Cookies and Crutches (2 page)

“Baking cookies is for girls,” he said.

“It is not,” said Sonny Betz.

“Sissy!” said Roger. “Mama’s boy!”

Lots of people thought Sonny was a sissy.

His mother still walked to school with him every morning.

She met him after school too.

Mrs. Peters held up her hand.

“Do you like to eat, Roger?” she said.

Roger nodded.

“If boys can eat, boys can cook,” she said. “Baking and cooking are for everyone.”

“Yeah!” shouted Sonny. “I told you, creep!”

Mrs. Peters began to measure flour.

She explained the measuring cups.

And the measuring spoons.

She mixed the butter and sugar.

She put in eggs.

She put in flour.

She mixed it all up.

At the end she put in chocolate chips and nuts.

“Umm,” said Molly and Mary Beth together.

“I could eat them right now. Before they are baked,” said Rachel.

Roger made gagging noises.

“You can’t eat raw flour,” he said. “Yuck!”

“And raw eggs,” said Molly. “Right out of a chicken!”

“It’s good!” said Rachel. “I could eat that whole bowl of dough right now!”

Now everyone was making gagging sounds.

Mrs. Peters had to hold her hand up again.

She showed the Scouts how to scoop the dough with a teaspoon and put it on the pan. When the pan was full, she put it into the oven.

“Now!” she said. “We put the timer on for twelve minutes. While we wait, we will sing our Pee Wee Scout song!”

Troop 23 got into a circle.

Mrs. Peters washed her hands at the sink.

Everybody sang.

(to the tune of
“Old MacDonald Had a Farm”)

While the Scouts sang, they sniffed the air.

The cookies smelled wonderful, baking.

W
hen the cookies were done, Mrs. Peters gave one to each Scout.

“Umm,” said Molly. “These are good cookies!”

The cookies were warm and soft.

The chocolate chips were melted and ran down the Scouts’ fingers.

“See if you can make good cookies too,” said Mrs. Peters.

“Be sure your mother is home. Be careful when you use the stove.”

Mrs. Peters passed out papers.

They were recipes for how to make the cookies.

Mix well.

Then add: 1 tsp. baking soda

Drop small spoonfuls of dough on greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

“Let’s make cookies together, at my house,” Mary Beth said to Molly.

“Can we make cookies together?” asked Molly.

“Yes,” said Mrs. Peters. “You can work together.”

It was time for Scouts to end.

Everyone said the Pee Wee Pledge.

Then they put their coats on to leave.

“Let’s make our cookies now,” said Mary Beth on the way home.

“No, they’ll be stale by next Tuesday,” said Molly. “Let’s make them Monday after school.”

The next day was Wednesday. During recess Mary Beth walked up to Sonny.

“We’re making our cookies together,” she told him.

“We are too,” said Sonny. “Aren’t we, Roger?”

“I s’pose,” said Roger.

He was thinking of how warm and soft those cookies were.

He remembered that Mrs. Peters said if boys could eat, boys could cook.

It made sense.

At three o’clock the next Monday the girls hurried to Mary Beth’s house.

When they got there, Mary Beth’s mother had chocolate chips ready.

She had flour and sugar and eggs out.

“The oven is on,” Mrs. Kelly said. “I’ll be upstairs. Call me if you need me.”

“We will,” said Mary Beth.

Molly took the paper out of her pocket.

It had the cookie recipe on it.

“Measure the flour,” she said.

Mary Beth measured the flour.

She poured it into the bowl.

Molly measured the butter into another bowl.

She put an egg in too.

They both did just what it said on the paper.

First Mary Beth stirred it, and then Molly.

“There is something the matter,” said Mary Beth.

Molly looked into the bowl.

“It should be brown,” said Mary Beth. “Mrs. Peters’s cookies were brown.”

“Maybe the chips will make it brown,” said Molly.

She dumped the chips in.

It still was not brown.

It was almost white, like flour.

“We need something brown,” said Mary Beth, opening the refrigerator.

She reached for a bottle of root beer. It was brown.

“Let’s put some of this in,” she said.

Molly looked doubtful. It was brown, though.

And the cookie dough did look too white.

She poured some of the root beer into the batter.

Fizzzzz!

Little bubbles were all over.

Molly stirred it.

“It’s too runny now,” she said. “We need something to make it thick.”

Mary Beth looked in the cupboard. She reached for a package of something that had a brown picture on the box.

“What does this say?” she asked.

“Gravy mix,” read Molly. “That’s good! My mom uses it to make gravy thick when it’s too runny. So it would make this thick too.”

Mary Beth dumped the box of gravy mix into the cookie dough.

“Perfect!” said Molly. “It’s real thick now.”

“Thick and brown!” said Mary Beth. “It looks like Mrs. Peters’s cookies.”

“Now there is more dough,” said Molly.

“But not enough chocolate chips!” added Mary Beth.

“I like lots of chocolate chips,” said Molly.

“So do I,” said Mary Beth. “That’s the best part.”

The girls looked in the cupboards and in the refrigerator. There were no more chips.

“We need something!” said Mary Beth, stamping her foot.

“These look like chips,” said Molly, picking up a plastic bag.

“Dump them in!” said Mary Beth.

The girls stirred and stirred. Then they put the cookies on the pan one at a time, as Mrs. Peters had shown them.

“Terrific!” said Molly. “They look yummy!”

* * *

Mary Beth popped the pan into the oven.

She set the timer for twelve minutes.

“Now all we do is wait,” she said. “Wait for our yummy yummy cookies.”

“W
ash the dishes when you’re through,” called Mary Beth’s mother from upstairs.

The girls sighed. Cookies were more work than Mrs. Peters had said.

They washed the dishes and then went to Mary Beth’s room to wait.

Pretty soon Mary Beth’s mother called out, “What is that smell?”

The girls sniffed the air.

“It smells like turkey roasting,” said Mrs. Kelly.

“Our cookies!” Molly shouted.

The cookies were not white now.

They were very very brown.

And they were huge.

“They look like hamburgers!” said Molly.

“But they smell like turkey!” said Mary Beth.

Mary Beth’s mother came into the kitchen.

She picked up the gravy mix box.

“No wonder it smells like turkey!” she said.

“Why did you use this?”

“The cookies were runny,” said Mary Beth.

“From the root beer,” said Molly.

“Why did you use root beer?” asked Mary Beth’s mother.