"I can't believe Rachel abandoned us." Cody felt deeply stung by the betrayal. He slung himself onto a bench by the bunkhouse table.
"Don't ya think yer bein' a little dramatic?" asked Lou. She looked at him over the rim of her useless glasses.
"And unfair?" added Kid.
*She went to St. Joe for a friend's wedding. She's coming back next week.* Ike's hands fairly flew. He didn't like Cody's words against their friend.
"Ike's right, that's hardly a case for abandonment." Buck's mouth curved into a half smile.
"You guys just don't understand." Cody pushed himself back to his feet and began pacing.
"Then why don't ya stand still and explain it to us." Jimmy barely spared the blond rider a glance as he cleaned his guns.
"Yeah, you wouldn't want to make Jimmy nervous when he's cleaning his Colts." Noah's tone dripped with sarcasm.
Cody stopped in front of the stove and sighed deeply. "I'm supposed to take Betsy MacArthur on a picnic this Sunday after church."
"Well, why didn't you say so before, Cody? I can see how Rachel being gone will make that impossible." Noah stroked his chin as if giving the matter a lot of thought. "Nah, I lied. I don't see how this is a problem." The others riders joined in his laughter.
"Why don't ya let me finish?" Cody resumed pacing. "I may have finessed the truth a bit to get Betsy to agree to go with me."
Lou sat up straighter on her bunk. She was always sensitive to when Cody bent the truth with the ladies. "So you lied to her. What did you say?" Her tone made it clear how she felt.
"Ah, Lou, it wasn't like that." Cody rushed to explain before the petite rider could get even angrier. "I told Betsy I could bake. She was makin' eyes at the new baker fer the hotel and goin' on and on about the man's cakes."
"And?" Jimmy's voice prodded him to continue.
"And? And have you seen Betsy MacArthur? She's an angel!" Cody again sat at the table, but this time rested his head on his folded arms. "So I told her I could bake too. The best cake she'll ever taste."
"And you thought Rachel would bake the cake for you, so you could impress Betsy." Buck deduced with groan.
*Another brilliant plan ruined by reality,* signed Ike.
The bunkhouse door swung open at that moment admitting Teaspoon. He struggled to carry a tray heavily laden with food. Kicking the door shut, he shuffled over to the table and unloaded his burden.
Kid approached the table warily. "Um, Teaspoon?"
"Yeah, Kid," he answered as he uncovered bowls of food.
"You... uh, well, you didn't cook this did you?" Kid asked the question on everyone's minds.
Teaspoon uncovered a basket of steaming hot rolls and stood to look at all the riders. "I am deeply hurt by yer lack of faith in mah culinary abilities."
"Yeah, but ya didn't, right?" smirked Jimmy.
"Uh... no." The lawman answered reluctantly, before rushing to add, "but not because I ain't perfectly capable of cookin' up a succulent masterpiece such as this. Nah, this was prepared by the Widow Nelson as a gesture of gratitude for the work ya put in on fixin' up her house after the last storm. Rachel told her she was gonna be gone fer a stretch, and Mrs. Nelson thought she could repay yer kindness by feedin' you all some dinner until Rachel gets back."
The only response to Teaspoon's speech was the scraping of benches and chairs on the floor as the riders hurried to sit around the table. In no time at all the food had vanished, save for one plate that remained covered with a gingham cloth. Teaspoon was enjoying a retelling of Cody's romantic problems and laughing along with the rest of the group.
Cody watched his friends with a disgruntled expression. "What's under that cloth, Teaspoon? Any chance it's dessert?" Maybe something sweet would take away the sting of knowing he would lose Betsy.
"As a matter of fact, it is," announced Teaspoon as he whipped off the cloth with a flourish. "Widow Nelson called it a triple chocolate cake with caramel frostin'."
Everyone oohed and aahed over the layer cake before them. Lou cut the cake and passed a slice to each person. Soon everyone was moaning in ecstasy and delight over the rich confection they were devouring. Every crumb of the cake disappeared within minutes.
"That cake was delicious," said Lou as she used her finger to swipe an errant glob of frosting from her plate.
"And so was the frosting!" Buck eyed his own plate as if wishing he could lick it to avoid missing even the smallest trace of triple chocolate, caramel frosted delight.
Cody suddenly sat bolt upright, his eyes wide.
"Uh oh, folks. It looks like Cody has an idea." Noah spoke with a wry smile. "You might want to get your guns ready, Hickok."
Cody ignored Noah's jabs. "I think I'm gonna go over and thank the kind Widow in person."
Lou scowled, "Don't ya be fibbin' to her to get a cake for yer picnic!"
"When I tell her about my feelin's for Betsy, I bet she'll be happy to help out." The door closed behind Cody, punctuating his statement.
Saturday morning rolled around, and with it came the arrival of another of Mrs. Nelson's triple chocolate cakes, complete with caramel frosting. Cody assured Lou that he hadn't lied or even so much as bent the truth to the Widow. He did fail to tell his friends that in order to get the woman to agree to bake the cake he had to agree to dig her a new well. Widow Nelson looked quite grandmotherly with her soft white hair and heavily wrinkled face, but she drove as hard a bargain as Cody had ever seen.
His blistered hands and aching back would be a small price to pay when Betsy MacArthur tasted the delicious confection he planned to take credit for. Betsy would take one taste of that heavenly cake and forget all about that baker at the hotel. This cake was good enough that Betsy might even forget her own name or the fact that she was the preacher's daughter.
Pondering what all was possible when a beautiful woman wants to express her gratitude, Cody set the cake on the table on Rachel's porch, carefully tucking the corners of the cloth cover under the edges of the plate. He would pick it up on his out of the main house after retrieving the picnic basket from inside.
"Cody, Jimmy, Lou... I need yer help over here," called Teaspoon from the barn.
"Can it wait a minute, Teaspoon?" Cody yelled back.
"It'll just take a minute, Cody."
Cody reluctantly joined the others in the barn. Teaspoon needed them to move several things in the barn to gain access to some boards that needed replacing. They had been working steadily and noisily for nearly twenty minutes when a different sound caught their ears.
"Was that thunder?" asked Lou as she moved another bag of feed.
"Well, it's been rainin' for the last five minutes or so," answered Jimmy with a grunt. He hefted another bag of feed to his shoulder.
"You ain't afraid of a little- Wait! Did you say it was rainin'?" Cody ran to open the door of the barn. Sheets of rain poured in on him. "My cake!"
He ran to the porch and stood frozen, staring at the remains of the cake that had promised to tempt Betsy MacArthur to confess her undying love to him. He reached a dripping hand to lift the cloth from the plate and groaned at the sight of the soggy confection. The frosting had stuck to the cloth and was running down the sides of the cake, or what was left of it. Some of the dessert had become so saturated that it looked more like a lump of mud sitting in a puddle of dirty water. He carried the remains back to the barn.
"Well Cody, I'm sorry about yer cake." Teaspoon did look chagrined at the sight of such a waste of good dessert.
"Maybe if ya pour the water off the plate, it'll dry out by tomorrow," offered Jimmy, though his face showed his doubts clearly.
"Yep, that's a real shame," added Lou, who sounded suspiciously cheerful. "Maybe you can just tell Betsy the truth."
Cody gave her an angry glare and was pleased to see her smile quickly fade. He looked at the plate in his hand and tried not to weep with frustration. He didn't just see a chocolate disaster, he also saw his many hours of work digging that well. He'd come to know the Widow well enough to know that she would demand further payment. He didn't have the time, let alone the blood, sweat, and tears to afford her terms.
"Maybe Mrs. Nelson will make you another cake," offered Lou, trying to make amends. "Ya did say she'd taken a shine to ya, and she agreed to make this one out of the kindness of her heart."
Cody shot her a withering glance.
"What did I say now?" she demanded.
Cody sighed. It was a deep, aggrieved sound that seemed to come from the very tips of his toes. He sat heavily on a bale of hay and placed the plate next to him. Rubbing his blistered hands over his face, he spoke. "It wasn't out of the kindness of her heart. I don't think there really is any kindness beating in whatever she uses for heart anyway." He looked up at his friends and continued, "I used every bit of charm I had in me, and the only way she'd agree to bake me that cake was if I dug her a new well. Besides, it's a pretty intricate process to make it, and I don't have that kind of time."
A sound like giggle crossed with a snort escaped Lou. She coughed to cover her mirth and grimaced when Jimmy pounded on her back. Sparing him only a look of warning, she turned back to Cody.
Teaspoon scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps she'd give ya the recipe, and ya could make yer own."
At these words Cody closed his eyes as if in great pain. With his eyes still shut, he reached his hand into the pocket of his rain-soaked jacket and retrieved a sodden paper. He opened his eyes as he unfolded the page. Observing the indecipherable smear of running ink, he let his head fall back against the wall with a thud.
"I just can't believe it. Could this day get any worse?" Cody looked at the plate beside him with disgust. "Someone left the cake out in the rain."
"Um, it wasn't 'someone'," started Jimmy.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was you," added Lou.
"I don't think I can take it!" moaned Cody.
"Well, I don't rightly know if ya have any choice in the matter," replied Teaspoon. "Make another one."
"It takes too long to bake it," wailed Cody, "and I'll never have that recipe again! Oh, no..."
It was just two months later that the whole town was invited to the wedding of the preacher's daughter to the baker, Joseph Park. And while most people felt sorry for the couple when a sudden rainstorm interrupted their outdoor wedding, one guest was secretly happy to witness the destruction of their four-tiered cake. He took delight in describing the scene to the Kid, who had been on a run.
"All the sweet, green icing flowing down," enthused Cody. "Ya shoulda seen it, Kid. This town ain't heard of nothin' like the this MacArthur-Park affair."
Kid just shook his head and replied, "Yeah, and I bet everyone hopes they never hear anything like it again."
MacArthur Park
MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again, oh no
Yes, dearies, I went there. When I was about 3 years old, I had a tshirt that said, "Corny jokes give me an earache." While I don't know what this says about my level of fashion in the late 70's, I do know that it's inaccurate. I love corny jokes! The more people groan, the more I like 'em. So if this made you groan, I have accomplished my mission! I threw down a challenge to write a story based on a cheesy love song, and this is the cheesiest song ever written... though it's more about the end of love.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!