DICLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to L. M. M.

Thank you, AnneFan for your review.

Thank you, Katherine-with-a-k for your review. I intend to unfold the characters of Una's new friends in the following chapters.

7. Bessie's Cooking Fiasco

One morning, Una and Margaret entered Redmond to find Bessie sitting dejectedly on the front steps with Lawrence beside her. He seemed to be trying to console her. They went up to them and waited for a response.

It turned out that Bessie's landlady wanted to sell her house and was going to turn the boarders out. What would Bessie do now?

"Move into another boarding house," suggested Meg.

"I have spent the entire weekend looking for another boarding house. They aren't any that I could afford. My pockets are not very deep."

"I have an idea! Why don't you come and stay at Mrs. Crawford's? she has another room that she never uses. I'm sure if Rose and Meg and I begged her she would give it to you and not charge too much. Anyway her rates are quite moderate." Una looked very pleased with her brainwave.

"Yes, Una, you are right! That's a good idea. You come back with us today, Bessie. I'm sure Mrs. Crawford would let you have it and you could move in today and we would all be together."

Much cheered by this prospect, they were joined by Roger and Stephen, friends of theirs and moved on to their English class.

Bessie moved in the very next day and. Her presence had a cheering and brightening effect on all of them. Her lively spirits and friendly approach won over Mrs. Crawford who got to like her newest boarder even better than her older ones. Bessie was sure to make them laugh over the littlest of things and the girls usually spent the evenings in splits.

One afternoon, Bessie announced that she would be making tea that day as she had just learned of a 'fantastic' recipe for making layer cake. She also wanted them to taste her mother's famous strawberry preserve, the recipe of which she had dragged out of her extremely reluctant mother. She invaded Mrs. Crawford's kitchen, chased her old cook out, got into an apron and proceeded to create 'the best meal the others had ever had in their lives'.

The preparation of the preserve went of without a hitch and Bessie confidently went on to make layer cake and jellied chicken and sandwiches. Three quarters-of-an-hour later, on being greeted by the smell of something burning, the other girls came rushing down to the kitchen to find it near destroyed and Bessie in tears. At the sight of them, she hurriedly rose to her feet and rubbed her cheeks, leaving long floury streaks allover her face in the process and moved towards the oven in what she hoped was a business-like, professional manner. One look at the cake, which had been burnt to blackness on top, was enough to make her abandon her dignified manner and set up a wail.

"Why did I ever take up Household Science? I must be the worst cook in the entire world. And probably the first one to serve charred cake."

"Don't worry," comforted Rose. "You are not the worst cook. I cannot cook to save my life." She inspected the chicken. "At least the chicken has turned out well."

"As for the cake, we'll scrape of the top and it will be delicious."

"Una, are you sure it is not burned through?" questioned Margaret, who was poking at the cake with a fork.

Rose glared at her. "I'm sure we can salvage something. You have made the sandwiches, haven't you?"

Bessie nodded tearfully, explaining that they were plain butter and cheese sandwiches since she had forgotten to buy any meat for them at which Meg, trying to make up for her earlier comment, exclaimed that she loved cheese sandwiches.

At that exact moment, the bell rang. Everyone jumped. "Oh God, I wish I had not invited the boys!" wailed Bessie, from whose mind this little fact had slipped away during the chaos of the last hour. "Whatever made me do such a thing?"

Una suddenly took charge. She made Rose and Meg go up to entertain Lawrence, Roger and Stephen, who had been invited by Bessie to partake of 'the best meal of their lives' while she helped Bessie repair the damage as best as they could. Ten minutes later, they carried up the meal.

Stephen was the first one to take a bite of the jellied chicken. Una saw his face twist into a grimace as he chewed and glanced swiftly at Bessie. She seemed not to have noticed. Stephen swallowed with difficulty and then turned to the cook. "It is very good, Bessie. I did not know you could cook this….." He was interrupted by a sudden sound. Lawrence had taken a bite of chicken and was now choking into his napkin. He tried to pass it of as a coughing fit. Nobody was fooled. Bessie paled. "Is it that bad?" she asked tremulously. Everybody tried very hard but was unable to utter such a enormous lie to her face.

She herself took a bite. Her face took on a look as if she was chewing on sawdust. "Oh, don't eat it anybody. It will make you sick," she cried. So they ate sandwiches to fill up their empty stomachs. They were dry and unappetizing, but unlike the chicken, they were edible. The cake too had a burnt and bitter taste but once they got over that, it was not bad. The strawberry preserve was actually very good. Bessie, of course would not believe any of these things and sat gloomily in a corner, chewing on one piece of bread the entire evening. The others let her be, knowing that she would soon come around. She did. But it was the last time that Elizabeth Anderson volunteered to cook while at Mrs. Crawford's house.