Cakes and Cogs

It was now ten o’clock and Gwen was still admiring herself in the mirror.

Two black bat wings now flanked her octopus tattoo, and black gear silhouettes encircled the entire design. She could always change it later. The woman licked her lips and adjusted her small top hat, which was perched to the right on her head. She picked up a monocle, studied it briefly, and then added that to her ensemble.

She had never looked more like a business tycoon than today.

Pleased with herself, she left the back and studied the customers wandering around the front room of her bakery.

All of the serving girls had been outfitted in their new corsets – brown and brass, of course. The walls were decorated with giant brass cogs. The air smelled sweet with the many cakes that were already prepared for the morning.

Gwen inhaled deeply, her hands stroking the silkiness of her own corset.

Then, a horrific clanking noise from the back made every customer look up and around with confusion. Gwen clenched her hands.

“Maybe today won’t go off without a hitch,” she muttered to herself. “Stay calm everyone – enjoy your cakes!”

She dashed to the back area of the bakery, looking around for the source of the awful clanking noises. Steam hissed throughout the room and blasted her in the face as she walked in. She batted the clouds of moisture away from her eyes and ducked down, scanning along the ground.

There was a huge problem.

Something had jammed the cake production line. A huge pile of cake was steadily accumulating on the floor, spilling off the conveyor. Gwen watched as another cog popped free along with a jet of steam, sailing across the room and hitting the wall, making a clank.

The infernal machine must be jammed up somehow, she thought.

“Feeling particularly cantankerous today, are we?” Gwen asked her cake making machine. The machine did not answer, except to spit out another cog. She scooped up some goggles, threw them over her eyes, and leaned in close to the point where everything seemed to be jammed up.

Gwen reached in to the mess of springs and cogs and withdrew the offending part. A saucer had somehow become lodged in the machine, causing the mess. She shook some batter off the saucer and set it down on a nearby table.

Now all that remained was the mess. Gwen glanced between the cogs and the massive blob of cake material and tapped her foot on the ground a few times. She really didn’t want any of her hard work to go to waste.

“Aha!” Gwen grinned. “I’ve just the solution!”

With the help of the serving girls, Gwen and her staff scooped what they could salvage of the cake from the top of the mess onto the cogs – after a thorough cleaning, of course – and served that up to the curious folk.

“New recipe! I invented this deliciousness! You won’t find it anywhere else!” Gwen explained to her customers, and gladly took their money.

The cog cakes became an instant sensation with her clientele, and Gwen spent the whole evening celebrating her latest success.