Feeding the Troops

[Stagey]

Stagey had no business in the lodging house. She wasn't a newsie, after all. But when she offered to bake a few goodies to surprise the hard-working kids hawking papes all day, Kloppman wasn't going to oppose.

After he grumbled something about it being high time they have something better than beans out of a can, Stagey was left to her own devices, trying to be as quiet as possible without clanging too many pots and pans together. Now where's the flour?

[jackkelly]

There was cooking happening in the lodging house at that very moment. He could smell it. It smelled like flour. Someone was using flour? There were fifty boys in the place and someone was using flour? He was losing his mind.

Jack opened the door to the kitchen.

[Stagey]

The tin mixing bowl Stagey had just unearthed from the depths of the questionable cabinet crashed to the floor with a clattery sound that could wake the dead. "You're supposed to be out selling." Maybe it came off a little rudely, but she was caught off-guard.

With a frustrated whimper, she re-gained the bowl, setting it purposefully onto the counter and poured a few cups of flour into it.

[jackkelly]

"You're cooking?" He asked with this sense of awe in his voice, pointing at her. "This place is pretty much abandoned..." He scratched at the back of his head. "I was uh...taking a break...from selling..."

[Stagey]

"Trying to cook," she supposed, scrambling for an egg or two. Folding it into the mixture, she cast him a knowing look. "A break, is it? Or did you unload a few dozen papers on another little old lady that needed birdcage liners?" A cup of milk went into the bowl. "And why did you take a break all the way back home, hmm?"

[jackkelly]

"So Mrs. Adams bought my last 25 there ain't nothing wrong with that, she's a nice old lady and I'm just helping her out." Jack said with a grin. Jack hopped up on one of the counters and watched as she mixed the eggs and flour.

"Why do I always gotta be out all the time? I wanted some quiet."

[Stagey]

"I always figured you thrived on being somewhere else," she said, offering a pinch of sugar here and there, bringing the spoon to her lips to test the sweetness of the cake batter. "Ye be a restless heart, Jackyboy." Her nose crinkled playfully. Her brogue always thickened when she teased him.

[jackkelly]

"I know I know," he kicked his foot against the counter. "Whatcha makin?" He looked into the bowl. "The boys are gonna love this ya know?" He bit his lip.

[Stagey]

"Are they going to even get a bite from it, or are you going to devour it all before it leaves the kitchen?" She drew the spoon from the mixing bowl for a moment, proffering it to him. "Taste? I need to find out if it needs more sugar."

[jackkelly]

Jack licked the offered spoon and closed his eyes in bliss. "Wow, that is...that is so good."

[Stagey]

((*Snort*))

"Is it?" Even Stagey's innocence-to-a-fault found enough humor in the whole situation that she stifled a snorty laugh. "Very well." She turned a few gas dials on the stove, whisking the mixture idly while it pre-heated. "Who told you I was coming?" It wasn't a question of whether he was tipped off; that dumb smirk on his face said that he was motivated enough to go all the way back home to spy on her in the kitchen.

[jackkelly]

"Nobody...why would anyone tell me you'd be cookin in this kitchen tonight?" He shook his head and then hung it low. He looked into her eyes. "Okay, fine...it was Rae."

[Stagey]

"Did she." If she ever mustered up the courage, she could've wrung Rae's neck for that one. That's the last time she ever told that Brooky anything... "What else did she say?" Surely she must have.

[jackkelly]

"She just said you were gonna cook for us tonight, why? She didn't tell nobody else, just me." He peered over into the pot and smiled. "It smells really good."

[Stagey]

That better have been all she told him, she thought to herself with a smirk. Stagey made one mistake of telling Rae just how much she thought about Jack and she was always fearful that it would come back to bite her. "Just a cake," she replied modestly, shrugging a little as she began to spoon the batter into a few pans. "I'm glad you came," she said finally, allowing a wry smile.