Original short fiction from Rarle USA. Characters and events are fictional.
Eli signed up for the library bake sale because signing a sheet was easier than explaining why the library mattered to him. He went there most afternoons while his mother finished work. He knew which chair had a loose leg and which window made the best place to read when it rained.
At the planning meeting, the other volunteers offered decorated cookies, layered cakes and elaborate pastry names. Eli wrote “muffins” beside his name and tried to make the letters small. At home, he asked his mother whether she still had the oatmeal muffin recipe his grandfather used to make.
She found it in a notebook with a broken spiral. Beside the ingredient list, his grandfather had written, “Good enough to share beats perfect and hidden.” Eli rolled his eyes at the sort of thing adults wrote in notebooks. Then he copied the measurements onto a fresh piece of paper.
The first batch rose unevenly. One muffin leaned over its paper cup like it was trying to leave. The second batch looked better, but not like the glossy pictures Eli had seen online. He wanted to buy something instead. His mother asked whether he liked how they tasted. He took another bite before answering.
On Saturday, he carried the box into the community room and chose the far end of the table. A volunteer named June helped him arrange the muffins on a plain tray. She did not replace his handwritten label with a printed one. “People should know somebody made them,” she said.
At first, customers walked past. A small child pointed at the bright cookies. Someone admired a frosted cake. Eli began mentally calculating how many muffins his family could eat before they grew tired of them.
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