Slice of Cake, Slice of Life

“I’m bored,” complained Rick.

“So go do something about it,” replied Theo. It had been a long, hot day and all four of them were tired from the heat. Mandy was slumped over the table, her attempt at writing poetry forgotten. Theo leaned back in his chair, fanning himself as his eyes drooped. Deny had already given up, as he was currently napping on the couch, a paperback book draped over his face as an eyeshade. Rick had a pile of toys and gadgets in front of them, using them all one after another as they stopped being entertaining. “Go finish your new game."

“Did,” said Rick, “The ending sucked.”

“How about playing with your paddle ball?” suggested Mandy.

“Broke my record already,” said Rick morosely. He picked up his old GameBoy, only to set it down when he remembered he finished all his games a long time ago.

“Try going away so I can go back to sleep,” said Denny, his voice muffled by his paperback book.

“No, just no,” said Rick. Denny gave a sardonic groan, which all present ignored.

“Or we could try doing something together,” said Mandy.

“How about baking a cake?” said Theo.

“Shutting up and letting me sleep sounds a lot better,” answered Denny.

“Nah, I like their idea way, way more,” said Rick as he pushed his chair backwards and made for the kitchen.

“Come on Denny, it’ll be fun!” Mandy grabbed Denny’s hand and pulled, yanking him out of the couch. Denny landed on the floor in a heap.

“No, don’t, please. Anything but this,” Denny said, deadpan, as Mandy dragged him to the kitchen.


“Let me get this straight,” said Denny, rubbing his temples. “You burned water?”

“’Burned’ seems like such a bad word when you put it that way,” answered Rick.

“Really, how bad do you have to be to burn water?” said Theo.

“Honestly, I’m kind of scared at how bad a cook you are,” Mandy said, “If you’re bad enough to burn water-“

“Okay, okay, I get it!” said Rick, “I don’t belong in a kitchen. We live and we learn.”

“Some of us do, anyway,” muttered Denny. Rick gave him a glare; Denny shrugged and turned back to work. Mandy got busy mixing the flour, while Theo left for the closet to get more ingredients. Rick sighed. There he was stuck with nothing to do again. Feeling the need to quash boredom at the expense of common sense and convenience, Rick looked around and noticed three eggs lying on the counter. Looking around quickly to check if anyone noticed, Rick grabbed the eggs and began to juggle them. It all went well at first, until Rick timed a catch wrong. He missed and slapped the egg away. It landed on the floor, spreading out into a clear and yellow stain. Rick’s friends all seemed to caught up in work to notice. All Rick had to do was grab a rag and clean up the mess and no one would know. As he turned to the sink for a rag, Denny turned to get ingredients from the cabinet. He put his foot down on the stain and slipped, falling face-first on the floor. At the crash, Mandy and Theo spun and saw Denny prone on the floor.

“Denny, what happened?” Said Mandy in a concerned tone.

“Nothing, I’m just cleaning the floor with my tongue,” said Denny snidely.

“That doesn’t sound sanitary Denny,” Theo said.

“No, you’re right. “I’m attempting suicide in the most indirect and roundabout way I could think of.” Just then, Rick returned, bearing a rag.

“Hey, Denny,” said Rick cheerfully, “You seen a stain on the floor anywhere?”

“I get the feeling I’m going to be hitting someone in about ten seconds.” Growled Denny.

“Yeah, I dropped an egg somewhere here,” said Rick sheepishly, “I should go clean that up before somebody slips over it.”


“Well, we never did get to make that cake,” said Mandy, making an attempt to smile, though the atmosphere wasn’t helping very much. Rick held an ice pack over his left eye, while Denny nursed a cut lip. Theo sported a Band-aid over his eye, but other than that, seemed fine. “At least we got to beat the heat, right?”

“That’s got to count for something,” answered Theo. Denny glared even more severely than he usually did, while Rick winced as he adjusted the ice pack.

“Well, I’m not bored anymore,” said Rick, “So I’ll count this as a win.”

“I’m going to use all the sleeping pills in the house tonight,” grumbled Denny, “Just so you all know.” Theo and Mandy sighed.

“Business as usual,” muttered Theo.