Friends
“Next, we add the eggs.” Hapu said, dumping the necessary amount of pre-cracked eggs into the bowl. “Then we- Are you even listening?” She turned and found Lillie in the living room, rapidly spamming buttons on her controller. “Lillie!”
Lillie’s tongue hung out as she concentrated. ”Uh, yup. Just a sec. Almost done here... Yes!” The pup did a happy wiggle as her character crossed the finish line.
Hapu took note of the eighth place icon flashing in the corner, but said nothing to Lillie. What she couldn’t see wouldn’t hurt her. “We can’t eat the cookies if we don’t make the cookies first.” She said.
”Can’t we just buy some?” Lillie whined.
”No. Everywish needs basic life skills. Cooking, or in this case baking, is one of them. Now come back into the kitchen and help me.”
The pup trudged back into the kitchen and plopped down on the floor. “I’m listening.” She said unenthusiastically.
“Okay,” Hapu began again. “So, we just added the eggs. Now we mix vigorously. Once the batter is almost done, we drop in the peanut butter.”
”Can we add candies instead?”
”Not today. Lay out the parchment, then use a big spoon or ice-cream scoop to measure out the dollops-“
”Oooh! Can we get ice-cream too? We can make sammiches.”
”Maybe next time, Lillie.” Hapu said. This was proving to be more of a challenge than she’d expected. She took a breath, then continued. “Space them out evenly on the tray. Then pop them in the oven for fifteen minutes.”
No sooner than Hapu had closed the oven door, Lillie ran back out of the kitchen. Hapu sighed and began cleaning the kitchen. She had to wonder if Lillie wasn’t a bit too young to be learning such skills. It was hard enough cooking without opposable thumbs, she didn’t know how Lillie was going to do it when she couldn’t sit still for more than two minutes at a time. Hapu had enjoyed learning how to cook with her friend Ira, but perhaps Lillie had different passions.
Once all the dishes were in the sink, Hapu joined Lillie in the living room. “Whatcha doing, Lil?”
”Creatin’.” Lillie said. She slapped a paw onto the paper plate covered in paint, them dabbed it all over the large sheet of paper. Then she picked a marker up with her mouth and started swirling it around. She was making an absolute mess, and it took a lot of willpower for Hapu not to scold her. The jars of glitter beside her made her extra nervous. “Do ya like it?” Lillie asked.
”It’s... interesting.”
“I’m gonna be an artist. Or a figure skater.”
”Riiiight.” Hapu said. “Uh-“ Just then, the timer went off.
”Oooh cookies!” Lillie squealed. She ran ahead, knocking into Hapu along the way. Her nose pressed against the over door. “Open it, open it!”
”Be careful, it’s hot.” Hapu nudged her aside. She slid the cookies halfway out, then put them back in. “They need a bit longer.”
”Nooo.” Lillie pouted.
”Just go play for a bit. I’ll call you when they’re done.”
Lillie sulked off somewhere into the house. Hapu took the time to finish up the dishes and put them away. With luck, little Lillie would stay away until the cookies were out and cooled. Hapu put away the game controllers and the art supplies into the bins. Soon she’d have to teach Lillie how to clean up for herself, but for now Hapu would just do it herself. She left the completed artwork on the table so it could finish drying. She was about to go check the cookies again when something crashed in the bedroom. Hapu ran to see what had happened. She found Lillie laying beneath a stack of blankets and board games in the closet.
”Lillie!” Hapu helped the pup up. “What are you doing!? You could have seriously hurt yourself. You need to learn how to be patient and ask for help.”
Her nose twitched and a tear spilled out of her eye. “I just wanted a game.”
Hapu sighed. “It’s okay. I’m not... I’m not angry.” She said as gently as she could manage. She guided Lillie away from the mess. Cards, dice, and figurines lay all over the floor. Hapu stepped on one and winced. “We’ll clean it up together later, after we eat some- Oh no!” Hapu hurried back into the kitchen. She pulled the cookies from the oven, expecting charred crumbles.
”What happened?” Lillie asked.
”The cookies almost burned.” She said, disappointed. “They look a little... crunchy.”
”I like crunchy cookies.”
Hapu looked down at the smiling puppy beside her. Her tail still wagged eagerly. “Okay, crunchy cookies it is then.”
”And maybe ice-cream?”
Hapu pat her head. “Mm, maybe.” She checked Lillie for injuries, then finding none, decided that everything was okay after all.
”Is it cookie time yet?”
”Alright, you’ve been patie- well you’ve waited long enough I guess. You can have one now, then one after dinner.”
”Awesome!” Lillie danced back and forth as Hapu got cookies for each of them. She dug in immediately, devouring the whole thing without stopping. For a moment Hapu thought she was going to eat the plate too.
”I take it you like it.”
”It’s suuuuper yummy! Way better than the store kind.”
“See. What did I say?”
”They’re still warm.” Lillie said dreamily. “And they’re hardly crunchy at all.”
Hapu took a bite and crumbs fell all over the floor. They weren’t the best cookies she’d ever made, but they’d always be the first cookies she and Lillie ever made together. And that was good enough. “Are you ready to clean up the mess now?”
”Sure.” Lillie said. Hapu finished her cookie, then put the others in a container for later. When she turned around, she found Lillie sprawled out on the tile floor, a bubble of drool at her mouth.
Hapu yawned. “You know what, Lillie.” She whispered to the sleeping pup. “For once I agree with you.”