The Measure of Katie Calloway,: A Novel by Serena B. Miller Page B

them puff up. The men would enjoy these so much.
    She felt good about today. She was getting the hang of things, learning her way around the supplies and tools of the kitchen. Even though she had gotten up later than she wanted, thanks to her preparations the night before, she wasn’t nearly as frazzled. Jigger was acting decent to her, so she hoped his pique was over. The comfort and warmth of the early morning kitchen washed over her, and she experienced a feeling of deep contentment as she presided over the vat of doughnuts.
    A half hour later, Jigger went to awaken the men. Soon, they came tramping through the door. By that time, she had placed stacks of flapjacks, heaps of bacon, and mounds of doughnuts onto the table. It was a pretty sight, and she knew the dining room was redolent with good smells. She had even heated the sorghum this morning.
    “Looks good,” Robert said as he and the other men took their seats.
    Jigger stood near the head of the table, ready to chastise anyone who spoke while eating. He, too, seemed to be in a good mood. She had even caught him smiling a couple times this morning. Maybe he was beginning to thaw toward her after all.
    The men dug into the food, and she waited, looking forward to seeing the enjoyment on their faces. She was especially proud of how well the doughnuts had turned out.
    Ernie was the first to help himself to the pile in front of him. But instead of groaning with ecstasy, he grimaced at the first bite and swallowed hard. Then he stared at the doughnut as though he couldn’t believe what he had just put in his mouth. To her horror, she saw the same action being repeated up and down the table. Robert was the last to bite into a doughnut, and he couldn’t spit it out fast enough. His eyes sought hers.
    “What did you do ?” he asked.
    Puzzled, she reached for a doughnut, took a nibble, and understood what had happened. She had put salt in the batter instead of sugar. Four cups of it!
    Jigger didn’t reach for a doughnut. Instead, he stood at the head of the table, grinning from ear to ear—as though he had been expecting this all along.
    The old goat had sabotaged her cooking!
    Without saying a word, she went over to the sack of “sugar” and tasted a few grains. It was salt. She pulled the box of salt off the shelf and tasted. It was filled with sugar.
    “You switched them!” she accused.
    “I don’t know what yer talking about.” Jigger acted as innocent as a newborn babe. “You must’ve gotten things mixed up, getting up so late and all. It’s easy to make a mistake when you’re only half awake.”
    Robert rose, took the tray of doughnuts over to the garbage pail, and dumped them in.
    “Come here.” He motioned Jigger and Katie to follow him to a far corner of the kitchen.
    “She won’t get up in time to do her work properly,” Jigger complained. “Never saw such a lazy woman. Even got the salt and sugar mixed up.”
    Katie opened her mouth to defend herself, but Robert put up a hand to stop her. “I have a lumber camp to run, hungry men to feed, and limited supplies and resources to do it with. If the two of you can’t figure a way to work things out, you’re both fired.”
    He looked back and forth between them. “Do I make myself clear?”
    Katie nodded, her face aflame.
    “Do you understand?” he asked Jigger.
    “Yeah.” Jigger was the picture of penitence as he stared at the ground.
    “Good.”
    Robert went back to his meal. Silence once again descended as the men finished filling their bellies with nothing more than bacon and flapjacks.
    A lump grew in Katie’s throat and tears threatened at the injustice of it all. She had done nothing wrong, and yet Robert had judged her anyway. Determined not to cry in front of the men, she fled out of the back door to her borrowed cabin.
    The moment she entered, she slid the bolt shut on Blackie’s fancy lock so no one could come in. Then she lay facedown on the bed and burst into tears.
    It was