The first of three scenes I wrote for my Creative Writing Final <3
The warm early light bounced off the cream colored walls of their bedroom, illuminating the dust particles that danced in the air. Sofie buried her head deeper into the pillows as she heard the world slowly wake up. She would have been content to catnap the day away, but the baking wasn’t going to get done itself.
So, Sofie sat up and stretched, before feeling for her boyfriend. As she felt the lines along his face, he stirred slightly, eyes squinting in an effort to keep the light out. Sofie’s fingers played in his stubble before her other hand pushed his hair back.
“Morning already?” He grumbled, his voice rasping in an effort to clear the sleep from it.
Sofie kissed him, relishing the feeling of his rough lips on her soft. “Si, mi amor.” She replied as he kissed her arm softly, before drifting back to a half sleep. “I will call you if we need you,” He nodded and Sofie swung her legs off the bed. Sofie knew that the cat was dozing in the widow, and was likely to spend the entire day in the same spot. She pulled her hair up into a bun and counted the steps to her wardrobe and to the clothes that Éonan had helped lay out the night before. She tugged on the clothes and slipped on her house shoes before shuffling down the hallway she knew inside and out.
When she counted 15 steps, she turned the door handle and poked her head in.
“Good morning, Mama,”
Sofie smiled when the groggily happy voice met her ears. She opened the door wider and walked to where she knew his bed was and gathered her up in his arms.
“Good morning, Theo.” She greeted, kissing his forehead. “Are you ready to be my helper today?” She felt him nod against her chest.
“Yes, Mama.” Theo said as Sofie carried him down the hall, and down the stairs to the bakery. The stairs squeaked their familiar way as they made their way down. “Mama?” Theo asked softly, rubbing his eyes of sleep.
“Si, hijo?”
“What’re we making today?”
“What would you like to make, love?” Sofie said brightly, flipping the lights on. Sometimes she forgot, and if she did, Theo would remind her. “We will make whatever you want.”
She could practically see Theo’s face as he thought. She imagined his little nose scrunching up in concentration as she put him down. She imagined his eyebrows knit together as he used his stepstool to be counter height. She chuckled as she heard the faucet run, and heard him take in a deep breath as he washed his hands.
“Well?” She prompted, as she washed her own hands. “Have you thought of anything?”
“Can we make dinosaur cookies?”
“What kind of dinosaur cookies?”
“Cake batter. And can we decorate them green?”
“Of course. And any other color you want,”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Purple too? And blue? And yellow?”
“Whatever you want, Theo.” Sofie replied, before expertly navigating the kitchen. Éonan always made sure to stock everything up the night before, so she would never have to look for something she was missing. She reached into the cupboard and pulled down the necessary ingredients. She always knew she was correct, because every container she had had a different engraving. “We can name them ‘Theo’s Dinos.’ They will be sure to sell out by closing!”
“You think so?”
“I know so. Can you please make sure the roller is clean?”
“Do you think Éonan will help decorate?”
“I’m sure he will,” Sofie assured. “So, what kind of dinosaurs do you want to make?”
“Well,” Theo said, kneading the dough that Sofie gave him. “When my class went to the museum for that field trip I saw a stager-thesaurus. It had really big humps on its back and a really long tail.”
“A stegosaurus, perhaps?”
“Yeah, that. Stego-saurus. And we saw a T-Rex and one with a really, really long neck. And the tour guide person said that they had really long necks so that they could reach the leaves on the tops of trees.”
“Oh, like a giraffe?” Sofie asked as she rolled out the kneaded dough that Theo had handed back to her.
“Yes!” Came the enthusiastic reply. “I think those were my favorite. We should make a lot of those.”
“We can!” Sofie promised. “Go get the cookie-cutters, love. You know where they are?”
“Yep!” He said. Sofie heard his feet hit the floor as he jumped off his stepstool and came back with the rattling tin of cutters. She also heard the distinctive sound of them being dumped out onto the counter, clashing on the marble.
“Find the dinosaur ones, hijo. And then we can bake the first sheet.”
“Here you go,” Theo said, placing a cutter in her hands. Sofie felt along the edges, and satisfied that it was in fact a dinosaur, nodded.
“Gracias,” Sofie said, “Now, remember to help me get as many cookies out of this dough sheet as possible.”
“I know, Mama,” Theo promised. She felt his smaller hands guide hers and place the cutter on the dough.
“Near the edge?” Sofie asked, making sure.
“Yep!”
“Good boy,” She said, and they pressed it down together.
This process continued throughout the morning. They would cut dinosaur shapes into the dough, Sofie would transfer them to a cookie sheet and pop them into the oven. They would come out about 15 minutes later, and Theo would take a spatula and set them out on the counter to cool. After the timer for the last batch had gone off, Sofie smiled as she heard the distinctive creak of the stairs.
“There are the people I tolerate,” She heard Éonan say. Sofie felt a kiss to her temple as he handed her a mug of coffee. She also smelled the mug of hot coco that was for Theo.
“Thank you Éonan!” Theo chirped, and she heard him take a large, happy slurp of it.
“That’s a lot of dinosaurs,” Éonan said with an appreciative whistle. Sofie smelled the tea in his own mug, and the honey he had put in it.
Sofie smiled. “All Theo’s idea.” She said, slapping his bum playfully as she took a drink of her coffee. “And those who only tolerate us do not get any.”
“Did I say tolerate?” Éonan said, a smile evident in his tone. “I meant to say adore.”
“And those who adore us have to help decorate.” Theo piped in with a laugh.
“Decorate?”
“Of course, mi amor.” Sofie laughed, handing him a piping tool. “We open in three hours. If each of us take 60, we will be finished in no time.”
“Ugh, fine.” He grumbled. “But I’m using red and black.”
“You can use whatever colors you want!” Theo grinned. “I’m using green and purple, I think. But I might change it up a bit.”
“Interesting choice.” Sofie said. “I’m using pink,” She said, holding up her icing. “Correct?”
“That’s pink,” Both Éonan and Theo replied.
“Excellent.” She smiled. “These will be the talk of the town.”
As they decorated, Sofie listened to their chatter with a small smile. Theo enthusiastically gave decorating tips to Éonan, and Éonan begrudgingly took them. Through the near identical slurping of their respective drinks, she laughed. They were more a like that Éonan liked to believe, she decided.
“What’re you laughing at, woman?” Éonan asked in her direction. Sofie shrugged as she felt along the edges of the cookie she was decorating.
“Just my boys.” She replied.
Sofie smiled to herself. These were her boys; and this was her life. And she wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Sofie really likes bathes. Not to like get clean, but to soak and relax in. She likes to submerge her head up to her ears because underwater you can't hear anything but your own heart beat and breathing. She likes that feeling because with being blind and all, her hearing is more acute, and sometimes she just needs silence.
