Rob’s usual pattern was to bike home from school for a quick snack and then bike on to his part-time job. But one day a delicious distraction lured him into deep trouble.
“Wow! Look at that,” he thought as he walked through the kitchen door of their home. “Brownies!”
Rob’s favorite treat was brownies and milk.
Like most growing 15-year-old boys, Rob had an insatiable appetite. The term ‘hollow legs’ applied. And sweets? Well . . . right at the top of the irresistible.
His mother knew about such things. She’d grown up with nine brothers. Accordingly, extra sandwiches were in the fridge for Rob’s after-school meals, along with fruit and sliced veggies.
Rob sat at the kitchen table and munched through the meal prepared for him by his mother before she went to her job. But he couldn’t ignore the distraction on the kitchen counter next to him.
He kept glancing at the huge double-batch of brownies resting atop two large cooking racks. Normally, his mother made a single batch of brownies. Rob rarely got as many as he really wanted.
‘Mom must have figured that,’ Rob reasoned. At that moment, his emotions experienced special warmth toward his mother for her thoughtfulness.
‘What a wonderful surprise,’ he thought.
The fresh scent of chocolate permeated the kitchen air. It drew his eyes back, again and again, to the little brown squares, topped with rich chocolate icing.
Those brownies were beckoning him . . . teasing him . . . tempting him. He just knew it. In fact, he was absolutely sure of it.
Rob went to the fridge, poured another glass of cold milk . . . and succumbed.
‘Mom won’t mind me having a few,’ Rob reassured himself. ‘I’ll just have the same ones I’d have when I get home tonight.’ He conveniently overlooked promising himself more at that time.
Rob left for work. He’d been there almost an hour when the phone rang.
“You ate all those brownies!!!”
It was his mother’s voice . . . loud, accusing and very angry.
“How could you?” she shouted. “How could you?”
“But, Mom,” Rob began to reply.
“How could you?” his mother demanded again.
“But I thought you left them so I could have a few,” Rob finally was able to interject. “I just had a few, Mom.”
“A few?” his mother’s voice thundered from the phone.
“A few!” she repeated. “You ate almost half of them!”
“Really?” Rob answered. He knew it was an exaggeration. He was beginning to feel guilty just the same, and he knew better than to contradict his Mom when she was angry with him.
“Yes, really!” his mother said, struggling to become more calm. “I made a double batch for a very good reason.”
Rob felt again the warm glow of his mother’s thoughtfulness.
“And you,” she continued, her voice still carrying a shrill edge, “And you ate half of one batch.”
“Gee,” Rob replied. “I didn’t realize . . . but they were soooooo good, Mom.”
“Don’t you, ‘Soooo good Mom’ me,” she replied, a hint of her well-developed maternal love forcing its way into her stern voice.
“I made those brownies for my Women’s Institute meeting here tonight. I made just enough to go around! See what you did? Now, what am I to do? They’ll be here any minute!”
She hung up.
“Oh shit!” Rob thought, suitably ashamed and humbled.
The next morning, he sought and received forgiveness. His love of brownies remained unrequited.
But he made certain from that day forward to check first before munching into his permissible dessert quotas.
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“The Brownies Episode” is Copyright 2013 by James Osborne All Rights Reserved
(Image Credits: All images are in the public domain)
James Osborne Novels 