I Made It Myself
by tannim
January 06, 2012

	"Bake a cake for Muriel!" Tosh held out his hands, still holding the pie tin.

	"I can't, Sweety.  I have to cook supper instead.  Her parents will have one for her before she comes over tonight." Esme pat his little horns. "But it is very nice of you to think of her.  I'm sure she'll be very glad to know that.  For now, why don't you go play outside.  Stay in front of the window and don't wander off."

	"Ok..." Tosh hurried out the door before his mom could snatch the pie tin from him.  When he was outside he plopped down on the patio and looked around, not sure what to do.  It had rained just an hour before so he couldn't even play in the grass without getting muddy.  His butt was getting wet as it was and only when he tried patting it dry did he realize he was still carrying the pan.  The little kid giggled. "Hehe, I'll bake her a cake!"

	He thought about what a cake looked like.  They were brown inside, at least the good ones and kind of wet too.  The ones he had had were round and tended to have candles poking out.  Looking around, Tosh saw a puddle next to the patio.  Mud was brown.  Mud was soft and kind of wet.

	The boy dropped to his knees right next to it and carelessly scooped out a glob with his free left hand.  It felt too runny and he sagely shook his head no.  Far too wet a texture to be cake!

	Two more scoops, each a bit further from the water, were also too wet and gloopy before he found one with the texture he thought was cake-y.  That he was getting dirty didn't matter.  His mom hadn't yelled at him yet and she was watching him while she worked so he wasn't getting too bad.

	Tosh dug out the mud handful by handful, smiling at the texture between his fingers and laughing at the silly splatting noises it made when he dropped each handful into the pie tin.  Cooking was FUN as it took several loads to fill the tin and a few minutes of stirring with his fingers until he was happy with the overall body of the cake.

	With the mud standing an inch above the surface of the tin he decided it was big enough.  His mom had put the last cake he'd seen her make into the oven.  Tosh didn't really have one, but he found a box laying on its side and put it in there for a couple minutes to bake.  Satisfied that he was cooking just like if he had a kitchen, the four year old wandered around the yard gathering small twigs.

	Esme wouldn't allow him to play with real candles and even if she would have, he wouldn't know where to get them.  Twigs with leaves looked kind of like candles.  They were both straight and thin and had something on the end.  The only real problem was that he couldn't count, not that it would have mattered since he didn't know how old Muriel was anyway.

	Tosh just dropped a handful next to the box, then crouched and looked in as though checking if it were done.  Liking what he saw, he pulled it out, using his no longer so clean shirt as though it were hot pads and set it down to ice.  The runny mud from earlier was perfect for that and he made quick work of smearing the entire top and sides with the stuff before dropping more onto the middle to make a neat looking mound with gently sloping sides.

	A few quick stabs with the twigs and he held it up, done and ready to be delivered.  When he tried to come in, however, Esme yelled.  Apparently he'd gotten dirtier than it had looked from the kitchen window and she force marched him up to the bathroom for a good hand, face, and hoof scrubbing as soon as she could grab him.  Tosh had to go to his room to change his clothes immediately after.  He did feel better in the dry clothes.

	"What were you making out there?" She sounded much calmer with him clean.

	"I made Muriel a cake." He ran to the door, but she had locked it.

	"You got my pan dirty, for a mud pie..." Esme crouched and hugged him. "It's very thoughtful of you.  I'm sure she'll love it."

	Inside she couldn't wait to see the squirrel's face.  His babysitter would be there soon so she wouldn't have to wait long.  Until then, though, it was time to eat real food.  They both sat down and she was proud of her kid for putting up only a token fight about it and even that was only because she'd tried to make him eat his peas.  The goat woman had to admit, they were not a very good batch anyway.

	Later she sat reading to him before he suddenly jumped up. "Yay, Muriel's here!"

	Esme followed her son as Tosh ran to the door,  "Come in, Muriel.  Very pretty blouse today."

	"Thank you.  How are you tonight, little guy?" Muriel crouched to hug her tail around the boy when he hugged her around the waist.

	"I fine, Muriel!" Tosh ran around her, almost dancing with excitement before running out of the room.

	"Well, he's a little bundle of energy tonight isn't he?" Muriel giggled and set her purse down on the couch with her tail. "So, how long do I get him tonight?"

	Esme smiled, her own excitement built almost as high as her son's.  It took her a few moments to realized Muriel expected her to leave soon.  Her friends could sit through the movie's opening credits without her.  Hearing Tosh opening the other door to fetch his cake made her let out a stifled laugh and she just had to turn away to head to the kitchen.

	"Hee, Erm, he'll, you'll get him about four hours tonight," The mother goat snorted at the sight of the wet cake jiggling while Tosh walked solemnly by her. "Oh, what's this?"

	Tosh ignored his mother's feigned innocence and proudly offered his cake to Muriel, a bit smile on his face. "I made it myself! Happy Birthday, Muriel.  Blow out the candles!"

	Muriel stared at it, not sure what to make of it.  The four twigs sticking out of it were cute, especially the one with the little branch poking out of the end.  There was some grass here and there mixed in with what was quite obviously mud.  A mud pie... no, a mud cake, which he was treating as if it were a birthday cake.

	A quick glance at Esme and Muriel could only just resist laughing, too.  The squirrel flushed a bit and leaned in, taking a deep breath as she did.  Tosh held it off to the side and cheered when his babysitter blew hard over the twiggy "candles".

	The boy wrinkled his nose and shook his head when she finished. "Uh uh! You missed one." He puffed on one of the twigs himself and flicked his ears back happily. "There, I got it."

	"So you made me a birthday cake all by yourself?" Muriel swished her long cheek ruffs around with two flicks of her head. "Thank you!  That's so thoughtful."

	"Momma helped.  She washed the pan for me." Tosh nodded. "Have to have clean dishes for food otherwise its dangerous to eat from them."

	Both Esme and Muriel looked at each other at that logic. It was true, after all, no matter how silly.  His mother scooted forward and carefully took the mud cake.

	"Alright, I'll take this and put it in the fridge for Muriel to take home with her.  Then you two can do whatever it is you do when I'm not home." Esme hurried out of the kitchen with her purse in one hand and the car keys in the other. "Good luck, Muriel, see you about eight, I really must be going.  You know the numbers to call... And happy birthday!"

	Tosh looked at the door, then to the kitchen. "I wanna piece of cake, Muriel."

	"Uh uh, it'll spoil your appetite." The squirrel stepped behind him and wrapped her tail around him again. "Why don't we play a game, instead?"

	"Not gonna spoil appetite, already ate." Tosh pouted, but only until her tail tickled his nose and he was laughing at the mention of a game.  Tugging at her tail he looked up curiously. "What game?"

	"How about a game of jump tail?"  Muriel tugged her tail from around him and set it on the ground in front of him. "You jump over my tail while I spin it around you.  Like a jump rope."

	"Ok." He wasn't sure how much fun it would be, but he was willing enough try it, though not willing to give up on his cake. "Then can we have some cake?  You won't spoil your appetite."

	His babysitter smirked. "No, but I might lose my lunch." The confusion on Tosh's face was too cute. "Birthday Cake is best served with ice cream, I can't eat any until your mother picks some up."

	"Yay, Mommy bought some yesterday!"

	"Oh.  Great."
