Three Little Kittens

There are three little girls who visit our household regularly. Their mother is my nieces ex-lover, and they came to view my sister as a grandparent. Their father and the other grandparents choose not to participate in their lives and my sister is more than happy to fill in the gap. Fortunately for them neither my niece nor their mother see any reason to deprive them of the one grandparent who chooses to be there for them. So the three little kittens still visit often.

They came to visit on Saturday to go to the Main Street Festival with us. Karen particularly wanted to take them because the last time they visited we were in the park and a private party had a bouncy house set up, but the girls were not invited to the party. I hate to have to be the one to tell a kid that they can't play with the others. The festival offered a bouncy house and this was the opportunity to make it up to them.

My sister went to pick them up early in the day, but when they got here they didn't want to leave. They wanted to do the things that they can do here that they can't at home, which is watch TV, eat ice cream and take a bath. They do not have a television service at home. They have a shower, but no tub and their freezer is too small for tub of ice cream. My sister provides a constant selection of new books, puzzles and art supplies for them, that they enjoy. And my brother made them a swing and bought them bikes and a wagon to play in the yard with. So they like to be here...a lot. It was just as well, because it was the middle of the afternoon by the time we made it to the festival. All the other kids had come early and gone home for naps by the time we got there. The three kittens had the bouncy house and all the games, face painters and sand crafts to themselves.

We let them play until they tired out and then treated them to a lemonade and a cupcake. I tell you, I need to start a bakery. The baker charged us five dollars each for the cupcakes It was nothing fancier than piped icing with a mallow cream pumpkin on top. The cupcake itself was dry and the icing was way too sweet. There was nothing about it that was worth the price. If you think of it, there are 24 cupcakes to a batch of cake batter. So if you do the math that's $120 for a cake. A decent cake mix and the frosting might have cost me $10. A whole bag of the pumpkins can be had anywhere for $2.50. The girls could have had a tray full of cupcakes for less than the 3 we bought.

 But here's the truth about it, he didn't have his prices listed. And if he did I would never have offered them to the girls to begin with. You can be sure that I will never stop at his booth at another festival. Even if he'd sold them for $3 each, I wouldn't have been so offended by his price and would treat the girls whenever he was around. His greed has lost me as a future customer both at festivals and in his store. I'm sure that I'm not the only person who feels this way.

My niece works in a bakery, and my sister used to do catering. I am seriously considering renting a booth at future festivals to give him a run for his money. Two and a half to three dollars is a fair price. And I'm very confident that I can make a better cake and my icing will at least have flavor beyond sweetness. I really think that I can do better. I might even call my booth "A Better Slice of Cake"