Not Funfetti Cupcakes
Mix:
- 4 cups naïveté
- Carl, the big talker and popular guy + Crystal, the shy recluse.
- 1 gallon teenage lust
- Pinch of caution
Add:
- 1 fresh big lie: Carl said he’ll inherit millions when his granddaddy dies.
- 3 canned small lies: He’ll buy Crystal a ranch and Appaloosas to ride. They’ll travel—Vegas, Australia, the moon. He promised to hire a chef.
Simmer:
- Crystal’s love of horses and the travel channel.
- The bad taste left from cooking for her family of eight after her mama died.
Bake:
10 years on high heat in a Texas knothole of a town.
Yield:
- Three kids browned, crusty-edged.
- Carl, a Walmart assistant manager.
Bittersweet Glaze:
- 1 cup grit
- 12 drops tears
- 4 cups dreams
Inject reality:
- Carl’s granddaddy died.
- Inheritance: boxes of R & B vinyl records and turntable, his only prized possessions.
Garnishes:
- Soulfulness of the music.
- Crystal never cooked for Carl again.
Kay Rae Chomic, novelist (A Tight Grip), and writer of flash: Ellipsis Zine, Cabinet of Heed, Retreat West (1st place-micro fiction), Cranked Anvil (shortlisted), LISP (semi-finalist), Storgy Magazine, Flash Fiction Friday, Five:2:One, and more. Kay lives in Seattle dodging raindrops, and loves Motown music.
