Twelve Days of Christmas

Day Two

ᎾN ᎢᎻᎬ ᏚᎬᏟᎾNᎠ ᎠᎪY ᎾF ᏟᎻᎡᏆᏚᎢᎷᎪᏚ ᏔᏆᎢᎻ ᎻᎬᏞᏢ FᎡᎾᎷ ᎠᎪᏙᎬ ᎪNᎠ ᏞᎬᏚ, ᎢᎻᎬ ᏴᎾYᏚ ᎷᎪKᎬ Ꭺ ᏟᎻᎡᏆᏚᎢᎷᎪᏚ ᎢᎡᎬᎪᎢ ᎪNᎠ ᎷᎬᏚᏚ

***

"How much flour?" Jack asked from his place next to the mixing bowl.

"Four cups!" Les chirped.

Crutchie carefully measured the flour and dumped it into the bowl. "What's next?"

"Three eggs."

"Race, could you grab those?" Jack asked.

Race, who was closest to the refrigerator, nodded and grabbed them out of the carton. "Bet I could juggle these," he stated as he headed toward Jack.

"No way," Jack laughed. "Not raw."

"Yes I could!" Race insisted. "I'll prove it!"

"I really don't think this is a great idea," Davey tried to intervene but he was pushed out of the way as the other boys tried to get a closer look. "Race, really. You're going to make a mess."

"Only if I drop 'em," he replied, eyes fixed on the eggs as he began a cascade pattern.

"Hey, Romeo, toss him another one!" Elmer suggested.

"Jack, they'll get egg all over the floor," Davey warned.

Jack waved him off. "Then they can clean it up. They'll be fine."

Race was now juggling four eggs and his tongue was poking out as he tried to concentrate.

"Give him one more," someone added, but Davey was sick of the game and it appeared that Albert was as well.

"Guys! We really need to finish these cookies soon. Let's get back on track!" Davey's plea was once again ignored.

Albert rolled his eyes at the boy's failed attempts to gather the others' attention. He waited for a second before stepping towards Race and catching one of the eggs.

Race began to protest but quickly shut up when Albert cracked the egg on his forehead. "Seriously, Albert?" Race groaned as yolk dropped down his face.

"Let's hurry up and get this over with. I want to get home."

"No one's making you stay," Finch muttered.

The boys left Race to clean up on his own and reluctantly started to finish the cookies. None of them minded the eating part, but the work was boring.

"Haven't you heard the story of the Little Red Hen?" Les asked when he found a few of the boys sneaking off to watch basketball.

"I don't care about a chicken," Elmer groaned. "Not unless it's dinner."

"Well if you don't help, you don't get any cookies later!" Les said firmly as he crossed his arms.

"I have a job, that means I've got money. All I have to do is drive to the store and I can buy as many cookies as I want. I could buy a hundred if I wanted to. What do you think about that?" Elmer replied.

"I think you'll get fat," Les stated. "You can't eat one hundred cookies."

"Watch me! I'll do it."

"Sure you will," Les said skeptically. "I'm going to finish helping everyone else. You can join us if you decide you want us to share with you."

In the kitchen Davey was having an extremely difficult time trying to control the boys. "Finch, you can't put that in yet! Wait, Mush! Stop messing with the oven temperature! And Buttons! You can't-Romeo! Stop eating the dough, we need that!"

When Crutchie had expressed his desire to make Christmas cookies as a group, Davey had agreed to direct the process. After all, he and Les had made plenty of batches of the treats with their mother. Now he was regretting it.

Jojo, deciding to spice things up again, picked up the spatula he'd been using for the frosting. He looked around for a second to choose his target, then flung the frosting towards Romeo.

Romeo's hand flew up to his cheek and wiped at the frosting. Slowly a grin spread across his face and he grabbed a handful of powdered sugar, sending it flying back across the kitchen.

Within seconds everyone was tossing different ingredients back and forth. Sugar and frosting and dough flew back and forth creating a mess of both the boys and the kitchen. Davey watched helplessly as Les joined in.

"Guys, stop! You're making a mess!"

Like usual, his pleas did nothing to deter the others. Just when Davey thought the food fight would never end, the apartment door swung open.

A pair of heels clicked across the floor and Davey's head shot up to see who had arrived. He let out a breath of relief when he realized that it was Katherine.

Katherine's eyes widened as she took in the disaster that was the kitchen. "What happened in here?"

Immediately all of the boys froze. Jack spun around, jaw dropping when he saw his girlfriend. "We were just about to clean up."

"We were?" Romeo asked. "We weren't cleaning-"

Katherine cocked an eyebrow and Romeo looked over to Jack who was frantically shaking his head.

"I mean, of course we were! See! Finch has the broom and everything!"

Finch's arm shot out to grab the broom that was leaning on the wall next to him, then started sweeping up the flour on the floor.

"See, Kath? It's all getting cleaned up. No problem," Jack reassured.

"It better get cleaned up," Katherine replied. She turned away, moving to hang her coat up in the closet, then paused. "You have frosting in your hair Romeo."

Romeo smiled sheepishly and tried to wipe it away. Davey just frowned.

"Why'd you have to ruin that? It was buttercream!"