Desperate Measures

The next morning, Guin awoke before Jack once more, having slept in his room again. As she climbed out of bed, she once again saw the low-hanging pouch of skin between his legs, and the heavy, egg-shaped objects sitting inside of it. Short Stack and a few of the other mothers had referred to their husbands' balls between their back legs, but these weren't nearly round enough to count as balls.

She went to the kitchen and waited. She didn't recall the exact wording, but she was pretty sure she'd heard Jack say that he would teach her how to cook something today. She wanted to feel useful, as any pride she would hold as a parent would be in how well she could care for her children, and any pride as a wife would be in how well she could care for her husband. More importantly, she wanted to prove to Red Tape that she was happy and healthy here, so she could stay. She wanted to prove to the committee of mothers that she was at least passable as a wife and mother. And most importantly of all, she wanted to prove to herself that she wasn't dragging Jack, Jenny and Kurt through the mud for no reason. She wanted them to be happy, but with all of the problems she was putting them through, just for her own benefit, she wanted to give back. She wanted to give them something to hold onto.

She didn't spend too long thinking of herself as burden, as it wasn't more than ten minutes before Jack came out. "Morning," he yawned. "What do you want for breakfast?"

"W-well..." Guin fidgeted with her claws. "What do you want for breakfast?"

"I'm fine with anything," he waved.

Guin shifted in her seat. "I was kind of hoping you'd show me how to make something?" She smiled nervously up at him.

Jack stared at her blankly for a bit, before realisation washed over his face. "Right. Sorry, I'm still a bit groggy. How about something simple? Something that's good that doesn't need the stove, hm? Waffles?"

Guin sighed with relief. Waffles was a good choice. To be fair, though, she had only been hoping for something more complicated than cereal with milk, but not so complicated that she'd have trouble remembering how to do it, and waffles seemed to be right in the middle.

Jack pulled out the waffle iron and plugged it in, letting it heat up. "So, first, you have to know where the waffle iron is. I keep it right here, in this cabinet. If you wash the plates, they go right back here when you're done. We also want those plates nice and hot when we start."

Guin took note, and paid close attention. The plates were set to two hundred degrees, or just above. He hadn't adjusted the dial, so she had to ask, "Is that the right temperature?"

"For almost everything I do," answered Jack, pulling out a large container. "This is our pancake, waffle and general-purpose baked goods mix. I keep a fair stock of it, and because I work at the mill, I pick up the ingredients for cheap, so don't be afraid of running out. I'll show you how to make more if we need to."

He dumped some out into a bowl, not even bothering to measure it. Then, he opened a jar of unlabeled spice mix and dumped a bit of that in there. It was dark brown, whatever it was.

"This is my good spice blend. It's hydrophobic, which means that if we mix it in wet, it's going to clump. We don't want it to clump, so we mix it in here, first."

He whisked it in slowly, making sure to blend it in such a way that it didn't kick up a lot of flour dust into the air.

"Can I try?" asked Guin.

"Sure," he nodded, pushing the bowl and whisk to her. "I'm going to prep the rest, just remember to go slowly."

She gripped the handle and mixed slowly, making sure to spread the spices among the flour as evenly as possible. Before too long, Jack dumped in some apple sauce, two eggs, and a splash of milk. The mix was now significantly darker than what her gran used to make.

"Why is it orange?"

"Well, the applesauce makes it turn a little bit yellow, and the spices turn it more brown, so you end up with a kind of orange colour."

"I didn't even know that Applesauce went into waffles..."

"Usually, yes, you'd be absolutely right. But I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when you taste them."

Guin nodded. She wasn't quite sure about this, but if Jack was certain, she was willing to follow his lead.

"So, now we grease the plate." With a squirt of cooking oil from a decanter near the stove, and with the help of a small rubber brush, Jack coated the hot plates of the waffle iron, then checked the batter Guin had been mixing. He added an extra splash of milk. "Waffle mix should be thinner and wore watery than pancakes or muffins. You want an even spread and a fluffy center, so we want it thinner and less cakey."

He ladled out a scoop of the batter and fit it into the plate and closed the lid, making sure to show her slowly so that she could see how it was supposed to look. They stood and waited for five minutes, letting it puff up and toast, and when the red light turned green, he opened the lid and pulled out the waffles, as the batter had turned into four of them.

"Now you try."

With the ladle in her claw, Guin scooped out more batter and poured it into the waffle iron and closed the lid. When the light changed colour, she pulled it out. It didn't look too bad.

"I did it. I did it!"

"That you did," smiled Jack, giving her a hug. "I'm so very proud of you. Think you can make the rest?"

"Mhm!"

"Just make sure to give it a fresh oil brush every three scoops. It helps keep them from sticking."

As Guin made the rest of the waffles, Jack chopped up some fruit. Guin was definitely fit to use the waffle iron, as the worst she could do was burn herself, and while he was sure she was smart enough to be careful, he was a little bit less trusting with the knife. She was a good girl, and she had an eagerness to learn, but that eagerness had to be tempered with caution, and he didn't think she was ready for a blade, yet.