Wilbur turned to stare at Ed.
"You want to WHAT?"
Ed flicked his tail. "I want to cook."
Wilbur tossed his paper that he had worked on back down on his desk. "Ed, horses cannot cook."
"Horses aren't supposed to talk either, but what am I doing now?"
"Talk... Oh, Ed. Listen, there's no way you could cook. In order to cook you have to use hands. You do not have hands," Wilbur looked flustered.
"Well... uh... I could use my mouth," Ed proposed, brightening.
"That won't work, Ed. Besides, what got you on this 'cooking kick' anyway?" Wilbur asked.
"This," Ed turned, walked back into his stall, and emerged a moment later with a newspaper. "The town is having a cooking competition tomorrow at the fair, and I want to enter it. The prize is $25. That could buy me 50 bales of hay, or about 100 carrots."
"Hey, let me see that. Maybe Carol would like to enter," Wilbur took the paper and studied the article.
Ed looked hopeful. "Can I enter too?"
"No, Ed. That is final. You are not going to enter this and you are not going to cook," With that, Wilbur got up from his seat, and taking the paper with him, left the barn.
Ed watched him leave, then turned to stare at his stall. "Humph. I'm going to find some way to enter that contest and win that money. No matter what he says."
Wilbur walked through the glass door and toward the kitchen, thinking about what Ed had said. A horse cooking! Outrageous. Though he had thought that Ed couldn't drive, and he had been mistaken. Ed could drive, albeit recklessly.
He found Carol in the kitchen, preparing his breakfast.
"Carol, look at this," he said, pointing at the contest announcement.
Carol turned to study the paper. "A cooking contest?"
Wilbur nodded. "And the prize is $25 dollars."
Carol placed the bacon she was frying on a plate and glanced back at the paper. "That $25 would be nice to have," she admitted, setting Wilbur's breakfast in front of him at the table.
Wilbur tasted it. "Boy, honey, you could win the contest with this pancake recipe. Where did you get it?" he wondered.
Carol laughed. "Kaye gave it to me," she thought for a moment. "It's that good, huh?"
Wilbur nodded. "It's delicious," he said, savoring every bite.
"Then will you come down to the store with me so I can get more ingredients?" Carol asked Wilbur, delighted.
"Of course, honey," Wilbur assured her.
At the Addison's, Roger had just noticed the add in the paper. At first, he had just glanced over it, not being the least bit interested in cooking; but upon seeing the $25 reward for first place announcement, that had got his attention. He got an idea about him earning that prize.
Mister Ed watched Wilbur and Carol drive away before plodding into their house and to the kitchen. "Heh, Heh. Wilbur doesn't think I can cook, huh? Well, he'll see," he smugly said to himself, before turning toward Carol's recipe box.
Chapter 3 coming soon.
This story is indefinetly on hold until I finish my Hogan's Heroes story, "Boom Time." I will definetly finish "The Cooking Competition," though. Please be patient with me.
