Gertrude beamed as she stood in the kitchen 8/30/2024

 8/30/2024

Gertrude beamed as she stood in the kitchen. The kitchen sink was piled in messy dishes. The stove top was dirty from spilt over batter. 

“I made a cake!” She gushed at the cake on the table. The icing had partially melted off in some places exposing some burnt edges of the cake. 

Aqua cringed as she looked at the unappetizing cake. She wasn't even sure why Gertrude was showing her said disaster. She didn't even like sweets! She stood silent for what felt like too long. She gulped, “Congratulations…” She tried to make her smile look natural. “What's the occasion?”

Gertrude smiled. She liked how Aqua tried not to hurt her feelings. “It's been six months since you moved. So I wanted to celebrate.” Truth was she was practicing to make a birthday cake. She was great at cooking. But baking, well, there was a reason cooks on many cooking shows dreaded dessert challenges. Plus, she didn't know when Aqua's birthday was. Aqua had lived for a hundred years or so. Maybe she didn't remember when her birthday was. 

Aqua nodded. “Thank you for the thoughts.” She eyed the cake. 

“I can take it to work if you don't want to try it.” Gertrude giggled. “It was my first time attempting to make one.”

“You've lived for 200 years and have never once attempted to make a cake?” Aqua murmured in surprise.

Gertrude was active and always wanting to try new things. With as often as she enjoyed making new dishes, a cake had never been among them?

“I like sweets.” Gertrude shrugged. “But I just never wanted to make any.” She turned to grab a container from a cabinet. “Plus I've noticed you don't seem to like sweets that much.”

Aqua nodded. “Citrus desserts