This week’s prompt word: “cat” in any shape or form…
It was a catastrophe of catastrophic proportions.
I looked at her and she at me and we both burst into laughter.
On the floor was her prize and joy.
Though on the floor it didn’t look the attractive dish it did before it hit.
She’d spent all afternoon preparing the pumpkin pie from a recipe her mum had used some twenty years before. Every step of the way was greeted with the excitement of her voice saying, “There that’s right, I remember mum saying it had to look that way.”
But right now the pie was no more. Not only was it on the floor and spreading into the floorboards but it also was turning a colour neither of us expected. Where it should have been a pumpkin colour there was a hint of red about the mix as it oozed from the smashed pie dish.
My wife is a great pie lover and loves to quote a list of her favourite pies, which takes in most known varieties. Today was a special one for not only was it using her mum’s recipe but also her dad was coming from the nursing home for lunch on one of his rare days out. Clarrie was a great pie lover, after any meal when asked if he wanted dessert he’d say: “Better have something to take the taste away.”
Catastrophes aside we were in trouble. The red tinge to the smashed pie grew larger, we looked from one to the other and realised that my wife’s hand was bleeding, her precious blood spilling all over the now ruined pie and suddenly the dilemma grew larger, fix the floor, or fix the hand.
Floors don’t scream like a person with a bleeding hand will and so that catastrophe solved I rushed around to get a cloth to help stem the flow of blood.
Hours later her hand swathed in bandages we returned home to find her dad in the kitchen surveying what was left of the pie, now a mash of pumpkin and glass.
‘Been a bit of a catastrophe here I see,’ he said as we entered, a take away Chinese meal under my arm…. a frozen apple pie to be placed into the oven…
Written for: http://lindaghill.com/2015/11/06/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-715/
Morpethroad 
Quite a story. Good one. I can identify with the cook who put so much effort into making something and then on top of it gets wounded in the process. The father, Clarrie, sounds cute. Good idea about the take out Chinese. I hope your wife succeeded with the Pumpkin Pie recipe at a later time. It’s almost time for Pumpkin Pie here in the States. We have it for Thanksgiving.
Hi Deborah, I’m sure there were other successful occasions where the pie was perfection. I guess that Thanksgiving brings out all the pie makers around the country, thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend.
Careful, Michael. As Deborah said, here in the US, we are getting geared up for Thanksgiving, a pumpkin pie on every table. I shall be extra careful. Then again, we do have plenty of take-out pumpkin pies available. This is my favorite line ever “Better have something to take the taste away.” One of the beautiful things about getting old–you get to say what you want. 😀
Thanks Mandy, yes its a good line, my dad said it all the time and every time I smiled, some nights I could understand when my cooking wasn’t up to scratch……
Something tells me he was a character–which explains a lot 😀
Yes he was I think I may have inherited some things from him…..:)
I love how you do these, Michael–always a tender message tucked within lovely writing; imagery which takes us into the scene and characters. Well done indeed.
Thank you Miss J it’s something I love to do
It shows in the writing!! 🙂
“Though on the floor it didn’t look the attractive dish it did before it hit.”
There is something so forceful but calm – about the impact of this sentence Michael – I really love it!
Great story – catastrophes and all 🙂
Thank you Pat sorry to take so long to get back to replying, been a little distracted of late…
no need to apologize Michael … I hope you are well ….
I was meeting the wife of a friend. They were coming for brunch. And she dropped her pie all over my porch when she went to hand it to me. She cried about it. We all ate it anyway. LOL Funny how the mistakes are such ice breakers.
So long as it tasted ok, who cares as a pie done well is always a treat…
Chinese food is good. 😛
Always….
Great story Michael. I was afraid the red stuff coming from the pie on the floor would be blood, but I thought this could get worse. I was glad only the wife’s hand was cut and that everything turned out. Their are worse things than frozen pie and Chinese for thanksgiving. When my Grandpa was getting sick from his emphysema we often had KFC. I think Chinese food is healthier lol.
Thanks for stopping by Mandi, yes I think Chinese is marginally ahead of KFC….hope you are having a good weekend…