Christmas Cake by Lynne Hinton Page B

after Oprah,” Louise noted.
    â€œNo, not anymore. It’s the news that comes on after her. She’s on at four P.M. and then there’s the five o’clock news,” Jessie said.
    â€œNot on the same channel,” Beatrice explained. “On that food channel.”
    Louise shrugged. It was obvious that she didn’t know about the food channel or any of its shows.
    â€œYou got the Cake Lady?” Jessie asked, sounding very surprised.
    Beatrice made a sort of coughing noise. She clearly didn’t want to answer.
    â€œBeatrice, that’s incredible. The Cake Lady is going to host the winner of our little contest?”
    â€œWho’s the Cake Lady?” Louise wanted to know.
    â€œWho’s the Cake Lady?” Jessie repeated the question. “She’s the baker to the stars. She’s famous! Everybody’s heard of the Cake Lady!”
    â€œWell, maybe everybody but me,” Louise announced. “Why is she so famous?”
    â€œShe does birthday cakes that have all these elaborate scenes painted in the icing. She makes some that look like animals and dolls. She does all the celebrity wedding cakes. She does one that looks like a castle that has a waterfall in it. She’s amazing. How on earth did you get her to agree to judge our little contest, Bea?” Jessie wanted to know. “That’s just fantastic,” she added before Beatrice could answer. “I may just have to find a recipe myself. I would love to meet her!”
    Beatrice made that coughing noise again.
    â€œWill she come here or will the winner go to her studio?” Jessie asked.
    â€œI just asked her to judge.” Beatrice finally spoke.
    â€œYeah, that’s right. How silly to think she would show the winneron her television program. But still, this is just unbelievable,” Jessie said. She shook her head and finished drinking her tea. “Think about how proud one of our women would be to know her cake was judged by the Cake Lady?”
    Beatrice smiled nervously. She could feel Louise’s eyes on her. She fidgeted with the collar of her jacket.
    â€œYou wrote the Cake Lady?” Louise asked Beatrice.
    â€œYep,” she replied.
    â€œAnd you asked her to judge our little cake recipe contest?”
    â€œI did.”
    â€œAnd the Cake Lady agreed?” Louise was getting to the bottom of this, and fast.
    â€œUnbelievable,” Jessie said again. “The women are going to be thrilled.”
    â€œAnd the Cake Lady agreed?” Louise asked again.
    â€œThat is beautiful, Beatrice, just beautiful.”
    â€œWell, she didn’t exactly agree,” Beatrice confessed.
    Louise nodded. She leaned back against the sink.
    â€œWould you two like some pie?” Beatrice jumped up from her seat and walked over to the refrigerator. “I think we have some chocolate left over from Dick’s family reunion.”
    â€œWe’re talking about cakes, Bea.” Louise sounded impatient.
    â€œI don’t have any cake,” Beatrice responded politely. “But Dick says this pie is really good. I didn’t have any, on account of being depressed and all.”
    â€œBeatrice, did the famous cake woman agree to judge our contest?”
    â€œWell, not exactly,” Beatrice answered. “But she did agree to read my letter,” she added as if this was something important.
    â€œAh, Bea,” Jessie said, sounding disappointed.
    â€œI called her studio and her assistant, well, actually I think it was the assistant to the assistant, but he promised me that he would make sure that she got the letter. He was in charge of her mail.”
    Louise rolled her eyes. “Why do you think a famous baker would care about our little contest?” she asked.
    â€œBecause she bakes cakes and our contest is for a cake recipe, a Christmas cake recipe. It’s right up her alley!” Beatrice exclaimed.
    Louise sighed. “Jessie, can you