Chapter 22 : The Pie
It feels weird to be there again, facing that same bakery. It's thursday, and Judy accepted for him to skip his tutoring. She pushed him to, really. In fact she's standing right next to him as moral support.
"Ya don't hafta be there." He says to her.
"Doesn't mean I don't want to." She answers, giving his paw a quick squeeze. "Let's get in."
The tod pushes the door, making the bell chime. The buck behind the counter looks at them both, and takes just enough time to greet them for the situation to feel awkward. "Good afternoon. Let's not waste time. I've given your boss a call, and what he told me about you convinced me to give you a chance."
"Thank you sir."
"No sir here. I'm Mr. Leapers. Anyway, come around the counter and follow me." The buck lifts a counter panel to let them through and leads them into the bakery kitchen.
Suddenly, the predominant smell of better and sugar gets nuanced and layered. Fresh fruits, sirup, cream... It's kind of overwhelming to the tod, who has to concentrate to pick them all out.
It's the first time he set foot in a professional kitchen and it is… Impressive. The furniture is a weird mix of oldshcool wooden cupboard and stainless steel surfaces, with one of the most massive cooking oven he's ever seen.
One of the counter is littered with a whole bunch of ingredients.
"So, I'm not going to interview you. Instead, you're going to bake a pie."
"What kind ?"
"The kind I could sell."
Gideon scratches the back of his neck. It seems like the buck isn't going to make things easy for him. He rolls his sleeves a little higher above his elbows, and then quickly goes to the sink and washes his paws, before drying them thoroughly and starting to work on the dough. He could go for a flaky crust, but he's still fiddling with the cooking time, so he decides to go for a shortcrust instead. It's easy and quick to make. Two parts flour, one part butter, one part sugar. One egg for 500gr, pinch of salt, vanilla, yeast. "Ya got some honey ? Oh, and hazelnuts !"
The buck lifts a brow, but gives him a pot of honey from one of the cupboards. All the while, Gideon moves to the oven and gives it a perplexed look. There are too many dials and buttons, some unlabelled. "I need to set this to 210°C." He states, giving the buck a sheepish look.
"Dial on the left, halfway plus two clicks… You got it. Now push the power button, and put the second dial from the left in the third position."
"Does it heat up fast ?" The tod asks, approaching his paw from the last dial.
"Takes about ten minutes."
Turning the oven off and pulling back, the tod returns to the counter, grabbing a large bowl, raising it in his paw and eyeing it intensely. Then he nods, and grabs the already open pack of flour and pours a large part of it inside the bowl. Then a bit more, before raising the bowl again. He then does the same with the sugar. Taking the first knife on the counter, he blinks, put it down and chooses another slightly larger, before cutting the butter in small pieces and dumping it with the rest. He adds a small amount of vanilla sugar as well as the yeast and grabs the packet of flour, coats his paw with a little part of its content. Then he starts working the dough. He knows his moves are amateurish, but he's not worried about that. When he feels he's about halfway done, he pops the lids of the honey pot and adds a coffee spoon of it the dough, before going back to his kneading.
Judy doesn't notices immediately that she's staring. Seeing the tod that confident and focused, his paws kneading the dough with strength and firmness looks… Impressive, somehow. Then she wonders what it would feel like to be the dough under his firm and she flushes. She tries to look away, but there's something mesmerizing in the moves of his paws, in the muscles of his forearms pushing and turning.
He's almost done now, so he adds one eggs and kneads fives more minutes. Then he goes back to wash his paws again, before covering the bowl and taking out his phone to check the time.
Then the bell chimes and Mr Leapers moves away from the counter. "Keep going, kid. Just a couple of clients to serve."
The bowl goes to rest in the nearest fridge, while he turns the oven on. He then starts cutting the apples, getting rid of the cores. Two of them end up in mostly large and even bits that he dumps in a pot on medium heat with two glasses of water adding a vanilla pod sliced in halves to the mix. That's when the buck appears back, but Gideon doesn't even reacts to his presence. He cuts the two other apples in very thin slices, while occasionally stirring what is gradually turning into a compote.
Gideon checks his phone again, and bites his lips. The heat under the pot is turned down, while he goes to the counter and starts cleaning it as well as the knife, and all the other utensils he's done using.
When he's done, the bowl of dough is pulled out of the fridge and a quarter of it is spread on a baking tin, pricked with a fork, coated with the compote, from which is pulled the vanilla pod, and on top of it, the apple slices are set in a rose pattern. Crushing some hazelnuts, he sprinkles then on top of the apple, before adding thinly cut pieces of butter, an approximate spoon of cinnamon, and a scoop of honey that he let drip down in a spiral.
At last, the pie is slid inside the oven and he checks his phone one last time.
The tod finally turns toward the pair of bunnies staring at him. "Well, all we gotta do is wait for twenty-eight minutes."
"Okay. Both of you take whatever you want from behind the counter and go take a walk while I clean up this mess." Mr Leapers states in a tone a bit too dry for Judy's taste.
"I can-"
"I'll take care of it."
His tone is final, and the pair of friends leave the room. "What do you want to take ?" Judy asks.
"You choose. I ain't really hungry."
The doe hesitates, and chooses a coffee éclair. They walk in silence to a nearby park and sit on the grass, the tod letting himself fall backward as soon as his rear has hit the ground. "I think I messed it up."
"Do you ?" Judy reacts. "I think you did great !"
"Did ya hear how told us to get out ? I mean… I never made a professional pie before ! Like, maybe there's a special way to do it, or, I dunno…" He trails off.
"Hey, he's supposed to be accepting amateurs. Whether your pies meet his professional standards, you still now more about baking than any other regular mammal." The doe says, before cutting her éclair in half and handing him one of the pieces. When he doesn't move to take it, she moves up to his face and waves it front of his nose. "Come on, I chose a coffee one because canids can't have chocolate."
"You know that ?" The tod reacts in surprise, grabbing the treat and nibbling on it.
"Huh… Our biology teacher mentioned it once." She's not about to tell him she researched the biological differences between foxes and bunnies. That was only out of scientific curiosity anyway.
"I thought bunnies couldn't have coffee." Gideon smiles before pointing at her face. "Got some on your lip. Nope, not there. Okay don't move." Using his thumb, he catches a small piece of cream and eats it as a reflex, as he would have done while feeding his sister. Except with her, it takes another sense altogether.
"It's just half an éclair." The doe answers, trying to fight the blush that is taking over her ears. "I'd need a couple of cups before it could become dangerous for my heart."
The tod chuckles, and bring his forearm over his eyes to bring them over his eyes, shielding them from the sun.
"You okay ?" The doe asks.
"Yeah. I just really want this to work out… Even if Ol'Leapers is an asshole, at least I'd get the experience, ya know ? Plus, I don't know what I would do if he refused… I don't want to work in the mill my whole life, but it's not as if I had a bunch of other opportunities, do I ?"
- 1 -
Twenty seven minutes later, Gideon and Judy are back inside the bakery. There are a few clients waiting and Mr Leapers quickly serves them. Most of them are prey, and give the fox a weird look as they leave the bakery.
"The pie's done, I think." The tod says, and the buck lets them come inside the kitchen. Gideon pulls the pie out of the oven and sets it on a plate, before taking the knife Mr Leapers is giving him.
"Cut three slices, boy." He orders, and Gideon does so. The old buck put the slices on plates and gives them one each. He doesn't bite into it immediately, instead he takes a few whiffs, keeping a neutral face as he does so. His expression remains level as he tastes the pie. Each bite looks calculated, and he chews each one of them for a very long time.
Judy has already finished her slice when he's only halfway through. Her mother would scold her if she knew she was eating pastries so close to dinner, but the pie is so good! "Can I have some more ?"
The buck waves her to go ahead and she does so with a smile. "It's really good !" She grins to the tod.
"I don't think I put enough butter." He mutters back.
When Mr Leapers has finally finished his slice, he emits a deep sigh and rubs his eyes. "I can't sell this pie."
Gideon's face falls. Well, he expected it really, but it stings more than it should.
"How often do you bake ?"
"I try to make sumthin' every weekend. It's not always pie, I like to try new stuff."
"You didn't measure the ingredients precisely, why is that ?"
"Well… At home, we don't have a scale, and I broke a couple of measuring glasses." The tod explains. "So, I had to learn to get it right without."
"Aha… Why the honey ?"
"Erh… Kinda brings out more flavour from the ingredients. And I like honey."
"The hazelnuts, why use the handle of the knife to break them ?"
"'Cause usin' the blade would've dulled it."
Mr Leapers lifts a brow and goes to grab a rolling pin and a rag. He puts a few hazelnut inside the piece of cloths and gives a couple good smacks with the wooden utensil.
"Hadn't thought of 'dat." Mutters Gideon in embarrassment.
"But these aren't really errors." The buck tempers. "You made quite a few amateur mistakes, but these were mostly fine. Your two biggest, though, were sanitary. You touched you phone while cooking, which was in your pocket, and I'm pretty sure those overalls aren't really clean. And you didn't use these." He finishes, pointing at a plastic gloves dispenser fixated to the walls.
"Oh..."
"Which is why we're going to have to work on all of those problems first. I'm not going to let anything you'll make leave this kitchen until you can follow all the sanitary procedures."
Gideon's eyes have widened like saucers. "I'm… I'm hired ?"
"Yes. When would you be ready to start ?"
"Erh… Well…"
"Given that you need to give a two weeks notice to your employer when you quit, you'd be ready to start around the 15th of July. Unless he agrees for a shorter time." Informs Judy.
"It'll leave me enough time to train you before the summer festivals. I'm warning you, though, you will have to work hard. As I said, I won't let anything you make out of this kitchen before you know exactly what you're doing. Is that clear, boy ?"
"Yes. And, uh, thank you sir !"
"It's Mr Leapers… Now, I do have a question. If you want to be a baker that much, why don't you do an apprenticeship ?"
Gideon opens his mouth and closes it. Why indeed ? "I… Hadn't thought of it." He ends up saying, lowering his eyes.
Glancing at his wife's photograph, the buck shows a little smile. "Well… In this day and age, I feel very few youngsters take a real interest in anything productive. If you truly enjoy it, then you could become a good baker. And an apprenticeship would be the fastest way to become one."
"I… Would you take me as an apprentice ?"
"If you're a hardworker, of course."
"I… Dunno if I am."
"You are." States Judy. "I've seen your progress on your grades, and you don't even like school. Don't worry, Mr Leapers, Gideon won't disappoint you."
The smile of gratitude the tod aims her way makes her heart swell.
"Alright. Then… Maybe we should call that Mrs Catmull lady. As your career counsellor, she should know about that."
- 2 -
Both teenager have left the bakery, and the buck put both paws on his counter, his gaze lingering on the pie. It's a damn good pie. It's not perfect, of course, but if he put it behind the counter, no one would have any ground to complain.
As for getting the tod in an apprenticeship, since he already found a place to work, Mrs Catmull confirmed it was as good as done. There's a training school one town over in Moleburrow that she guarantees will take him.
His gaze wanders to the picture of his wife. Is he doing a mistake, or is he doing good? He's still uneasy about having that tod in his shop… But he won't have to train him as much as a beginner.
- 3 -
Gideon is pedaling away like a robot, Judy having to go faster than her usual pace to follow him, not that it's really a challenge. As he arrives a the edge of town, he suddenly stops with a stunned expression. "I'm gonna be a baker." He whispers. The bike banks to the side and he tries to get off of it, but stumbles sideways, and rolls, ending up lying on the dirt road.
"I guess you are." The bunny confirms, extending a paw to help him get up.
"I'm gonna be a baker !" The tod grins, jumping to his feet to hug her and picking her up as he does so. Judy can't help but giggle, her laugh turning louder when he throws her in the air. "I'M GONNA BE A BAKER !"
He's still holding her when she leans and kisses him. The kiss turns into a hug, until the doe feels her boyfriend's shoulder tighten. She pulls away with an interrogative expression and sees realisation spread on his face.
"Means I'm gonna have to change school. Fer the apprenticeship."
"Ah… Yeah. Probably."
"Then… For the tutoring…"
"You probably won't need it. And it's not as if I could help much with the specialised classes." She adds.
"But… We can still see each other, right ? Out of school- Like, you know how to study, so ya can still give me pointer's and stuff."
"We don't have to just see eachother to study. You're my boyfriend, that doesn't end because we aren't at the same school anymore.." Judy says. "I like to spend time with you."
"Me too."
Tugging on his collar she leads him to her lips again.
"I… Gotta go. I need to tell Ma'." He says when the kiss ends.
"Yeah, you should. Sorry I kept you."
"You didn't. It's- I'm just a bit overwhelmed." He smiles sheepishly.
"It's okay, I need to go home too anyway. And Gid… I'm really proud of you."
Her feet leave the ground as he hugs her again, and she's totally okay with that. When he lets her go, she fakes not seeing him discreetly wiping his eyes, and simply waves as he rides away.