Dark Or Cream

Chapter 2 – Preheat The Oven

Ramses’ birthday was a day away. Kaja set the temperature on her oven to finish up the last thing on her to-do list. Ebony bustled into the kitchen carrying bags of groceries. The early evening sunlight filtered through the blinds of the kitchen. Kaja had plenty of time to bake, fondant and ice Ramses’ cake.

“Did you get the powder sugar?” Kaja flashed a grin at her helpful big sister. Ebony started pulling items out of the bag and lining them up on the counter top. She held up a huge bag of powder sugar in answer.

Ebony exclaimed, “Whew! I’m glad that boy only turns twenty-one once in a lifetime. I can’t believe his childish butt begged momma for a birthday party.”

“We got our sweet sixteen parties. He wants a sweet twenty-one to ring in his manhood.”

“Yeah, but dang! He partied hard enough for the New Year. Did you see the pictures he posted? I know for a fact at least one of those hussies was a stripper. Had the nerve to ask me if we were serving alcohol.”

“Oh, my gosh! I know he didn’t.” Kaja burst out laughing at her younger brother’s audacity. Ramses had asked their parents to help plan a birthday bash for him, and Kaja and Ebony had gamely hopped on board, but this was definitely a family-friendly celebration. There would be no alcohol and no strippers. Kaja knew Ramses would be satisfied with the fact Ebony had rented out an indoor pool and Kaja was doing the catering. His college friends and he would chow down on andouille sausage jambalaya, sweet corn, yeast rolls and Kaja’s famous barbecue chicken. The rest of the food had been prepared in advance and waited in the freezer at the restaurant for reheating. All that was left was to craft the hip-hop themed birthday cake he wanted.

“Nothing but a big kid, with his mannish self. Look at the party favors I got.”

“Party favors for an adult party?”

“They’re cute! Look.” Ebony held up a party bag she’d stuffed with personal sized scented lotion, cologne and perfume samples, two free movie passes and a coupon for half off a haircut or hairstyle from their friend Isis’ beauty salon. “Plus, I hired Malcom, David’s homeboy, to work the sound system. This is gonna be epic.”

“Did I tell you I met somebody on that website?” Kaja mentioned. She scooped cups of flour and sugar and poured other dry ingredients into her mixing bowl, getting to work on the cake. Ebony squealed excitedly, begging for details. “Well, he likes country music, he grew up on a farm, he drives tractors and he wears cowboy hats.”

“Kaja Renee Crenshaw! A white boy?” Ebony shrieked in shock. “He can’t be the only person hitting you up.”

“He’s the only one I’ve been talking back and forth with for a few days, and he seems…okay.” Kaja smiled, thinking about the cute inboxes from Eric. He would message her before he went to work so she could get it when she woke up and again after he got off so she could get it when she got home. They had a nice rhythm of conversation going, learning about each other in a friendly, non-pressure environment. He hadn’t asked to meet her. Kaja hadn’t asked to meet him. She was more comfortable with thinking about him like a friend.

Ebony laughed heartily at the prospect of her baby sister dating a white boy. It wasn’t the most uncommon thing these days. Ebony just couldn’t see her big fine little sister settling for a scrawny white guy in a cowboy hat. She put the idea out of her mind and told Kaja to focus on the baking. Ebony preheated the oven and turned to the sink to handle dish duty, while Kaja finished mixing the batter.

When the mixture was poured into the round baking pans and ready to go into the oven, Kaja turned to the stove to deposit them inside. “Ebony, I thought I asked you to preheat,” she muttered. Kaja turned the knob on the oven, noting, as Ebony affirmed, that she had already set it. Sticking a hand inside, Kaj could tell the oven hadn’t gotten hot at all.

“Wait a minute. Did your stove just quit on us in the middle of baking this birthday cake?” Ebony punctuated each word with a bang of a large mixing spoon on the counter top.

“It can’t be out,” Kaja denied. She set down the pan she was holding and tried to figure out what was wrong. After a few minutes, she had to admit defeat. “It’s out.”

“This is some bull, Kaj,” Ebony said, throwing her hands up in the air. Kaja smirked at her overdramatic sister and tried to figure out how to get the cake done in time for the party.

“If I get up early enough, I can jet down to the restaurant and use that oven. I’ll have it finished in time for the party at one that afternoon. Keisha is coming through in the morning to heat up the rest of the food anyway.”

“What are we going to do with all this?” Ebony gestured to the pans of cake mix. Kaja reassured Ebony the mix would be fine. She poured it out of the pans and covered the bowl, sticking the batter in the fridge.

“Now, get your complaining butt out of my kitchen. Be glad you got the evening off cooking duties,” Kaja replied.

“Ooh, you right! And, David is babysitting! Hello, shopping!” Kaja and Ebony laughed gaily as they hurried out of the kitchen. Kaja could use the break. She’d been working nonstop to make sure the party went off without a hitch.

So, it was with trepidation and alarm when she got up at nine o’clock the next morning and saw three missed calls from her employee. That couldn’t be good! Kaja bypassed her computer and went for her phone. She hit the call button, only to hear Keisha’s obviously hoarse and raspy voice answer the phone. “Ms. Crenshaw, I’ve been trying to get in touch with you.” The girl coughed and sounded like she was hacking up a lung. Kaja pulled the phone away from her ear and wrinkled her nose. She placed it back in time to hear, “I thought it was my allergies actin’ up, but I went to the walk-in clinic yesterday, and the doctor says I might have bronchitis.”

“Please tell me you’re joking,” Kaja pleaded. She put a hand to her forehead in distress, trying to figure out how she would manage to bake a cake and heat up all the food by herself in time for the pool party.

“I wish I was. Every time I swallow or cough it feels like I’ve got razor blades in my throat. I won’t be able to get back to work until this blows over.”