CAKE MIX

The gusts had blown London that day as the Crossbills had traveled thousands of miles and had finally arrived. The family- two parents and their twins- had made it out of hell.
The Apartheid had followed a mass evacuation. Millions of African families flew from their motherland and looked for home in an alien country. The Crossbills were one such family.
Dean-jean Crossbill -the head of the family- had taken refuge in one of the ships traveling from Africa to London and had thus managed to keep his wife Margaret and sons Charles and Peter safe.
The Crossbills traveled for days. So many Negro’s had boarded the cargo ship- Isabella- that there was fear of an epidemic. The sailors though tried to share their resources with the families but there was extensive demand thus they decided not to part with their belongings.
Somehow, dangling between starvation and hope, the Crossbills were one of the first families who made it out of Africa to London. But there was more in store for them.
London did not show much respect for these Africans either. Though the men were employed as workers in the factories, they were given miserly treatment and threatened for life if they didn’t work efficiently.
One night there was a knock on the door. Margaret opened it to see a bleeding Dean- jean confronting her. On questioning her husband, Margaret found out that everyday random groups of workers were lashed, and today it had been her husbands turn.
Bearing tears of anger and pride for the man who worked in spite of the torture, Margaret kissed her husband and cleaned his wounds, while her sons watched, dazed.
Gradually, Dean- jean would come home blue- eyed, or bruised. Margaret soon got used to her husbands condition and accepted her fate. Though the family had forbidden their children to work in the dreaded factories (even if it costed them their lives), soon Charles and Peter were ready to take on the risk. They wanted to earn as their father too had retired.
Margaret knew that initially the boys would feel brave, but soon the English would give them the same treatment her husband had received. She feared that day.

***********

At the factory Charles had met up with a girl. Anne as the white beauty had identified herself immediately fell for the African boy, mesmerized by his philosophy and determination. Both secretly met during the hour of recess and enjoyed each other’s company. While he talked about freedom, Anne rested her head on his shoulder, amazed at this African boys will that still seemed to be intact even though the whites had started inflicting their terror upon him and his brothers.
Though Anne was from the upper class of Whites and was the daughter of the factory owner, she did not mind mingling with the workers, as she was open minded and tolerant.
Peter on the other hand had no luck. No girl had ever come his way; neither did he know of his brother’s girlfriend.
One day, as Peter walked out of the factory during recess he almost fainted when he saw his brother and Anne at such close quarters. He was confused and didn’t know how to react to this, but mustered the courage to go up to his brother.
On seeing Peter, Anne dashed towards her father’s office while Charles looked at his twin in embarrassment. On being thoroughly interrogated, Peter found out that there was a ‘relationship’ between the factory owner’s daughter and his brother, to which his reaction was hysterical.
Charles tried to explain to his brother that his mate was a warm lady, and respected their culture, but Peter was shocked from inside and reluctantly thought of the day his parents would find out.

***********


Time passed and soon the boys came home bruised or bleeding. These times Margaret couldn’t contain her agony any more and she cried out pitying her fortunes.
Once, Charles’s right ear had been cut bloodthirstily while Peter received an inhumane lash on his belly. Margaret quietly bore it all in her.

***********

The twin’s birthdays were around the corner. Margaret had decided to bake her sons a scrumptious chocolate cake with the left over money the family had, as a birthday present. So she prepared the cake mix the night before and left it in the kitchen to moisten while together Dean- jean and her retired to their room.
There was a knock on Charles’s window that night that startled him. As he awoke, he saw a white apparition floating outside, in their backyard.
But it wasn’t what Charles had thought it to be. Rather, to his pleasant surprise, Anne stood by his window and blew him flying kisses. Charles stealthily opened the window and both kissed each other.
Anne produced her hand in which was a letter saying ‘Happy Birthday’ concluded with a short poem on how much she loved him.
Charles was in tears and invited Anne inside for a glass of water. Peter during this, slept as if aloof of the world.
Charles opened the backdoor through which Anne ran in and both fell into an embrace. Charles told Anne to wait while he went to the room to bring her a gift that he had bought.
Meanwhile, Anne, seeing the cake mix felt tempted. She searched her pocket and took out a packet of Vanilla, which she had intended to give her mother-in law.
Anne quietly added some vanilla to the came mix and left it. She hoped this would enhance the flavouring. Charles quickly hurried and gave his love a ring he had managed to buy from a cheap vendor, however Anne accepted his gift humbly.
Both parted and waited for morning to arrive.

***********

The morning was a busy one. As the boys left for work, Margaret prepared the cake. Today she herself had decided to give her children their gift at the factory. But Margaret had overlooked the layer of white Vanilla that had been added to the black cake mix, in a hurry.
The cake was baked, packed and Margaret hurried to the factory with her husband. Once there, she made her way to where Charles and Peter worked.
She offered them the cake when suddenly there was a shout from afar. Mr. Hawkins, Anne’s father, the factory manager, blood- eyed walked towards Margaret as if he was about to trample the delicate thing.
Margaret watched, scared. “Give me some of your cake lady,” said Mr. Hawkins. This took the Crossbills for surprise as Margaret reluctantly offered the manager cake.
It was only then that she noticed the layer of white in the black and was furious that somebody had tampered with her cake mix.
“It was me,” said a faint voice and everybody turned. To their astonishment, Anne stood looking down at the ground while Margaret tried making sense of the situation. Anne willingly walked up to her father and explained the whole situation.
Mr. Hawkins, now tempted at the cake, wanted to take a bite before leaving and he did. The strict manager then smiled for the first time ever, and the cake had perhaps made him do so.
The workers cheered as the white Mr. Hawkins devoured the black (and white) cake.
Margaret smiled too and Anne hugged Charles tightly.
“Just like the Vanilla to the cake, this girl has added lots of colour to our lives,” said Dean- jean pointing to Anne.