Back to School: Part Two
Thora pushed her cart through the store, humming softly along to an oldie that just happened to come on over the store's speakers. She stopped in front of the baking supplies and shook her head. She peered down the aisle, suddenly too distracted to hum, then she shook her head. How was she supposed to bake something good for her grandkids when there was too much stuff to bake?
The brownies looked too rich. If she was going to bake for someone, she was going to make sure she could eat some of it, sort of a test batch. Plus there was nothing better than a good batter, and brownie batter just didn't suit her tastes.
She walked up the aisle and found herself with the cakes. Chocolate, yellow, and white, all so yummy. Then her eyes fell on the purple cake, a camouflaged batter, and other crazy combinations of colors and swirls. Her eyebrows lifted. How was she supposed to pull something like that off?
Thora shook her head. No, no, this just wouldn't do. She kept walking and found herself at the cookie mixes. Thora smiled. She saw your standard chocolate chip, sugar, snickerdoodle, and other favorites, and less of the crazy combinations from the cake section. She looked through the types and her eyes landed on her two go-tos, chocolate chip and sugar. She smiled and put a pack of each into her cart.
Thora bypassed the icing and went straight to the back wall of the school. Nothing was better than milk for growing girls, and since Arthur would still be in school when the girls got home, she'd have to find something else for him. She grabbed a half-gallon so it'd be easier for her to carry, then she went over to the ice cream aisle.
Thora sighed. Right back where she started with the baked goods. Frozen pies, cakes, and other goodies were at the start of the aisle. She had perfectly good cookies to bake in her cart, plus wouldn't it taste funny if you left it more than a week? Yuck!
She trudged on and found herself at the pints of ice cream for the various brands. Thinking thrifty, Thora picked the store's brand, but she picked one of the more custom flavors. She'd gotten it for Arthur before and he loved it, so she grabbed it again and headed to checkout.
Gladys, her favorite cashier, was slowly moving through a customer's items at the express lane. Thora pulled in behind them and patiently waited her turn. When Gladys was done with the first customer, she turned to Thora with a smile and booked it through her order, scanning and bagging so quick Thora could barely see her hands.
"It's always good to see a friendly face on a day like this. My arches are killing me," Gladys smiled, accepting Thora's cash.
"Yeah, my ol' knee is acting up again. I hear it's going to rain tomorrow, but today is beautiful."
"The perfect way to start a school year," Gladys nodded, handing back Thora's change. "Your grandkids are lucky to have you."
Thora took her bags and carried them to the car, leaving the cart with a nice young gentleman inside. Once she got home, she put up the cold items and started baking with a smile, putting on some music and dancing as she baked. When she was done, she had two plates of cookies ready to go.
Arthur was surprised to see his grandmother's car in the driveway when he got home. He figured she'd be gone off doing whatever she does. He walked into the house and found two plates of cookies, both of them with only a few left. He picked up a chocolate chip one and looked around.
Thora appeared from the living room, "Welcome home, Arthur. How was your first day of school?"
"Pretty good," Arthur nodded. "I have algebra with Buster and Brain, but there were a lot of kids I didn't know too. Hopefully they're not too much smarter than me."
"Oh, you'll do fine," Thora said, moving to the refrigerator. Instead of grabbing for the milk like he expected, Thora went to the freezer, "I got you something special. I had to sneak it in so it might still be a little melty," she smiled, pulling out a soft-shell lunch box and handing it to him.
Inside was a small pint of ice cream. Arthur smiled and accepted a hug from his grandmother. She really knew how to make the first day of school so much better.
~End
Theme 71: Snack Time [theme from my updated Infinite Theme List. See my deviantArt profile for the full list]
One-Shot 7/100 for 2017
A/N: I just had to do something from Thora's POV. Hoped you liked it.