Fudge and Caramels Caper

Sarah woke that morning in a particularly happy mood. It was a Saturday, which meant no work, and it was the day she would be making chocolate fudge and caramels for her beloved grandfather, or Gramps as she affectionately called him. He was in a nursing home and every Valentines Day she took him a huge box of his favorite candies.

After taking a shower and getting into her favorite jeans and T-shirt, she got into her car and headed to her Gran’s house to make the legendary sweets. She always looked forward to this special day filled with watching candy thermometer’s, rolling caramels in wax paper, laughing and an occasional glass of Gran’s favorite wine.

She pulled up to her house and was greeted with the usual kisses and the kind of hug only her Gran could give. Sarah was eager to get started and grabbed her apron that hung on a peg in the basement. The first order of the day was the ceremonial opening of the recipe box and retrieving the coveted cards that had withstood the test of time. But, there was a problem. A big problem. The recipes were gone.

Time seemed to stop. Visions of a day that wouldn’t happen filled Sarah’s mind. This was utterly unthinkable. No, tragic. 

An idea brought her back to the present. Surely, her grandma knew these sweet, delicious, recipes by heart! Of course, she would remember how much butter, vanilla, cocoa, and temperature’s with no problem. But this was not to be the case. Her memory was not the greatest in her advanced age of 86. Sarah was devastated. Then a thought came to her.

This was a clear case of sabotage. An inside job. Treason. There would be no peace until Sarah found out who the despicable person was that hoisted those precious recipes!

Not wanting to upset her grandmother, Sarah called her mother to give her the news, knowing full well a tirade of words that would make a sailor blush would come spurting out of her mouth. Sarah was not disappointed. Almost mafia style, her mother told her to “take care of this”. 

Dear Lord, how long did she have? Valentines Day was Monday. That left a day and some hours to find the culprit, retrieve the recipes, head back to her grandmothers, make the fudge and caramels and deliver them to Gramps on time. A Herculean task.

With her mind in overdrive, she thought of the most probable culprits. Her sister lived just a few miles away. Her brother’s ding bat wife could have snatched them. Then there was her aunt Gloria. She was a pretty piece of work, always wanting to one up everyone. Who else? Who else? She could think of no one else that would have the opportunity or cause. Sarah sprang into action.

So as not to alarm her grandmother, she came up with the old and time tested whammy lie of all time. She had a headache, and would be back when it subsided. Tick tock, tick tock. She half ran to her car. 

Her first stop would be her sister Tiffany’s house. There, she would just have to ask if she had borrowed them and forgotten to return them. She knew the answer, but with something as monumental as this, she had to ask. As expected, so got the resounding “no”. Her sister was as mortified as she was and offered her support. Stoically, Sarah told her sister that this was her burden , and hers alone. With that being said, she departed. 

Next on her “hit list” was her ding bat sister-in-law Karen. They lived about an hour north. Jumping on the freeway, she drove with a purpose. She knew when she got there, a little stealth would be in order. She had to formulate a plan on her way there. Then it came to her. Whipping into the strip mall on the way to her brother’s, she ran into the Toys R Us and grabbed a big teddy bear with a heart on it and a big bow. It would be a Valentines Day gift for her niece! She had never gotten her niece a present for this holiday, but it was necessary to gain entrance into the home of the second suspect. She felt guilty for the subterfuge, but she was on the mission of all missions. When she got there, teddy bear in tow, she got out of the car. 

Her brother Dan answered the door after she rang, and was quite surprised and happy to see her. Dan was an affable guy with a huge heart and plenty of friends to prove it. What he ever saw in Karen, Sarah would never understand. Karen was beautiful, Sarah gave her that, but was quite obnoxious. Give her a drink and she’d talk incessantly. Give her two drinks and she’d do that snorty laugh that made people cringe. At any rate, she was in!

After greeting her sister-in-law with a half hug and a huge kiss and hug from her niece that squealed with delight at her teddy bear, Sarah’s mind went blank. What to do now? She hadn’t gotten that far on her way there. So, after a bit of chitchat in the living room, to Sarah’s utter dismay, Karen offered to show her her newly remodeled kitchen. Could it be any easier, Sarah wondered? Giddy, she followed Karen into the kitchen and marveled at the beauty and so on and so forth. Then she spied it. The small recipe box on top of the microwave. It was now or never. Grabbing the box, she quickly sat down at the kitchen table and began rifling through the recipes like a mad woman. Her mind, now in full motion told Karen she was looking for that wonderful breakfast casserole she always made. Flipping through every recipe, Sarah could not find the age old recipe cards. Crestfallen, after an hour or so, Sarah said her goodbyes and left.

Heading south, back to her hometown, she set her sights on Aunt Gloria. They didn’t get along too well, but not too many people did get along with her. She was rich, and flaunted it. Gloria was also very good at making people not like her, which would make this mission much easier. All that would be necessary here would be to ask, if that got nowhere, accuse, and lastly a sprint to the kitchen to grab her recipe box and run to the car. After simply asking, her aunt went into the kitchen to retrieve her recipe box and thrust it into Sarah’s hands. This was too easy. Way to easy! Either her aunt was trying to throw her off track, or she was innocent. Sarah went through the categorized recipes with no luck. This was it, the last straw. After a hasty goodbye, Sarah left. Defeated, she headed back to her grandmother’s house.

Upon her return, the look on her grandmother’s face spoke volumes. She knew. She knew of my efforts, and that there were no recipes, and therefore no legendary chocolate fudge or caramels for Gramps this year. She was in tears. Her sweet Gran told her to put on her apron and they would find something really nice to make him instead. They made a bunch of cupcakes, decorated in red and pink hearts and flowers.

So this was to be it. A bunch of cupcakes instead of the powdered sugar sprinkled yummy squares of fudge, or the gooey hand wrapped caramels. Sarah envisioned the look on Gramps face.

Sarah went home and fell into bed, utterly exhausted. She just wanted to sleep through Sunday so she could avoid thinking about “the day”, Monday, Valentines Day. But, the day came. Gramps would be so disappointed.

After retrieving the cupcakes from her Gran’s house, she slowly drove to the nursing home, dreading the expectant then dejected look on Gramps face when he saw those stupid cupcakes. She arrived, parked the car, and buzzed herself into the nursing home. All eyes were on her. They knew she wasn’t bearing her usual gift to Gramps. Hell, they could smell the darn cupcakes !

She got to her Gramps room, set the cupcakes on his little side table and got down on one knee next to his wheelchair. Lowering her gaze, tears in her eyes, she apologized by telling him there would be no fudge or caramels this year. Just some stupid cupcakes. They had lost the coveted recipes for his favorite candies.

After a brief moment, he patted her on the back and chuckled. Wiping her eyes, she looked up as Gramps wheeled over to his chest of drawers and pulled out an envelope and handed it to her. Inside, where the two, very worn recipe cards she had so desperately tried to find. He told her her Gran had given them to him for safe keeping in case she lost them. 

Biting into a cupcake, he just grinned and told her there’s always next year. Relief swept over Sarah’s face as she reached for a cupcake.

All was right with the world.