it. I thought, Now, how hard is it to follow directions and bake a cake? It would be pretty hard to screw up...right? So off I went, cake mix in one hand and round cake pans in the other.

         My cake baked up beautifully. I was proud. I couldn't wait to give it to my hubby. It cooled perfectly. I couldn't wait to ice it. I started. I put the bottom layer on a plate and covered it with his favorite frosting—chocolate. I placed the top layer on the bottom. OH NO! I didn't have any toothpicks to secure the top to the bottom. I thought and thought. Ah! no worries, I cut and rolled up small pieces of foil, stuck them all over the top layer, and continued to apply the icing. I was almost done. The top layer cracked all the way across and began to side down.

         I had to think fast! I applied a gob of frosting between the two pieces of the top layer and pushed them back together. I hoped it would act as glue and hold them together long enough to serve him the first piece. WRONG! They slipped again. The more frosting I applied, the faster and further the top layer pieces slipped apart. I gave up! My cake looked like it had been through an earthquake, and I looked like the can of chocolate icing had exploded in my face.

         I served him a beautiful iced bottom layer of cake topped with two pieces of over-iced top layer cake clinging to its sides. He laughed...I cried.