Cupcake Queen Page 2

  As we walk in, Aunt Susie says, “Well, don’t you girls look sweeter than sugar.”

  Momma laughs and says, “They’re probably full of sugar! Miss Clarabelle is a fabulous baker.”

  “Did you girls have fun?” Aunt Susie asks. “How was tea?”

  We tell them all about the sandwiches, teapot cookies, and yummy cupcakes. Momma looks at Aunt Susie and says, “I think we should have had tea instead of coffee. Those treats sound delicious!”

  “Tea is better than coffee,” I say.

  “Especially with lots of milk and sugar!” Lucy adds, giggling.

  After they leave, I tell Momma all about my plan. When I’m done talking, Momma thinks for a minute. Then she says, “Kylie Jean, I love the idea of you starting a business. But you’ll need to invest your own money in it.”

  “What does that mean?” I ask nervously. I don’t have very much money.

  “That means you’ll use your allowance to buy ingredients,” Momma explains.

  Ugly Brother and I run upstairs to dump my piggy bank and count the change.

  There are lots of quarters, dimes, and pennies, and some paper money. I count all the coins, stacking them up into little piles. I put four quarters in each stack so they are each worth a dollar.

  Ugly Brother tries to sniff the stacks.

  “No, Ugly Brother!” I shout. “You better let me count them before you knock them over.”

  He barks, “Ruff, ruff.”

  There are ten one-dollar bills, a five-dollar bill, and a ten-dollar bill. With all of my coins, I have thirty dollars.

  Wow! I’m already rich!

  Looking at all my money, I realize I’ve been saving it for something special, and this is it! And once I make more money, I can buy anything I want when I go shopping.

  I run downstairs to tell Momma. She’s in the kitchen, talking to T.J.

  “I have thirty dollars!” I shout.

  T.J. asks, “Can I borrow some money?”

  “No way!” I say. “I need all my money to buy the ingredients for my cupcake business.”

  “You should make chocolate cupcakes,” T.J. says.

  “Hmm,” I say. “Momma, what kind do you think I should make?”

  Momma thinks for a minute. “My favorite is red velvet with cream cheese frosting,” she says. “But Daddy’s favorite is lemon. And I know you like vanilla best, right?”

  “That’s right,” I say.

  I think about it a little bit more. “I also like strawberry, because they’re pink,” I add. “If I make everybody’s favorite, I could have four flavors. Or should I do more?”

  “Four flavors is plenty,” Momma tells me.

  “Where are you going to sell your cupcakes?” T.J. asks.

  My mouth falls open. Oh no! My plan to start my own business will fall apart unless someone has a garage sale!

  The next afternoon, I am busy making myself an after-school snack when Daddy comes into the kitchen. He says, “Hello, cupcake!”

  Grinning, I say, “Hello, Daddy!” Before he can say anything else, I decide to tell him about my problem. “I need someone to have a garage sale so I can sell my cupcakes. Can you pretty please have one? Oh, and can it be this Saturday?”

  Daddy laughs. “That’s not much time to get ready for a big sale.”

  “I can help get everything ready,” I say. “Ugly Brother can help, too!”

  Ugly Brother whines and puts his paws over his head. I lower my voice and tell him, “I think you are starting to be a big ol’ lazy bones!” When he hears me say “bones,” he barks. I’m not sure if he is barking because he is lazy or hungry.

  Daddy looks at me. “Let’s talk to your momma over dinner and see what she thinks,” he suggests. “Okay, cupcake?”

  I nod. “Yes, sir.”

  We are having spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Ugly Brother only likes the meatballs, because the noodles stick to his tongue. That makes them hard for him to eat.

  Momma lets me put the silverware on the table and fold the napkins. When I’m done, she hugs me and says, “This table looks amazing!”

  T.J. comes in, sniffing the air. “And somethin’ smells amazin’!” he says. “What’s for dinner?”

  I tell him, “Spaghetti and meatballs, bread, and salad. Yummy!”

  We all take our seats around the big table. Daddy says grace and we dig in.

  T.J. loads up. He has a little mountain of pasta noodles and meatballs on his plate. Momma passes the salad and bread.

  Everything is delicious.

  We are so busy eating that I almost forget to bring up the big garage sale!

  Luckily, Daddy remembers.

  “Why don’t we have a big garage sale this weekend?” he asks Momma. “The weather is going to be just right.”

  Momma raises an eyebrow. “I’m sure Kylie Jean put you up to this so she can sell cupcakes,” she begins. Then she sighs and says, “But that garage needs a good cleanin’, so I say let’s do it.”

  “Yay!” I shout. Ugly Brother and T.J. both groan.

  After dinner, we spend all evening cleaning out the garage! I’m getting tired and there are a lot of skeeters out, but the garage is full of junky treasure.

  First we push all the boxes to one side of the garage. Then we start opening them to see what’s inside. It’s fun, like a real treasure hunt!

  Momma finds a box of old baby stuff. It has sippy cups, bottles, baby toys, blankets, and clothes.

  “Were those things mine or T.J.’s?” I ask.

  Momma says, “They’re all pink, so they must have been yours.”

  “Aww,” I say, looking at a teeny tiny dress. “I was such an itty bitty baby.”

  “You sure were,” Momma says. “And some other momma will love to buy these sweet clothes and other baby things for her little girl.”

  Daddy and T.J. find a big box of old coins and stamps. When he was a little kid, T.J. collected that kind of stuff.

  Daddy thinks someone will buy them. He finds some tools to sell, too. We’re finding lots of things to sell!

  Piles of stuff are everywhere. I can’t even see Ugly Brother.

  I call him and he barks, wiggling out of a pile of coats.

  Momma is sorting and organizing the piles. One big pile is just trash.

  Daddy starts loading all of the trash into the back of his truck to take to the city dump, and T.J. helps him.

  “You and Ugly Brother could go to your room and pick out some of your old toys to sell at the garage sale,” Momma tells me. “You can keep the money from any of your toys that sell.”

  “Okay,” I shout, clapping my hands. Ugly Brother and I run to my room. Well, I run. Ugly Brother doesn’t.

  Choosing toys to sell turns out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be! I pick out some dollies, but I want to keep them all. I lay all them on my bed and look at them. I finally decide to sell my lemon cupcake cutie doll.

  Ugly Brother brings me a purple stuffed bear.

  “Okay, we can sell that bear,” I agree. “What other animals can we sell? Not my pony. Okay, Ugly Brother?”

  Ugly Brother barks, “Ruff, ruff.” Then he brings me a rainbow fish, a little gray mouse, a pink kitty, and a green frog. I don’t really want to sell them, but I put them in the pile anyway.

  Ugly Brother helps me put them all in a box, and we take them down to the garage.

  When Momma looks in the box, she exclaims, “I am so proud of you for choosin’ some toys to sell in the sale. Good job!”

  I say, “Thank you, Momma.”

  Momma checks her watch. “You have to go to school tomorrow,” she says. “It’s bedtime.”

  While I get ready for bed, I think about all of the great stuff we found to sell.

  After I climb up i
n the bed and pull the covers all around me, Ugly Brother jumps up and scoots up right beside me so we are snug as two bugs in a rug.

  I fall asleep petting his ear.

  All night long, I dream about making cupcakes. I bake them and frost them with fluffy white icing. They are not plain old cupcakes. Instead, I put little doggie bone treats on the top. Ugly Brother eats them up!

  When I wake up, I have a new idea! I’m not just gonna make cupcakes for people. My business will sell cupcakes for dogs, too!

  When I get to school, I go straight to my classroom and sit down at the table I share with Cara, Paula, and Lucy.

  I can’t wait to tell Paula and Cara about my cupcake plan. Lucy already knows all about it, except for the doggie cupcake part.

  I announce, “I am going into the bakery business and sellin’ cupcakes! All kinds of cupcakes — even some for doggies!”

  The girls gush, “Ohhh!”

  “You must be so excited,” Cara says.

  “Yup,” I say, adding, “I’m startin’ my own business so I can get rich! Momma and I are startin’ the bakin’ tonight.”

  Paula looks puzzled. “You know dogs don’t buy cupcakes, right?” she says. “Are your cupcakes going to be free? Because sellin’ things to dogs is a bad plan if you’re trying to get rich.”

  “No, silly,” I say. “The people who own the dogs will buy the cupcakes.”

  “Oh,” she says. “I get it.” But she doesn’t look too sure.

  All morning, it seems like the clock is stuck! The time passes by slower than the roller coaster line at the state fair.

  When the clock finally says eleven, it is time for lunch. Usually we bring our lunch, but today they are having corn dogs. Nothing tastes better for lunch than a nice hot corn dog covered in ketchup.

  The lunch room is big and has rows and rows of brightly colored round tables. It’s so noisy! You have to yell or no one can hear you.

  While my friends and I wait in line, I see some kids with Popsicles on their tray. Pointing, I shout, “Hey, it’s lucky Popsicle tray day.”

  Lucky Popsicle tray day is amazing! Some kids who buy their lunches get FREE Popsicles on their trays. I just know Lucy will get one. She is luckier than a four-leaf clover.

  Sure enough, she gets a pink one. Well, you know pink is my color and I have the best cousin in the whole wide world because she wants to give her Popsicle to me.

  Lucy hands it over, saying, “You take it, Kylie Jean. Look, it’s your favorite flavor — pink lemonade.”

  I am so excited about my cupcakes I can’t even eat it, so I say, “No thanks, Lucy,” and give it back. Lucy stuffs the Popsicle into her mouth before she eats her corn dog and fries.

  I laugh, and she smiles at me with her pink Popsicle mouth.

  Normally I just love recess, but today even recess takes a long, long time. I can’t wait to test out cupcake recipes with Momma. I just know they’ll come out de-li-cious!

  Momma is a blue-ribbon baker. Every year she wins prizes at the fair. Besides, just the way folks eat up her good food tells you she is the best cook in the county. Maybe even the whole state of Texas! She is gonna help me make the best cupcakes ever.

  When we get back to our classroom, the rest of the day goes by slower than molasses in January. Finally, the last bell rings!

  I grab my backpack and head for the door. It seems like the whole class is in line in front of me and they’re all taking forever.

  From the back of the line, I shout, “If y’all don’t hurry up, some of us are going to miss our bus!” My complaining doesn’t seem to rush them very much. Everyone likes to take their sweet time. They must not have cupcakes to bake.

  We push through the crowded hallway and out the double doors into the sunshine. My bus is at the front of the line today. Yay for Mr. Jim! He is our bus driver. If he were a cupcake, he’d be chocolate cake because he has dark brown hair.

  Jumping on the bus, I shout, “Hurry, Mr. Jim! Drive as fast as you can.”

  “Whoa, slow down,” he says, wiping his face with his red bandana. “What’s your big hurry anyway, gal?”

  I explain, “Momma has an apron waiting for me and I need to get busy quick so I can sell a million cupcakes and be a cupcake queen!”

  Mr. Jim looks surprised. I surprise him a lot, I think.

  I slide into the seat right behind him and get busy doing my math problems. Usually I have a little chat with Mr. Jim, but not today.

  I don’t even ask him any math questions!

  By the time we pick up the middle school kids, I am done with math and moving on to my spelling list. Right after we pick up T.J. and the high school kids, I finish all my homework.

  Stuffing my book in my backpack, I shout, “Done!” Mr. Jim gives me a thumbs-up.

  Soon we pull up in front of our house. As I get off the bus, I ask, “How many cupcakes do you want to buy, Mr. Jim?”

  He says, “I might just have to buy a whole dozen. You’re going to need to sell a lot of cupcakes to get to a million!”

  Momma is in the kitchen getting ready to bake. She is wearing an apron with little pink and brown cupcakes all over the material.

  I gush, “Oh, Momma, I just love your new apron!”

  Momma smiles. “Turn around and close your eyes,” she says. “I have something for you.”

  Momma slips an apron over my head. Then she ties it on with a big bow.

  “Open your eyes,” she says.

  The apron looks just like Momma’s. I smooth the front and whisper, “I love it! Where did you get it?”

  “I told Granny about your new business,” Momma says. “She made them for us. Now, let’s get started!”

  Cupcake recipes are laid out in neat rows on the kitchen table. Momma and I sit down to decide which ones to make.

  It is a hard decision. Everyone likes chocolate and vanilla. Momma’s favorite is red velvet. Strawberry and Italian cream cake are both good, too.

  And I definitely want to make a special recipe Momma found for doggie cupcakes!

  I ask, “How are we going to choose flavors?”

  “You should make chocolate and vanilla, plus the dog recipe. Then choose two other flavors for variety,” Momma suggests.

  I choose strawberry because I like the pink frosting. Then I pick red velvet since most folks like it. I put the recipe cards next to the big bowl mixer.

  “Which one is first?” I ask.

  “Let’s start with the chocolate,” Momma decides.

  We read the recipe carefully. Momma calls out the ingredients and I fetch them for her.

  She lists, “Flour, sugar, butter, eggs, milk, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and vanilla.”

  I gather them up and tote them over to Momma.

  First, we beat the golden butter until it is fluffy. I measure in the sugar as the mixer buzzes along.

  Next comes the tricky part — cracking the eggs. Momma hands me a little bowl. Standing at the kitchen table, I tap the egg on the side of the bowl, watching a crack break across its middle. Pressing the sides of the egg, I hold my breath. I don’t want the shell to break into the bowl along with the egg.

  “Oh no!” I cry as I see little pieces of shell swirling in the egg.

  Momma winks. “Try again, sweetie. It takes practice.”

  The bowl gets a rinse in the sink and I get another egg. This time the egg slides right out into the bowl with no shell. Yay!

  But the recipe calls for two eggs. Can I do it again? Momma hands me another egg. I tap the egg, and success! It slips into the bowl, no shell. Momma adds them to the big mixing bowl. The beaters go buzz, buzz. The vanilla smells sweet when I carefully pour it into a measuring spoon.

  I add flour and cocoa. The beaters are coated with fudgy goodness. It’s starting to look pretty tasty, but we
are too busy to try any.

  Momma asks, “Can you put the cupcake liners in the pans?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I say.

  The cupcake liners stick together. I gently pull them apart and sort out the pink ones. Momma scoops the chocolate batter into the pretty pink paper cupcake liners, careful not to get any on the ruffled edges. Before you know it, that batch is in the oven and the kitchen smells yummy.

  Time for a new batch! We rinse, wipe, wash, and get everything ready to start again.

  The back door slams as T.J. comes in. “Where’s my cupcake?” he asks.

  “Sorry, these cupcakes are for my business,” I tell him.

  Then an idea hits me like candles on birthday cake! “If you want to earn a cupcake,” I say, “you could do some work for me. I could pay you in cupcakes!”

  T.J. laughs. “What do I have to do?” he asks.

  “That’s easy,” I say. “Help us make cupcakes!”

  T.J. always tries to make everything a contest. He says, “Let’s have a bake-off to see who makes the best cupcakes!”

  I make the strawberry, with light pink icing. Momma helps me a little, but she mostly makes her red velvet cupcakes, bakes the doggie cupcakes, and ices the chocolate cupcakes with red icing. T.J. makes vanilla, and a big mess! He has so much flour on him that he looks like a polar bear.

  I put a doggie treat on top of one of the doggie cupcakes. “Why did you do that?” T.J. asks. “Nobody wants to eat a cupcake with a dog treat on it!”

  “Dogs do!” I say. “I’m selling doggie cupcakes.”

  T.J. thinks about it for a minute. “You know, that’s a pretty good idea,” he says.

  “I know!” I say proudly.

  When Daddy comes home, we’re still busy baking. He says, “This kitchen smells sweeter than a candy factory.”

  T.J. nods. “We’re having a baking contest,” he explains, “and you get to be the judge.”