For years, I worked at the bakery. Most of the time I was
behind the counter, slicing loaves and putting éclairs in boxes, and keeping an
eye out for the mice — there’s always mice in bakeries, as you can imagine.
Once day Doris was out sick and an order came in for a decorated cake — Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad, with
flowers piped around the edges. Well, Doris did all of that; she was quite
territorial about it. And the cake was a rush order, so the boss said
“Marjorie, give it a go,” and I did. I found where Doris kept the icing and
piping bag and got to work.
I think I did a decent job, and really enjoyed it too. In
fact, the people who put in the order liked it so much they told the boss, and
from then on in, Doris and I had to share the decorating duties. She’d get one,
and I’d get the next one.
Doris didn’t like this arrangement, and kept trying to
sabotage me by hiding the equipment or botching the order by spelling out the
wrong names. One time she was closing up and left my cake out on the counter,
with a trail of breadcrumbs leading to it. Well, you can imagine what the mice
did with that.
The last straw came when Doris’s own son, Carl, passed his
driver’s test and his Dad called in an order for a celebratory cake. Only it
was my turn, not hers. This is the cake. I was very proud of it, I must say.
And I’m glad we got this picture, because not long afterwards, Doris
“accidentally” sat on it right before it was due to be picked up. You’d think
she’d be upset at having ruined her son’s cake, but she wasn’t.
After that, she went on to work at the chicken plant,
bagging giblets. I stayed on at the bakery until I retired. Every now and then
I’ll get the piping kit out for old time’s sake, but my arthritis keeps me from
doing too much. Carl’s got kids of his own now. My kids all upped and moved
away. Charlie, the youngest, always remembers me on Mother’s Day.
Creative Cake Decorating, Better Homes and Gardens, 1983
