BROWNIES

50 years is how long I've cooked.

It's true.

At 10 I made brownies.

I didn't know how, but that didn't stop me. Into a brownie sized pan I poured flour, a lot of powdered hot chocolate mix, sugar and milk. Oh, and some vanilla. I put it in the oven.
I ate spoonfuls of butter and sugar while it cooked.

They weren't brownies when I pulled the pan out.
They were a hard crust with dark brown edges.

I commenced to hacking it all out, washing it down the garbage disposal, scraping with a barbeque fork and a steel spatula. Utensils bent.

That's when disaster struck.

You know when you turn the water faucet so far, to full-on that it sprays everywhere, the stainless steel sink acting as boulders deflecting a flood?

I called my mom at Aunt Esther's!
(it was an afternoon party,
I was to call in an emergency)
Uncle Ned answered cheerfully.
"Hi, Jo Jo!"
He went to find Mom and I listened to glasses clinking and
musical, laughing whoops from the twins.
Someone was playing the piano.
Mamaw, probably, and singing, too.

I sat on the red Formica counter tapping at the tiny flecks of yellow with a bitten fingernail, listening. I could see out the windows which ran the whole corner of the kitchen.

The door was open; the green grass scent floated in through the screen. A ponderosa lemon, with fruit big enough to hold a drink if you hollowed it out seeped in, too, along with damp earth. Apple trees, pruned to an artistic perfection hinted of Annabelle's thick crusted pies in summer. Flickering white reflections of the bright blue spring sky shimmered on the turquoise swimming pool, all framed by evergreens holding up the shaded hill. Tia snoozed in her sun-warmed, brown, dotted dog fur.

How beautiful that garden was.

I wasn't lonely for once, I was peaceful...even felt hope and excitement in the air, tinged with some worry about the geyser happening on my left.

Mom answered, comforting.
"Turn the handle off."
"I did I did!"
"Turn it the other way."
I turned it back and forth.
"Oh!"
"I love you."
"I love you, when will you be home?"

I left the mess to check out Tia.
I'd clean later.
Yep, she was warm alright.
I sat with her, grass staining my new shorts.