It was about mid-afternoon when Cassie showed up, arms piled with things that she would use, possibly, to cook dinner for Jewell and the kids and anyone else who happened to be there. She?d run into Jewell the night before, and the woman had looked absolutely terrible. Not only that, but she was being molested by some moron who didn?t know how to take ?no? for an answer. The man had been removed, and Cassie had felt the urge to cheer Jewell up somehow, so she?d told her that she was going to come over and cook dinner, and Jewell had to smile and tell her how tasty it was even if Cassie burned it all to hell. Because let?s face it: Cassie sucks at cooking. So when it came to choosing what it was that she was going to cook, she was practical. But back to that later. Right now, she was knocking on the door and juggling the armload of stuff.

So when she was admitted, she smiled brightly at the door opener and continued on inside. She found her way to the kitchen easily enough, despite never having been to Jewell?s abode before. It helped that she?d wrangled one of the kids into showing her. The armload was set down upon the counter and she began to sort things through while slowly taking over the kitchen. Whenever anyone happened to wander in, she chatted with them, though most of her attention was kept on the task at hand. If Cassie allowed herself to get distracted, there was no telling what might happen, and she didn?t want to burn Jewell?s house down on top of everything else that was going on.

On the stove were two pots. One pot was boiling some elbow shaped noodles. Otherwise known as? Macaroni! Without the cheese so far. In the other pot was more hot water and this time, several cobs of corn, all cut in half. Each pot got an occasional stir. Also on the stove was a pan. With butter. Cassie was toasted bread in that pan, watching carefully to make sure she didn?t burn either side of the bread. This was something Cassie could actually do. She toasted two slices at a time, and then set them on a plate. This went on until she had enough to make a sandwich for everyone in the house, and a few extras. Each set of toasted bread then got a few pieces of ham, turkey, or roast beef, two slices of cheese in between layers of meat, and a bit of lettuce and a tomato slice-all things that children could pick off if something didn?t appeal to their palates. The sandwiches were piled on the plate and set in the middle of the table, soon followed by a large bowl containing the halved cobs of corn. The macaroni noodles were drained over the sink and then dumped back in the pot and mixed in with the cheese provided by the nifty package deal box.

A plate was set at each spot at the dinner table along with a napkin and a glass. Pitchers of water and grape juice were set on the table as well. Got to have something to wash the food down with, after all. If the corn was a little wrinkled from being in the water slightly too long, it was still quite edible, and while bits of the macaroni might be a tad chewy for having not been in long enough, it too was edible. The sandwiches were perfect. What can you say? Cassie is a genius with sandwiches. She also set out salt and pepper and a dish of butter, then some mayo as an afterthought. She?d nearly called everyone to the table when she noticed there was something missing. Silverware. She darted back to the kitchen to grab that, and set out a fork, knife and spoon with each plate. Perhaps not in the formal dining order, but it was all there.

"Dinner!"