THE MISSING CAKE CAPER!

THE MISSING CAKE CAPER—A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Since I had been sick most of the day saturday, I asked Mary if we could go to Sacrament meeting in our regular ward and then come home after partaking of the Sacrament. We did so, and it was great to see some of the old-faithful members, you know the ones you can count on to take on assignments and to help make the ward a smooth running organization. These members strive to live the gospel and help others to do the same.

In the last bench on the south side were the Grimshaw’s, They always sit in the same spot, like many of the other families. It almost seems like when the chapel was built, seats were assigned and people sit where they “got their assignments.” It’s not really assigned seating, but I think that the familiarity of seeing the same faces around you week after week seems to help make attending church that much easier. We always look for familiar surroundings, and that at times makes our ward seem cliquish, though if you ask the members, they will tell you there are no cliques in the ward. It just seems that way.

When I was ward mission leader, it was difficult to bring an investigator and find a place for them to sit where the people would be friendly to them, first because they did not know them and then secondly because they usually would try not to speak loudly to maintain the reverence that is required at Sacrament meeting. New members had a difficult time fitting in with the culture until they got used to it and until they became familiar enough to stake out their own seating arrangement.

There is sister Olson with her two little boys, about 8 and 5, her husband probably went out on the opening weekend of the deer hunt so she sits alone with her children. You have one or more of those members in your congregation, out for the deer hunt each year around the 20th of October.

On the other side of the chapel, are the Muto’s with their full row of people, there are also many new young families, staking out their seating arrangements where they begin to feel familiar.

Mary and I like to sit on the first row of chairs in the overflow, so we took our spot and I wondered which family we had displaced since it had been a while since we attended this ward, and the families that sit there tend to come a little late. We will never know, but in the familiar row behind us were the Zito’s with their children, it made us feel welcome.

Having the bishopric acknowledge our presence and come by to shake our hands and ask about our mission, also made the place more familiar once again.

Just as the meeting was about to start, I signaled the missionaries to come by because I had a referral for them. They came and I told them that the Bautista girl at the end of our block is interested in being baptized, they got the information and said they would come by the house for more details…It made me feel more like a part of the ward again, doing a little missionary work. I miss the ward members and the ward!

The meeting got started and we partook of the Sacrament and heard two very good speakers selected from the High Council. They each chose or were assigned talks from last April’s General Conference. They talked on topics President Monson had shared and how we can apply President Monson’s messages to our lives.

After the meeting we excused ourselves and went home. Marry started fixing one of my favorite dinners, beef enchiladas and before long she had a full Mexican dinner ready for the family to eat. I did not know this, but she had invited the kids and grand kids to celebrate my upcoming birthday. She had been preparing the meal for a couple of days and keeping it hushed up so that I had no clue as to what was happening.

When Jared and his family came for dinner, that’s when I got the first clue that Mary was up to something, because Jared’s family brought a birthday card for me. Then it dawned on me all the preparations and all the work Mary had been doing was for a surprise birthday party for me. We had a great meal and enjoyed all the good Mexican food that Mary had cooked. We ate Mexican rice, refried beans (flavored with bacon grease), beef enchiladas, salad, and warm tortillas that she had made the Monday before. All in all a very good meal.

After the meal she brought out a small strudel cake, that had been cooked in one of those round bunt-cake molds, so the cake looked like a giant doughnut. Then the mystery began…

I had gone to the bathroom and upon returning Mary, somewhat irritated asked, “Did you eat part of the cake?” She held the cake in the serving pan with what looked like a perfectly cut wedge out of the round doughnut. I quickly denied any knowledge of the cake and I told her I had not even had an inkling that there was a cake in the house. I said, “Maybe it was Joel who ate it.” But Joel responded quickly, that he had not even seen the cake.

Following the progression of possible suspects, we then blamed Jared and Jacob, but they all denied taking a piece of the cake. The mystery thicked, who ate the cake?

About this time, Mary was beginning to get frustrated and announced that we would not eat the cake since we were not sure if it had come partially eaten from the store. It grossed us out to think that someone has eaten a part of the cake and then replaced the lid on the carrier. I thought how could Mary not see that a part of the cake was missing when she got it from the bakery, Thus this became the missing cake caper.

Like detectives, everyone came up with a conjectures as to how it could have happened and we were all resigned to not eating birthday cake. But Mary, the observant person she is, notice that the cake frosting had gotten on the top of the cake cover and started to look at the cake more closely. The cover was slightly larger than the cake, just enough, so that when she put it in the bag, the cake slid to one side and in so doing split apart and slid to the bottom of the carrier. A gap was left in the perfect shape of a wedge, as if someone had removed a piece and left the cake for the rest of us to enjoy. She took a knife, slid the cake back to the middle of the carrier and “Walla!” a perfectly formed round bunt-apple-strudel cake was formed.

She started laughing and showed everyone how the cake had slid and had made it look as though someone had cut a perfect slice out of it. Needless to say we were all relieved and laughed at how quickly we had accused each other of taking the wedge off the cake.

The MISSING CAKE CAPER HAD BEEN SOLVED! We all enjoyed a tasty dessert and had a wonderful laugh thinking about the missing cake wedge. As we ate the cake, we began smoothing relationships after having accused each other of eating the cake wedge and leaving the rest for the family…Egad!!!