to "La Toilette" by Mary Cassatt

the afternoon rain paints grey jewels on the window, and she hums to herself while tying her grandma's apron around her waist.sound of shuffling slippers enter the kitchen, and Mom appears with cookbook in hand."can i step on the cheesecake?" is her first question to the woman that many later would confuse as her older sister."silly pig," her Mother replies and kisses her bangs before getting the flour.
they work in a content silence, interrupted by the whirring of the Oster Star electric mixer."why can't we use the round cream-cheese for baking cheesecake? isn't it the same thing?""its' the same reason why you wouldn't use margarine tubs as butter for baking," her Mom replies as she is scraping the batter off the side of the bowl into the centre of the mixture."oh," she replies softly although she doesn't know why rectangular butter is used instead of margarine tubs either."okay, you want to step on the crust? Wait! I need to put the tin plate on top first. Okay, take off your slippers and "chie" ontop of it."
this is her favourite part of baking with her mother--even more than dabbing pinches of flour on her cheeks when Mom is not looking. that's how the kids on the Elephant Show look like when they bake with Sharon, Lois, and Brahm. "good. okay, step over here, it isn't firm enough. okay, don't jump so hard!" she never asked her mother why they were allowed to step on food when she and her sister were religiously reminded to wash they hands before they touched other food. wasn't it that feet are more dirty than hands? "maybe," she thought to herself one day when she forked her cheesecake, "maybe it's because the oven does something to clean the cheesecake so that it's not dirty by my feet."
"Mom, the oven is beeping--we need to put the cheesecake inside. can i turn the light inside the oven on to watch it?""okay, a few more minutes and we'll be done. do you want to scoop the batter ontop of the crust?"she hums the theme song of the Chinese soap opera to herself, but can feel her Mom smiling even though she is not looking at her, but concentrating very hard on spreading the cheesecake mixture smoothly.the oven beeps again."okay, let me finish up the batter so that we can put the cheesecake inside the oven. be careful--don't stick your head too closely to the oven when you open its door!"
she listens to the "ping" when Mom places the cheesecake dish on top of the oven racks, standing a safe distance away so that she doesn't knock her mother's arm. "how long will it take for it to be done?""twenty minutes. here," Mom turns the oven light on. "you can watch it and tell me when the top is a little golden brown."pushing the dangling towel aside from her view, she bends down and looks through the mirror long enough before her mother gives her the blue plastic stool to sit on."no, Mom, it's okay. i'm done looking now anyway.""you don't want to watch it turn brown?""no, it's boring now.""oh, silly pig," Mom laughs and shuffles out of the kitchen."Mommy, when are we going to the library this week? can you read them to me now?"
...
she will remember longingly the smell of cheesecake and the particular stink that new picture books have, when she watches grey jewels paint another window one and a half hours away from childhood.