"Sam, David!  Look what Mommy has for you!"

"Mmmm, bwownies!" the twins uttered simultaneously, as if they shared one mind.

"Yes, bwownies," Annie cooed at her little angels, lovingly mimicking their mispronunciation.

Ruthie spied the scene from the doorway to the twins' room, disgustedly wondering how the woman who had gone ballistic in the kitchen mere moments ago could be so gentle and sweet now.  She jealously watched as each twin grabbed a brownie and stuffed it into his mouth, getting crumbs all over the floor in the process.  After a minute or two of eating, a thick, messy brown residue surrounded each twin's mouth and fingers.

"Oops!  Let Mommy go get a washcloth from the bathroom to clean those messy faces," chirped Annie as she set the brownie plate down on a chair.

Ruthie ducked behind the doorway and waited for Annie to step into the bathroom.  Then she swaggered into the twins' room and declared, "Those last two brownies are mine!"
"No, mine," Sam and David droned, grabbing onto the plate.

"Don't make me hurt you," Ruthie warned as she wrestled the plate from their weak grasps and began to dash for the exit.

"Mom!" the twins shouted, beginning to tear up.

"What is it dears?" Annie asked as she ran back into the room, blocking Ruthie's escape.

"She's taking our bwownies!" Sam sobbed as he pointed at Ruthie.

Annie turned venomous eyes on her daughter.  "I thought I told you not to follow me here."  Then she crossed her arms, disappointedly shook her head and said, "This is really low, Ruthie.  You ate your fair share of brownies downstairs.  These are for the boys."  She grabbed the plate from Ruthie and growled, "Go to your room NOW!"

Ruthie fled in terror, and the twins' sobbing quieted down.  "I'm sorry, dears," Annie turned to them with a smile.  "Eat your last brownies and then Mommy will clean you up."

***

Lucy was searching through a glamour magazine for the perfect hairstyle when Ruthie ran into the room, jumped onto her bed and buried her head into the pillow.

"What's wrong?" Lucy asked curiously.

"Mom's mad at me," Ruthie muttered into the pillow.

"What'd you do now?"

Ruthie lifted her head and turned to face Lucy.  "It's not fair.  I just wanted one more brownie, but Mom gave the last ones to the twins."

"Wait a minute, Mom made brownies and you didn't tell me?  Why didn't you tell me?  You know I love brownies!" Lucy shouted.

"Relax, there should still be some left for you in the kitchen, but..."

But before Ruthie could finish, Lucy bolted from the room.  She was more concerned about getting to the brownies before her brother with the bottomless stomach finished them than sticking around to hear Ruthie's problems.

***

"Tell me you didn't eat all the brownies," an out-of-breath Lucy panted to Simon after having raced downstairs.

"Don't worry, there's two left for you on that plate," Simon nodded toward the plate containing the remaining brownies from the yellow pan.

"Well, what about that plate full of brownies over there?" Lucy pointed to Annie's untouched plate.

"We're not really sure who those are for, but we assume they're for your mother," Eric answered.

"What are you talking about?"

"Ruthie said something about the different plates being for different people."

Lucy shook her head in confusion.  "Wait, Ruthie baked these?"

"No, Gabrielle baked them," Simon chimed in before he washed down Eric's last brownie with some milk from his Chug.

"Gabrielle was here?  Oh great!  Again, I'm the last to know!" Lucy pouted.  She dejectedly picked up a brownie from the "yellow" plate and nibbled on it.  Almost instantly, her countenance brightened.  "Oh my goodness!  These are so good!"  She took a larger bite, and then another in rapid succession.  In moments she had finished off both brownies and desperately announced, "I have to have one more.  Do you think Mom would mind if I took one off her plate?  I mean, she can't eat that whole pile by herself, can she?"

"Frankly, I don't think your Mother wants anything to do with these brownies," Eric told her.  "She doesn't seem to trust Gabrielle enough to want to sample her cooking."

Lucy had heard enough to feel justified, so she grabbed one of Annie's brownies and shoved half of it into her mouth.

"Dad, do you think Mom would mind if I ate one of her brownies too?" Simon asked sheepishly.

"Simon, how many of those things have you eaten already?" Eric asked with astonishment in his eyes.

"I dunno, I lost count.  But I have room for one more."

Eric sighed and said, "Fine, but just one.  And then I'm taking the rest of her brownies up to her."

"Dad, are you crazy?" Simon asked with his mouth full of his latest brownie.  "You heard what she said.  She doesn't want us to talk to her."

"I know, Simon.  But I think she'll want to hear what I have to say."  He walked over to the bottle of wine Annie had taken from him earlier, opened it, poured two glasses, grabbed her plate of brownies, and headed up the kitchen stairs.  Once he had reached the second floor and was out of Lucy and Simon's earshot, he began singing to the tune of Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again," with slightly altered lyrics:  "In the mood again/Reverend Camden's in the mood again…"