Chapter 7

I groaned as I flopped onto my back. My alarm clock was beeping, trying to get my attention. With much effort, I slung my hand down on top of the button, silencing its battle cry. 

I had hoped that yesterday was a nightmare that could have been easily forgotten but, to my dismay, it couldn't have been false. 

After my mini-battle with Gerald, I was so pissed off that I stormed out of the office and went back home. It wasn't until I got a call from Cassie asking for my whereabouts, that I realized I had forgotten to report back to her on how my interrogation with the greedy Monkey went. 

After explaining everything to Cassie and allowing her to let out her blazing fury towards Gerald on the phone, I had hit the bed intending to take a break from the annoying event of the day. But it seemed that my body needed more rest because my alarm was the only thing alerting me that it was a new day already. 

Shaking the memory of the previous day's terrors from my head, I stood up from the bed and padded my way to the kitchen, barefoot. Conveying the fact that an attempt to prepare something to eat would bring about the assembly of the whole of New York's Fire department at my doorstep, I decided to settle for cereals instead. 

Nice choice! 

I brought a bowl down from the top shelf and placed it on the kitchen island. Then I poured some cereal into the bowl and proceeded to get some milk from the refrigerator. I took the milk out, and in the process of closing the door to the refrigerator, something caught my eye. 

I opened the refrigerator widely and noticed that there was a bowl sitting in the centre. It was wedged between the snickers bar and the strawberry vanilla ice cream which I bought some days back at the supermarket. 

Now, that was weird ‘I don't remember placing a bowl in the refrigerator," I muttered to myself 

I brought the bowl out of the refrigerator and stripped the white nylon used to cover its top. 

Lo and behold it was the pancake batter of the previous day. 

My brows formed wrinkles as I tried to remember when I had placed it in the refrigerator. I remember I had a plan of disposing of it after coming back from the office but it must have skipped my mind. 

“Why would I go through the effort of preserving a failed batter?“ I asked no one in particular. 

Not like there was anyone living with me... Right? I wondered as I turned to look around me to see if anybody was watching me. 

What the hell was I thinking? 

Amanda, get yourself together. You probably just don't remember placing the bowl in the refrigerator, I encouraged myself.

“Wait a minute!" I let out, noticing that the batter is all good and way different from what I had done the previous day. 

That's weird! 

Has the Lord of Food forgiven me? Or, does my refrigerator have the power to remedy a failed batter? 

“Argh!“ I grumbled, a puzzled look plastered on my face. I think I'm going to have a migraine if I keep thinking about this, I said to myself. I couldn't come up with any reasonable answer as to how my disastrous pancake batter transformed into a beautiful piece.

What the hell? How did it even get into the refrigerator? 

It was a good question, but since nobody could give me a reasonable answer, I decided to just consider it a favour from above and do justice to it. 

After all, the batter was all good; no point wasting it. Instead, it would have been better to use it to do justice to my rumbling stomach. And so, I brought out a pan from the kitchen counter, turned the stove on and made breakfast. 

I was actually able to make the pancakes! Probably because someone saved me the stress of mixing the batter up. 

Wait a minute!

What if Cassie was the one who helped me in rectifying the errors in the mixture? I recall her saying something about dropping by after she had closed from the office. Silly me! I would be sure to thank her when I get back to work. 

The batter was mixed perfectly well, and my pancakes came out fluffy and gorgeous. I spread some maple syrup on it and filled up a mug with hot coffee, finally taking a seat to eat my amazing breakfast. 

I couldn't even remember the last time I enjoyed having breakfast at home. It is probably because usually it's made up of either cereals, a cup of coffee or a Snickers bar. 

~~~~~~~ 

Amanda wasn't aware of the watchful eyes of three male adults behind her. Drew, Mason and Calvin, stood in the kitchen a respectful distance away and watched the reactions of the young woman. 

“Nice one, Calvin,“ Mason gave a thumbs up to his younger brother. 

Calvin scrunched up his nose before replying, ‘That wasn't me. I wouldn't settle for a cheap trick like that." 

That brought them to only one conclusion as they both turned towards their elder brother — Drew, who was trying to keep a steel face.

 “What?“ He shouted 

"Nothing," they both responded. But he could see the twinkle in their eyes as they looked at him with mischief. 

“You don't expect me to just sit by and watch the flour go to waste. I had to rectify the errors," Drew blurted out.

"Oh, really?" Mason asked.

"Yes!"

Mason shrugged his shoulders, “Okay, if you say so." 

“At least it did its work of making her confused," Calvin confirmed.

“Yes, if only the effect lasted longer. She is actually making pancakes," Drew grumbled. 

"What do you expect her to make? Waffles?“ Mason asked ironically. 

“Oh, please, shut up," Drew countered as he glided away from the kitchen. He didn't get into an argument with his brothers on why he did what he did.