"No you don't, Mom. Just forget I mentioned it."
"Too late. Words can't be taken back."
"Sorry, son."
"Fine. I'll go clean the toilets."
"HEY, whatever you do, do it without grumbling or complaining."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
"As for you, Ruby; I'm proud of you. I for sure thought you had no cleaning genes in you."
"Amazing what one can do when motivated."
"Speaking of motivated; do you feel motivated to help me with baking tomorrow? Town bake sale is in two days and I think that would be an amazing way to introduce ourselves."
"Will that require two hands?"
"Of course, Silly. You can't mix and hold the bowl at the same time."
"I can certainly try."
"Follow me. I want to show you our competition. Hopefully you remember a few and can give me pointers."
"I thought you were all about working together?"
"Yeah, we'll work together to take down the competition.
Hun, can you watch Darius?"
"Of course. You two girls have fun.
"Don't stay up too late."
"We won't. Take your time...….AND BRING BACK SAMPLES. I'LL BE YOUR TASTE TESTER."
"Ok, Ruby; we're out of hearing distance. Tell me the truth. Can you bake?"
"No."
"What do you mean? I smelt the kitchen."
"Yeah, but I was just following instructions."
"That's all baking is. Reading directions, memorizing them in your head, then substituting to make your own. Please? My husband doesn't bake, and Darius is too young. All my husban knows how to do is use the recipes that say 'Just add water'."
"That's not baking at all. You need to measure, shift, whisk, scrape, and the list goes on."
"Ahaa. See, you do know how to bake."
"I just watched my mom."
"Then it's in your blood. Girlpower. What do you say? Will you lend a hand?"
"Which one do you want?"
"For now, just your hand-shaking hand."
*Ding-Dong*