1 A Fried Cake

With the whole Covid-19 going around terrorizing the whole state, I was stuck with my pain-in-the-ass homework in the laptop. Well, it's not like I can do anything about ditching notes. I have my Maths teacher throwing homework at our faces. The Chemistry teacher is happily giving us assignments on God knows what experiments on the color of iron and copper after it is dipped in something in drops and excess. As my hand ran over the paper of my notebook [fast and furious], my 'can't keep quiet for a millisecond' sister interrupted my battle with the notebook.

From the look on her face, I could guess her next line. I accidentally promised her yesterday, that I will make a cake with her as per her birthday. Her birthday had long passed, but her awful stubbornness cannot be extinguished that easily. "Sister, you said..." Sh*t, here it comes! Take Cover! Think of an excuse! "Yeah, yeah, I know. Wait till I have completed." I said. Whew, saved! She pouted her face but nodded. I secretly grinned and looked at my laptop. My smile drooped. God, seriously are you kidding me?!

I was at the last page of my notes. Actually, to be more exact, the LAST paragraph of the whole notes! Now, I understood that there were many great things in writing slower. But, I can't just give up and walk into the lion's den right away! "Sis, why don't you go and play on your i-pad? I will finish the notes and come." I said as I started to write again. But she didn't move. Instead she said, "But its over, right?" "Who said that?" I asked annoyed. But she didn't budge. "That slider at the side of the page, its already down there."

Great! Just Great! Why is she awfully clever in these aspects? Don't think that I am exaggerating, but she is really cunning. To watch Netflix, she would wait for her Dad to enter into his meetings and then hang around to get on his nerves, until, he says in frustration, "Just go, do whatever you want!"... Devilishly clever!

I halfheartedly completed the rest of the notes and walked like a dead man to the kitchen behind my enthusiastic sister. "So, what is it today?" I asked, already taking up the flour and eggs. I need to get this stupid thing done fast like my note book battle. "No, there is no flour or eggs needed." She said.

Huh? No flour and eggs? What kind of cake is that? I have seen videos about eggless cakes [which I never tried, I love eggs], but then flourless cake? How is that possible? Wheat cake, maybe? Is it good?

I was sure there was some question marks sprouting out of my head, because my sister replied, "We are making a biscuit cake!" Biscuit cake? Why is it familiar? Wait... Oh no! I did saw that video some days ago. It had no measurements and no surety it would work out great. There were some good comments below, but there are many other problems. "But, we don't have 2 covers of biscuits!" "I will adjust with 1 cover." She said without missing the beat. "But we don't have ENO powder!" I said. That made my sis think a little. I had a new hope. Now, there is a possibility that we won't make a cake. But, there can be a small problem...

"We can use baking soda!" Speak of the devil! "MOM!" Both of us said - She in happiness and me in betrayal. She was at the dining table, working on her laptop. She returned a sorry look at my face. Guess, it must because, she may have to take my place instead, if I had left. Her unvoiced apology was the last thing I saw before the door of the kitchen closed, and I came face to face with my doom!

"Alright, I have taken the biscuits, sugar and oil. Could you please take a bowl and the baking tin?" She asked very happily, that you could almost see sparkles around her. Is it me or is she enjoying my misery in secret? "Okay" I mumbled with a sigh. I may as well get this done quickly! She began to empty the container with the biscuits into the grinder. Those were my favorite biscuits! 'My dear 'mom's magic' biscuits, good bye forever~!' I thought as I sadly took the tin and the bowl.

"Sister, I will butter the tin. Please beat the sugar and biscuits." She said. I went over to the grinder with the mix and was stupefied when I saw the mix. That girl! She didn't even break the biscuits into smaller pieces! I am sure if the jar could talk, he would be like, "Girl, you for real?!!" Now I seriously doubt that I could give back the kitchen in one piece. No wonder, mom never lets her handle a thing in the kitchen.

I broke up the biscuits and grinded the mix in the grinder. After that, I asked her, "Now what?" "Now, we need milk!" Why didn't she say that earlier?! "Alright where is it?" "In the refrigerator, maybe?" She replied as she cut the butter paper into a circle for a rectangular shaped tin. God, I don't think I can save the kitchen, or the cake. Mom can be scary at times!

I searched the refrigerator, but I could not find any milk. I turned to her and asked, "Hey, there is nothing in here." "Sister, why cant you even find milk?" She said as she started her own search. A nerve popped out of my skin. But it calmed down when she looked really confused. "Well, Ms. Indiana Jones, did you find it?" I asked smirking. She gave me a angry look before she started again.

"This is weird. Where did the milk go?" She thought out loud. "I will ask mom." I said and walked to mom. "Mom, where is the milk?" I asked. "Maybe in the refrigerator?" She replied with out looking up from her laptop. Like Mother, like daughter! "No, its not in there." I said. That woke her interest as she looked up at me surprised. "Then it must be- Wait.... Oh no!" She looked like she remembered something. And was not a good thing. "Mom, what is it?" "Its..." After she said those 5 earth shattering words, which broke my already broken heart into 4 more pieces, I went back to the kitchen to convey the news to my sister.

"So where is it?" She asked. "The milkman didn't come today." I said it. She was in a daze for moment. Then she became panic-stricken. "Sister, what do we do now?" She asked me. I shook my head to say 'no idea'. "Maybe we could just stop! Sister, lets throw away the mix!" Excuse me?! You took my favorite biscuits and made a mix that is not a reversible equation, I mean, mix and I also told you that the probability of this cake is not even 1% ['cause she only put in one cover of the biscuits] and now you just wanna throw away! Do you even have a heart?! [ Sorry Biology teacher, I just wanna express my emotions!]

"No, there is a way!" Mom to the rescue! "We could use milk powder and water as a substitute for milk!" That's... logical. My sister's whole panic acting was dropped in a moment. She got to work faster that a woodpecker would peck the wood.

[ woodpecker: What?!]

The water+ milk powder was ready. I began to mix the biscuit and sugar mix with the milk substitute and it slowly began a loose batter. The only problem was that it was less. "Lets add flour!" She said as she already began to put about 2 spoons of flour. I did not say anything. Its gonna be a flop anyway.

My sister began to get tired of standing like a statue, so, she asked me to give her the job of mixing. I thought that a rest won't hurt and after adding a pinch of baking soda, I began to relax by leaning against the kitchen counter. Then I noticed the cake tin. The butter paper was round, like I have mentioned before, for a rectangular tin. There when many folds inside; it was almost like a big mitochondria if you ask me.

I began to shape it. Though it wasn't that perfect, the folds were gone. Then she arrived with a cup. "Sister, in the video, instead of the butter paper and butter, they used this oil. What do we do now?" This time, I grabbed the bridge of my nose. Then I recovered and said, "Lets pour it on the cake tin." She poured it and I began to spread it around. Then, we poured the cake batter into it and tapped the tin to get rid of the air bubbles hiding inside the batter. Actually, there was no need to since the batter was loose and I couldn't see anything coming out of the batter. By the time I was pouring the batter, my sister had already preheated the oven. When we heard a 'ting', I put on my gloves and put the baking tin into the oven and changed the timer to 20 minutes.

I decided to read something. But, after 5 minutes, I could smell something delicious and I rushed to the oven. But, the sight broke my twice broken heart into 6 pieces. The cake didn't rise up like typical cakes should do! I told this to mom and she told me that "Its alright. Its bound to be a failure anyway." Bad choice of consulting! My sister had lost hope and began to play on her i-pad. And I was on my own, grieving in the sadness cooked up by us.

I came to look again after 15 minutes. The sight repaired my heart back. It was rising! I conveyed the news to my mom who smiled and sister who also smiled. Soon, the last 5 minutes had passed and we ran to the kitchen. Haven't you seen movies in which the someone comes to see something really shocking in slow motion? It was just like that, everything was in a slow motion and I could almost hear a slow violin music in the background. Then I opened the oven and took out the cake tin with my gloves. Then, I took a look at it. It broke my repaired heart again.

The cake sank back! It looks like a barren valley, cause the side was standing and the middle was like a pool. I put it on the counter and looked at it for sometime. My sister got a tooth pick and saw that the cake was done, surprisingly. I took it off the tin and saw it was not even 1 by 4th of the tin. I couldn't help but frown my brows. When I recovered, I saw my sister trying to remove the butter paper. But, the cake was stuck to it. So we left it like that. I cut a side piece of the cake, if you could even call it a cake, and gave it to mom. She said, "Its sweet at the sides. And also very crunchy like a fried item. What happened?" Crunchy? I went back and took a side piece and ate. God, its too sweet! I felt nauseous. But the part was very crunchy. What... Oh... The Oil! I spread the oil! I rubbed my temples. Now, what to do with this?

"Meow!" I heard a small voice. I turned and saw my furry stray pet cat! If you don't know what a stray pet is, let me enlighten you. This cat arrived at my home 5 years ago. It does go around other houses, but we let it enter our house and give food on daily basis. It must be the only stray pet in the world, like Sherlock being the only consulting detective in the world.

I stared at the cat. It stared at me. Then I got an idea. A brilliant one. I smiled at the cat. It mewed in confusion.

When my sister asked me where the cake was, I pointed at the cat, who was having a happy time filling its stomach. She went all mad at me and said a lot. But I turned a deaf ear to all that. It was a tiresome and fruitless job, that cake baking. In the end, we got no cake.

At least, I saved the kitchen and mom's angry scoldings!