With just a few moments to spare, we sat in front of the TV, enjoying our last minutes of freedom.
Soon enough, we’ll need to drive to our respective work places where the happy animated figures on the TV will be replaced by some sad sad lifeless figures on the computer screen.
“It’s my sister’s birthday today” he casually said.
“Whaaaaa…” I protested.
You see, over the years, it has been customary for me to bake birthday cakes for the various family members. It seemed i was about to break this tradition with such a late notice.
“Well, shouldn’t we at least have dinner to celebrate? “ I continued,
“No we cant, we have dinner with David tonight.”
“….Whaaaa?.. Who is David?!?!!”
You can probably sense that i was growing indignant at how little i was informed on “current affairs”.
“David is a friend who stopped by from Singapore for a visit.” He continued. “You could maybe bake my sister a cake. We’ll have dinner together tomorrow… Anyways, I’m late”.
The door slammed.
So between work, and dinner with “David”, I didnt really have the time to shop for baking and decorative ingredients.
I furiously yanked open the kitchen cabinets.
A stale box of rice krispies, a box of Saltine, and two rolls of Oreo.
I went to the fridge, hoping I had some fresh fruits but all i had was a half bitten, dry starfruit with the unmistakable teeth marks on it.
I didn’t have time to go through the drawers in the fridge, but i was almost certain i had maraschino cherries hidden within its depths.
I put on my shoes, thinking hard. I gotta pull this off somehow.
And i think sorta did.
Well, it’s not exactly the best looking cake on earth.
But at least, the tradition wasn’t broken.
Everyone enjoyed the cake, and my faith in having at least two rolls of oreos in the house at any point in time was restored.
Happy Birthday Dear Sis-In-Law!
