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The cake and the kitchen

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  The cake and the kitchen CINDY GLANCED nervously at the clock on the kitchen wall. "They should be home any time now," she thought as she put the finishing touches on the chocolate cake. It was the first time in her 12 years she had tried to make a cake, and it wasn't exactly an aesthetic triumph.  The cake was . . . well, lumpy. And the frosting was bitter, as if she had run out of sugar. Which, of course, she had. And then there was the way the kitchen looked.  But Cindy wasn't thinking about the mess. She had created something, a veritable phoenix of flour and sugar rising out of the kitchen clutter She was anxious for her parents to return home so she could present her anniversary gift. She turned off the lights and waited excitedly in the darkness. Her parents tried to slip in quietly, but Cindy flipped on the lights and gestured grandly toward the kitchen table, where a slightly off- balanced  two-layer chocolate cake awaited.