Christmas Cake by Lynne Hinton Page A

some awful store-bought banana pudding.” Jessie was trying to be helpful.
    â€œI tried Lester,” Beatrice responded. She just shook her head and made a kind of face.
    â€œWhat have you got?” Louise asked again.
    â€œIt’s something real special,” Beatrice replied with a noticeable bit of hesitation. “I just got a few more phone calls to make and it will be official.”
    â€œBeatrice, you are a terrible liar,” Louise said.
    â€œI am offended by that, Louise Fisher,” Beatrice said. “You take over this cookbook and suddenly you’re acting like a little Hitler.”
    â€œBea, don’t try to sweet-talk your way out of this. What’s your real special prize for the winning recipe?”
    Beatrice raised her chin and turned away from Louise. “I’m getting the winner a chance to be on television.”
    â€œOh, you are not,” Louise snapped. She turned to Jessie, shaking her head in disbelief. “Jessie, do you think Lester would provide a prize or support us somehow?”
    â€œI don’t see why not. He needs more business and I don’t see how it could hurt anything for him to advertise that he was serving the winning cake. What would he have to do?”
    â€œLet’s see. We could make him the official judge and then he could just add an insert in his menu announcing the cake.” Louise was trying to think of everything that would have to be done.
    â€œHe’d have to bake a few of the cakes, though, wouldn’t he?” Jessie was considering the dilemma as well.
    Beatrice cleared her throat, trying to enter the conversation. She was shocked to hear the two women completely ignoring her work in arranging the contest prize.
    â€œMaybe we could offer to bake the cakes for him?” Jessie asked Louise.
    â€œWe could get some of the churchwomen to bake them.”
    â€œI said that I have arranged a prize!” Beatrice interrupted the conversation.
    Both of the women looked over to Beatrice. Clearly they didn’t believe her.
    â€œYou’ve found some cooking show host to agree to have a person from Hope Springs Community in North Carolina appear on their show to demonstrate how to bake a Christmas cake?” Louise went straight to the heart of the matter.
    â€œWell, I didn’t say it was a cooking show,” Beatrice said softly.
    â€œA local morning news program then?” Louise offered.
    â€œChannel Eight?” Jessie asked. “That would be nice. They have a cooking segment at about five-thirty A.M. , I think. That’s lovely, Beatrice.”
    â€œYou called FOX News?” Louise asked. “In Greensboro?” She sounded as if she didn’t believe what she was hearing.
    â€œWell, no, not exactly,” Beatrice replied.
    The two women waited for Beatrice to explain. She was silent.
    â€œWhat then?” Louise asked.
    â€œIt’s that cable channel, isn’t it?” Jessie asked. “That community access channel way up there in the sixties. That’s still nice,” she added. “It will be very special to the winner.”
    â€œIs that it?” Louise asked.
    Beatrice shook her head.
    â€œChannel Two?” Jessie asked.
    Another negative gesture from Beatrice.
    â€œForty-five over in Winston?” Jessie asked. “But they don’t even do local broadcasting anymore, do they?”
    â€œNo,” Louise replied.
    â€œIt’s Twelve, isn’t it?” Jessie asked. She was hoping that Beatrice would jump in at some point and explain her plan. “The NBC affiliate, that’s perfect, Bea!”
    â€œIs it Twelve?” Louise asked.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œAre you going to tell us?” Louise asked.
    â€œI wrote that young woman who has her own baking show. It comes on in the afternoon, after Oprah.”
    Jessie and Louise tried to figure out the show to which Beatrice was referring.
    â€œI thought Dr. Phil came on