Chapter Six
By Saturday, Bellehad the cabin as clean as she could, and she was caught up on laundry.She spent the day baking.She made ten loaves of bread, planning to keep two.Then she made four cakes.She planned to do some berry picking the following day if she could talk Everett into showing her a berry patch.He’d told her he didn’t usually work on Sundays, but with as long as he’d been gone, she wasn’t certain if he would need to work the next day.
When the last cake was finished, she loaded a basket with three of the cakes and eight loaves of bread.In her other hand she picked up the egg basket with all the eggs she’d collected that morning.When she got to the store, Mrs.Johnson was there, behind the counter talking to someone.Belle heard her apologize that there was no bread.
Belle stepped forward, setting her baskets on the counter.Katie immediately looking in the egg basket, and then in the baked goods basket.“Looks like I do have a loaf of bread to sell you, Mr.Jones.”
“What else you got in there?”Mr.Jones asked.
“There are three cakes, but they’re mis-shaped because I made them in bread pans.”
“How much for the cake?”he asked, looking delighted to have the opportunity to purchase one.
Katie looked at Belle.“What do you think is fair?”
Belle named a price, and Katie nodded, adding ten cents to the price for Mr.Jones.“Mrs.Thompson, this is Mr.Jones.He’s one of your husband’s employees.”
“I’m glad to see someone new...especially someone who bakes,” Mr.Johnson said.Looking at Belle, he continued.“If you ever bake a pie, then make sure one is saved for me.I’m awful partial to pies.”
“If I can find some berries I’ll bake a couple of pies this week.”
“I’ll be in every day looking for those pies,” Mr.Jones told Katie.
After he’d paid and left the store, Belle shook her head.“I don’t think you’re going to have problems selling anything I’m willing to bake.”
“You’re right about that,” Katie said.“I’m surprised he didn’t try to buy everything in the basket.”
“I didn’t make much bread because I didn’t want it to go bad before it was purchased.”
Katie laughed.“This will all be gone within an hour.As soon as he tells people that there are freshly-baked goods, they’ll all come by after work.”
“Then I’ll do more next time!It’s nice to have a purpose beyond taking care of that small cabin.”
“Trust me...anything you cook or bake will disappear fast.The men love muffins as well.Any kind.As long as they’re sweet, they’ll be easy to sell.”
“I might try some muffin receipts.I enjoy them, and if I know they’ll sell that quickly, I can make big batches of them.You’d better order some more flour!”
“I will! I wish you’d gotten here a few weeks earlier.You could have put in a kitchen garden.”
“I’ll just have to buy from you.And it seems there’s good foraging.I’ll forage what I can, and see where that puts me.”
“In another month, cherries will be in season.I have what you’d need to can the cherries, and then you can bake pies from them all year.”
“Great idea!I’ll do that.”
“Can you sew?”Katie asked, changing the subject abruptly.
“Yes, of course.”
“Men need clothes.Socks, scarves, hats, shirts, pants.You have to remember it gets colder here than you can imagine.They need warm clothes throughout the winter, and they need more of them because they don’t dare go outside with wet clothes.Most of them go home and change during their lunch hour in the winter.”
“I’ll think on that...I don’t suppose you could order a sewing machine for me?”Before staying with Elizabeth, she’d never used a sewing machine, but now that she had, she didn’t think she could ever go back to sewing everything by hand.
“Yes, of course.And if you would prefer to knit or crochet hats or socks, I can order wool for you.”
“I’ll talk to Everett about it and see what he thinks.He may prefer that I keep baking, because then he gets the fresh-baked goods.”
The door to the store opened then, and six men hurried inside.“We heard there was cake.And bread,” one of the men said.
