The Great Pancake Caper

It was a bright summer morning. Mummy Bear decided it was probably time to use up those blueberries she'd defrosted last week and cook up a batch of yummy blueberry pancakes for the baby bears.

"Come along baby Bears," she cried as she pulled on her lovely, Mummy Bear apron. "We're going to make pancakes."

"Mummy, mummy, can I have a carton of blackcurrant juice?" asked Medium Sized Bear who had spotted the shopping bag of drinks still sitting on the kitchen floor.

"What? I'm trying to make some pancakes."

"I want a carton of juice. Can I? Mummeeeeee?"

"What? No love. They're for later."

"But..."

"I said NO. That sort of juice isn't for breakfast. Now, go and colour or something while I make the pancakes." Mummy Bear wished she had unpacked the shopping from three days ago and made a note to do so in future.

Baby Bear arrived into the kitchen. "Mummy Bear, I need a wee, I need a wee."

Mummy Bear stopped her measuring and whisking and ran to place Baby Bear on his potty. "I don't need a wee now," he said. Mummy Bear sighed, washed everyone's hands and returned to the kitchen.

"Mummy, I'm hungry. Can we have breakfast?" asked Medium Sized Bear.

"Yes love. I'm making the pancakes. They'll be ready soon."

It was at that point that Mummy Bear realised she had followed the recipe for making normal, 'Pancake Day' pancakes, rather than than for the American style ones she was intending to make.

"Oh, for f***s sake," muttered Mummy Bear under her breath as she reached for the ingredients again, causing a box of chicken stock cubes to fall into the jug of buttermilk she had just measured out and spilling some flour on the cooker top.

Baby Bear arrived into the kitchen again. "Mummy Bear, I need a wee, I need a wee." Mummy Bear put everything down again and took Baby Bear to the toilet. Finally, he did a wee. Hands were washed and a gold star was placed on his Reward Chart.

Finally, Mummy Bear had everything ready to cook the first delicious batch of American Style Blueberry Pancakes. She lightly oiled her non stick frying pan, as instructed, and poured the first ladle of yummy batter into the pan. Several minutes later, she was disappointed to note that the brown mush welded to the bottom of the pan didn't really look like the picture in the book.

She muttered a few expletives under her breath, grabbed another frying pan and started again. She gradually produced six pancakes which sort of looked like the ones in the book.

"Now, my little hungry bears, who would like one of these yummy pancakes?" she asked as she placed them proudly on the table.

"What are those bits?" asked Medium Sized Bear.

"They're the blueberries."

"I don't like blueberries."

"I no like blueblees either," added Baby Bear.

After several more minutes of coaxing and persuading and removing blueblees, Mummy Bear found herself sitting alone at the kitchen table eating a stack of pancakes. They were actually quite tasty, but as she started to tackle the tremendous mess which had happened in her kitchen while making them, she really wondered if it might not just be easier to have cornflakes tomorrow.

She glanced at the clock. It was 8.30am.

The End.

The Great Pancake Caper