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Love in the Time of Pancakes

They had promised, twenty years ago, after their first post-marital fight, that they would never go to bed angry. They had kept that promise, but it had made for some very long nights.

This time, for instance, they had only had a brief nap before they had to get up for work.

Her nap had been shorter than his, because she had pancakes on her mind.

Now, batter ready and griddle hot and buttered, she discovered they had no pecan pieces to add. No pecan pieces! No pecan pieces! A tear slipped down her cheek, and she stood, sleep-deprivation paralyzed by the wreckage of a detail of her plan.

Whole pecans! They had whole pecans!

It would be the work of a moment to chop them into pieces, but did she do that? Did she even consider it?

No. No, she did not.

She poured the pancake batter onto the griddle and carefully, lovingly, she pressed whole pecans into the tops of the irregular cakes.

When the edges of the roundish pancakes were browned and the tops lost their gloss, she flipped them. The smell of toasting pecans was heady.

He came in, said, “Mmm! Pancakes!” He looked at the empty coffeepot. She had forgotten to make coffee! What kind of make-up breakfast was this? Another tear escaped, but he just smiled and said, “You want me to make the coffee? Teamwork!” She could hear the teary weariness in his voice and knew they were back on the same page this morning, last night’s marathon talk-fest having cleared air and righted miscommunications.

She heated some maple syrup in the microwave, put the pitcher on the table along with a tub of soft butter, and divided the pancakes between two of their favorite plates.

He set the table and put mugs of coffee at their places. Hers was in her favorite mug.

When she put the plates of pancakes on the table, the tears began and wouldn’t stop.

He embraced her and rubbed her back, the way that always calmed her.

“What’s the matter, Sweetheart?”

“I should have made them heart-shaped.”

He exaggerated leaning over and inspecting the breakfast.

“They are heart-shaped,” he said.

MY PROMPT FOR TODAY: Pecan pancakes

MA